Division of Environmental Health Drinking Water Program

How to Prepare for a Sanitary Survey

Before the Sanitary Survey

1. Confirm the survey
   • Confirm date, time, and meeting location with the surveyor.
2. Arrange for water system personnel who are most knowledgeable with the system operation and management to be present for the duration of the survey.
   • Be prepared to answer detailed questions about general operations, management, security, and specific technical and operational questions.
   • Have a current/accurate map of the wastewater/sewer system to review at the time of the survey.
3. Review the previous survey and confirm that all previous deficiencies have been corrected
   • Look back at your most recent sanitary survey and review the deficiencies and recommendations. If you have any outstanding deficiencies or recommendations, take the time to correct them prior to your sanitary survey.
   • Optionally, you can request a copy of the question set from the surveyor to review before the survey. This will allow you to be fully prepared for the questions the surveyor will ask.
4. Gather, Review, and Organize Records
   • The following records are required to be maintained by a public water system and should be available for review (either on-site physical copies or electronically) by the surveyor. If you are missing any of the required records for you system, information may be available on Drinking Water Watch, or through contacting your EPS.

Record Type	Retention Requirement
Bacteriological/Microbiological Analysis	5 years
Chemical Analysis (with the exception of Lead/Copper)	10 years
Lead and Copper (all analyses, reports, letters, evaluations, schedules, determinations, etc.)	12 years
Turbidity Data (monthly operator reports) Turbidity values exceeding 5 NUT - 10 years	5 years
Disinfection Residual Data (monthly operator reports) Groundwater systems, if applicable, DEC-specified minimum disinfection residual – 10 years	5 years
Records of actions taken to correct violations	3 years
Groundwater systems: documentation of corrective actions following a source water fecal positive sample result	10 years
Reports, summaries, communications, and corrective action documentation related to sanitary surveys	10 years
Reports, summaries, and communications related to Public Notifications, including CCRs as applicable	10 years
Monitoring plans: Microbiological and Turbidity	5 years
Monitoring plans: Chemical, IDSE, System Specific Study Plan, Stage 2 DBP, etc.	10 years
Disinfection Profile and Benchmark	10 years
Records of both DEC-specified requirements for membranes and failures in membrane integrity/operations.	5 years

Don't Forget!

• Keys to all doors, gates, hatches, tanks, etc.
• Testing equipment (colorimeter, turbidimeter, etc.)
• Note taking supplies
• Any necessary tools or instruments to ensure access to all components of the water system.

Avoid these common deficiencies

• • Any arrangement which poses a threat of cross-connection (example: water softener drain line plumbed directly into sewer drain)
  • Defective cross-connection device or no cross connection device (example: hose bibb without a built in or screw on type backflow prevention device)
  • System not conducting adequate routine maintenance (example: backflow prevention assembly not being tested annually)
  • Sanitary Seal or Well Cap missing or not water tight
  • Overflow lines, air vents, drainage lines, or clean out pipes are not turned downward or covered, screened, and without a proper air gap (terminated a minimum of two times the diameter of the water outlet above the ground or storage surface)

Day of the Survey