Surface Water Protection Model Ordinance: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
This model ordinance describes Reservoir Protection Overlay Zone (RPOZ) regulations. These regulations are intended to ensure the adequate protection of current or potential public water supply reservoirs. The establishment of these regulations is intended to protect public health, insure the availability of safe drinking water, and prevent the degradation of the water supply in the reservoir through the regulation of land uses and development within the reservoir drainage area.
The model ordinance provides language communities can use to protect local reservoirs. The ordinance is broken into seven sections. It first introduces the purpose of the regulation and defines appropriate terms. It then sets out criteria for designating land areas as RPOZ, use regulations within the RPOZ, and requirements for development of the RPOZ. The document ends with the requirements for an impact study of the RPOZ and buffer requirements for the RPOZ.
This document provides exact ordinance language for local governments interested in protecting the reservoirs in their community. The ordinance is designed to be flexible so that any local government can use the language once the “blanks” are filled with the local government authorities. It should be noted that this ordinance is not an exhaustive listing of all the language needed for a local ordinance, but represents a good base that communities can build upon and customize to be consistent with the staff resources available in their locality.
