Path to Protection

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water funded five national nonprofit organizations to launch source water demonstration projects in communities around the country. The purpose of the projects was to build on state Source Water Assessment Programs (SWAPs) in order to move communities from planning to implementing protection for drinking water sources. Successful pilot projects could then be replicated by state and local governments and water suppliers around the country.

In order to glean the lessons learned and identify best practices, the Trust for Public Land led a joint review of the five grantees' source protection demonstration projects during the spring and summer of 2004.

This report summarizes findings based on experiences of the five pilot projects and proposes ten strategies that will help put more state and local governments on the path to protection. Each strategy includes a case study of a state or local entity that has successfully implemented some or all of the action steps included in that strategy. 28 pages.

Related Files

Path-to-Protection-Report Download