Drinking Water Program

glass-of-waterThe Jackson County Drinking Water Program administers and enforces public drinking water quality standards for the 200+ public water systems that use groundwater and serve a population of 3,300 or less. Public water systems are assigned a classification based on number of connections, population, and how long that population resides at the system. The longer the population remains on a groundwater system, the greater the increase in required monitoring. The Drinking Water Program provides regulatory and technical services to public water systems in order to reduce health risks and increase compliance with drinking water standards. The primary objective of this program is to prevent water contamination and assure safe drinking water for Jackson County residents and guests.

The Drinking Water Program is a resource for drinking water system operators and the public when dealing with water quality alerts, public notices, water monitoring and testing, and sanitary hazard analysis.

OAR – 333-061-0220(1) Small water system classification applies when a water system serves 150 service connections or less and:

  1. Uses only groundwater as its source; or
  2.  Purchases finished water from another public water system
Public Water System Classifications

Resources for Small Water System Small Water System Funding Resources

 Resources for Residential WellsPer the Jackson County Watermaster 30,000 residential wells exist in Jackson County. These wells are not required to ensure water quality through monitoring. We recommend that homeowners and renters using water from wells for cooking and drinking should be testing for bacteria four times a year and nitrate yearly. Arsenic testing should be completed at the onset of residence and then following every 5 – 10 years.