A new UC Davis program aims to help small drinking-water suppliers that are struggling to meet state and federal standards.

With a five-year, $2.4 million grant from the California Department of Health Services, the new Center for Small Affordable Water Systems will assist suppliers that serve fewer than 3,300 service connections, with a focus on the smallest -- those serving fewer than 200 connections. There are about 5,000 of the latter in California.

"We believe that every California household should have access to safe water. But for small water systems, the cost of testing, installing and maintaining the necessary equipment can make safe water unaffordable," said center director Jeanne Darby, chair of the UC Davis Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Darby said the center will teach the design and engineering of small water systems; help the health services department identify the most effective and affordable technologies for monitoring and removing contaminants; and show small systems how to apply for federal loans to purchase those technologies.

In California, water systems have to meet 80 state and federal limits on contaminants, including new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules that cut the allowable amount of arsenic by four-fifths.

The Center for Small Affordable Water Systems is part of the John Muir Institute of the Environment, a collaboration of UC Davis experts discovering solutions to complex environmental challenges.