Non-compliance reporting is required when what is violated, and is accomplished via one of the three tier levels?

• A. Secondary drinking water regulations; via annual notice
• B. Groundwater rules; via court order
• C. Health advisories; via emergency order
• D. Primary drinking water regulations; via one of the three tier levels

Answer: (D)

Focus on enforceable health protection: primary drinking water regulations are the enforceable standards that protect public health. When a system violates those health-based standards, non-compliance reporting is required to alert the public, and this alert is delivered through a tiered public notification framework. The three tiers categorize violations by severity and set the appropriate timing and format for notifying customers, ensuring that more serious health risks are communicated quickly while less urgent issues are reported on a different schedule. Secondary drinking water regulations are not enforceable health-based standards, and health advisories or groundwater rules follow different regulatory pathways, so they don’t use this tiered public notification approach. Therefore, reporting on primary drinking water regulation violations via one of the three tier levels best captures how public notification is designed to work.