What is the primary objective of performing sanitary surveys on drinking water systems?

• A. To design new water treatment facilities
• B. To evaluate financial viability of operators
• C. To ensure treated water quality meets all drinking water standards
• D. To monitor groundwater levels

Answer: (C)

Sanitary surveys focus on protecting public health by ensuring the drinking water delivered to consumers meets established standards. They are on-site reviews of a water system’s source, treatment, distribution, and management practices, aimed at identifying vulnerabilities and verifying that controls are in place to prevent contamination and maintain water quality. By checking aspects like protection of the source, proper treatment and disinfection, adequate residuals in the distribution system, cross-connection controls, backflow prevention, storage integrity, monitoring, and emergency planning, these surveys confirm that the treated water complies with drinking water standards.

This is why the primary objective is to ensure treated water quality meets all drinking water standards. Designing new facilities is engineering planning, not the survey’s purpose. Evaluating financial viability concerns economics, not water safety. Monitoring groundwater levels relates to hydrogeology, not the sanitary aspects of delivering safe drinking water.