Sole Source Aquifer Designation - Petitioner Guidance

The purpose of this guidance is to aid the potential Sole Source Aquifer (SSA) petitioners to prepare and submit SSA designation petitions to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regional Offices in a complete and timely fashion. Petitioner questions not addressed in this guidance should be directed to the appropriate EPA Regional Office. This guidance is divided into six chapters. Following this introductory chapter, Chapter 2 presents an overview of the designation decision process, from initial petitioner inquiries to the Regional Administrator's (RA) designation determination. Chapter 3 details the petition contents and gives instructions on where to submit the information. Chapters 4 through 6 provide the information on EPA's procedures from initial petition review to the designation determination. The appendices, referenced in the guidance, provide additional background information for the petitioner. The terms and definitions used in this guidance are found in Appendix A. The SSA Fact Sheet, containing general information about the program, is found in Appendix B. Sources of technical information to be used in completing the petition are listed in Appendix C. Appendix D lists the EPA Regional Office contacts for the SSA program and the States included in each EPA region. The Completeness Determination Checklist, which EPA intends to use to determine if a petition is complete, is included as Appendix E.