Enforcement Targeting Tool

Every quarter, the Maine Drinking Water Program (DWP) receives a report from EPA listing public water systems (PWS) in Maine. This report, called the Enforcement Targeting Tool (ETT), uses a scoring system to prioritize those PWSs in violation of safe drinking water rules and regulations, by using a scoring system. The purpose of the ETT is to target those PWSs in need of formal enforcement action, in order to facilitate their return to compliance.

View the Quarterly Report

• What Exactly Does Formal Enforcement Mean?

  EPA has a very specific set of parameters that qualify actions as formal enforcement. Examples of acceptable enforcement measures employed by the DWP include administrative consent orders, administrative compliance orders and administrative penalties. For Maine to maintain its primacy status, the DWP must properly initiate these enforcement actions against those PWSs that violated drinking water regulations and failed to return to compliance within the specific deadlines outlined in the initial Notices of Noncompliance.

• How is the ETT Scored?

  The ETT assigns points for each unaddressed violation at a public water system within the last 5 years, which are added together to create a total score for each PWS. The specific formula is the Sum of (S1 + S2 + S3 + …) + n. “S” means the violation severity, generally based on the Public Notice Tiers in 40 CFR 140, Subpart Q and the Administrative Penalty Schedule in Maine’s Rules Relating to Drinking Water at 10-144 CMR 231, Section 1-C (I). Therefore, those violations causing more threat to public health, such as exceeding the Maximum Contaminant Level for Coliform, will receive a larger “S” factor than a CCR Rule violation. And the “n” values equal the maximum number of years since the PWS’s oldest unaddressed violation. For example, if the PWS’s oldest unaddressed violation in the past five years occurred in the current calendar year, an “n” factor of zero is assigned. If it occurred two years ago, an “n” factor of 2 is assigned.

• What Score Raises a Red Flag?

  The ideal score for any PWS is zero; however the EPA requires the DWP to address any PWS with a score of 11 or higher, because they are considered “Nationally Significant.” Each quarter, the DWP must research the compliance status of each PWS in Maine with a nationally significant score, and report to EPA whether the PWS returned to compliance, whether the PWS violations were addressed by enforcement, whether the PWS remains active, along with causes of the violations and plans for resolving the violations, if they remain outstanding.

• How Accurate is this ETT?

  Less than 30% of the PWSs on the list actually require DWP enforcement. Why not 100% accurate? There are a number of factors, some of which include the time lag. Data used for the report is at least three months old, so, during that time, the PWS may have returned to compliance, received an administrative order or closed. Another possible factor contributing to inaccuracy is EPA’s data extraction not detecting the DWP enforcement actions.

• Is My PWS on the ETT?

  View the Quarterly Report. Please note: Due to the way that EPA freezes and extracts the data from Maine’s database to calculate the ETT, the data used to calculate the list is always at least one quarter old.

Contact Tera Pare if you have any questions related to the Enforcement Targeting Tool.

10/30/2012