EPA Recognizes Shrewsbury Municipal Water Co. for Protecting Drinking Water
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency presented a source water protection award to the Shrewsbury Municipal Water Co. in York County, Pa., for taking special initiatives to protect drinking water sources for local residents.
"Protecting the sources of our drinking water safeguards both public health and our environment, and we applaud the Shrewsbury Municipal Water Co. for its extraordinary effort," said Donald S. Welsh, regional administrator for EPA’s mid-Atlantic region.
EPA selected the Shrewsbury water company as the Pennsylvania recipient of EPA’s source water protection award because of the water company’s wellhead protection efforts and its public education program that emphasizes protection of public groundwater wells.
The groundwater that provides the water supply to the community is a sole source of Shrewsbury Borough’s water supply. Shrewsbury Borough enacted a wellhead protection overlay ordinance in 2002 that manages land use in areas that provide drinking water sources.
The community has created a wellhead protection committee that surveys local businesses and provides educational material to citizens on how to protect drinking water sources. The committee is identifying abandoned private wells so that proper abandonment procedures can be taken to prevent pollution from entering the well and potentially harming drinking water. The community has also stenciled storm drains that lead to local streams and ground water.
Source: EPA