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Glossary
Water loss, utilities and public funding

What is America's Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA)?

Definition

America's Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) is a 2018 US law requiring community water systems serving more than 3,300 people to complete risk and resilience assessments and emergency response plans and certify them to EPA.

What the assessment must cover

AWIA section 2013 amended section 1433 of the Safe Drinking Water Act. The assessment covers malevolent acts and natural hazards, and the resilience of pipes, treatment, storage, distribution, and electronic and automated systems including their security, along with monitoring practices, finances, chemical handling, and operation and maintenance. Systems certify completion to EPA rather than sending the documents.

Certification deadlines in the current cycle

  • Serving 100,000 or more: assessment by March 31, 2025 and emergency response plan by September 30, 2025.
  • Serving 50,000 to 99,999: assessment by December 31, 2025 and plan by June 30, 2026.
  • Serving 3,301 to 49,999: assessment by June 30, 2026 and plan by December 31, 2026.
  • The law was signed October 23, 2018. Plans are due six months after the assessment, and both are reviewed and recertified every five years, per EPA.

Monitoring records for the assessment

The assessment asks how a system is monitored and maintained. For flow, pressure and level sensors at plants and facilities, Aqueduct keeps a per-device record of connection rate and battery or capacitor voltage on the Health tab, plus event history, showing which assets were observed and how reliably.

Questions

America's Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA): common questions

America's Water Infrastructure Act is a 2018 federal law that, among other things, made larger US drinking water systems formally assess their risks and plan for emergencies. EPA receives each system's certification, and the cycle repeats every five years. See county public works and water.

Systems serving 3,300 people or fewer do not certify to EPA, though EPA provides guidance for those that choose to assess their risks. Smaller systems often follow the same approach anyway because state programs or funders ask how they manage hazards.

Yes. The AWIA assessment includes computer and automated systems and their security, and the emergency response plan must address cybersecurity strategies. Any monitoring platform connected to plant equipment therefore belongs in that review, alongside SCADA and control networks.

It shows which assets are observed, how reliably, and how quickly an abnormal condition is noticed. Aqueduct keeps per-device health and event history for the meters and sensors it reads, giving the utility evidence for the monitoring section. The assessment and certification remain the utility's work.

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