Small Water Systems Face Big Financial Challenges

By Liz Harvell

Of the more than 151,000 public water systems in the United States, 97 percent — 146,767 — are considered small water systems under the Safe Drinking Water Act, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Despite the high number of public water systems that are considered small systems, which, by definition, serve 10,000 or fewer people, they serve a relatively small percentage (27 percent) of the total population receiving drinking water from public water systems.