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Browner: 85% get good water

Carol Browner, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, says while there are some problems with implementation and enforcement of safe drinking water laws, most people get safe water from the tap. She was interviewed by USA Today about her agency's role in overseeing drinking water regulations:

Q: Why do you think we're seeing such problems with enforcement of these laws?

A: Obviously, there are violations that occur, but 85% of the public is getting water from a system that essentially does not have a violation. I think the vast majority of the violations that you're talking about occur in the smaller systems, and I think everyone would agree they pose the greatest challenge.

Q: How come the EPA has never exercised its right to take over drinking water regulation in a state that isn't doing a good job?

A: I'm not sure that kind of protracted, ugly fight is going to get you the greatest level of public health protection. Our ability to provide the resources to run one of those programs would come at the expense of setting new standards (for contaminants in water), of providing grant money to the states. . . . What we have done is to look at our resources, given our responsibility, (and decided ) where can we do the best job of protecting the public.

Q: EPA devotes far less money and far fewer people to regulating drinking water than to enforcing other major environmental laws. Is drinking water a lower priority?

A: I don't think that's the right way to evaluate it. We have a particularly important responsibility under the Safe Drinking Water Act to set the national standards. And that is something we do and no state can do. If you look at how we've invested our resources, it has been on that side of the . . . equation.

Q: It seems other environmental programs within EPA get a lot more money and staffing. Why?

A: We've made a decision . . . that the best thing we could do was get federal dollars into the state coffers, that that was where you would get the greatest public help. . . . Within a difficult balanced budget situation, this administration has stood firm for new federal dollars going to the states while, at the same time, enhancing our ability to set standards.

Q: How big a concern is the current state of the drinking water program?

A: We have (a) generally high quality of drinking water, but we cannot take this for granted. We have to be vigilant, we have to be constantly looking at how to do a better job. . . . No one is suggesting that we don't have our challenges. Certainly the smaller (water) systems pose a set of challenges. Certainly there are states that have done a better job than other states. But what we've got to do is to keep at it each and every single day.