Source water protection priorities for the Potomac basin are drawn from the source water assessments that were done in the early 2000s. These assessments, required under the 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act, look at potential sources of contamination upstream of a drinking water intake and assess the risk they pose to a utility’s ability to provide safe drinking water. Since many utilities share the Potomac River and its tributaries as their source of raw water, they also share many of the same risks. Thus, a common set of priority issues were drawn from these assessments and now guide the activities of the Partnership:

• PFAS in the Potomac River Basin
• De-Icing Materials
• Disinfection By-product Precursors
• Emerging Contaminants
• Hazardous Spills
• Nutrients
• Pathogens
• Sediments
• Stormwater
• Watershed Protection