FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 30, 2005
CONTACT: Dee Ann Miller, (850) 245-2112

DEP Launches Water Assessment and Protection Website

--New site provides information about Florida’s drinking water sources--

TALLAHASSEE-- The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) today unveiled the new Source Water Assessment and Protection Program (SWAPP) website, an online resource for Floridians to learn more about the sources of their drinking water.

“SWAPP expands methods for assessing risks to Florida’s drinking water supplies and protecting consumers,” said DEP Division of Water Resource Management Director Mimi Drew. “Along with DEP’s stringent drinking water quality standards, SWAPP helps to ensure Floridians’ faucets are delivering a safe, clean supply of water.”

As part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s expansion of the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act, DEP conducted a two year statewide evaluation of the sites, facilities and activities with the potential to impact source waters supplying Florida’s more than 6,000 public drinking water systems. SWAPP examines potential sources of pollution and publishes the results, providing local governments and water utilities with an additional tool to strengthen protection for drinking water supplies.

Floridians can also take simple steps in their homes or communities to protect drinking water sources by:

• Disposing of household and other chemicals properly. Do not pour chemicals on the ground or down the sink drain, toilet or storm drain.
• Taking used motor oil to the recycling center.
• Using only recommended amounts of fertilizers and pesticides.
• Having unused wells properly closed.
• Pumping and inspecting septic tanks regularly.
• Planting vegetation on bare spots of soil, particularly on slopes to prevent erosion and excessive runoff of sediments into nearby waterways.