MDEQ Office of Land & Water

Source Water Assessment Program (SWAP) Reports

What is a SWAP Report?

Protecting sources of drinking water is essential for maintaining and improving the quality of human health and the environment. Source water assessments characterize the susceptibility of a drinking water source to contamination by summarizing information about the activities and land uses within recharge areas. Potential sources of contamination are identified for each individual city or town in each water supply protection area to use as support for planning decisions. Information gathering in the assessment process is incorporated into recommendations for actions that can be taken at the local level to protect drinking water sources.

The Source Water Assessment and Protection (SWAP) program was established in 1996 by the USEPA as part of the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments. SWAP emphasizes the importance of source water protection as a pollution prevention tool that can be used as part of a comprehensive multi-barrier approach to source water protection. States are required to:

  1. delineate recharge areas for all public drinking water sources;
  2. inventory land uses within these recharge areas;
  3. assess the susceptibility of sources to contamination; and
  4. publicize the results.

The assessments help to focus protection efforts to minimize risks of individuals drinking contaminated water. These efforts may include developing source water protection plans, encouraging the use of Best Management Practices (BMP), establishing local protection teams and using other source protection measures.

SWAP Reports on the Web

Select the Public Water Supply ID you'd like to view in the list below.

Public Water Supply ID: