The Hanford Site Drinking Water Project is aligned with the Surface Environmental Surveillance Project to reduce operating costs. Drinking water is supplied to DOE facilities on the Hanford Site by DOE-owned, contractor operated, water treatment systems and by the city of Richland. Most systems use water from the Columbia River. One system at the Fast Flux Test Facility uses groundwater from beneath the site. Drinking water from the city of Richland is not monitored through this project. However, routine monitoring is conducted by Surface Environmental Surveillance Project personnel at the city of Richland's drinking water intake on the Columbia River.

Radionuclide concentrations in onsite drinking water are monitored by staff from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Monitoring data show that Hanford-produced radionuclides are measurable in some drinking water samples. However, in 2005, all DOE-owned drinking water systems on the Hanford Site were in compliance with Washington State and EPA annual average radiological drinking water standards, and monitoring results were similar to those observed in recent years. Chemical and microbiological monitoring of all on-site, DOE-owned drinking water systems is conducted by Fluor Hanford, Inc.

Radiological monitoring results for calendar year 2005 are available in the 2006 Hanford Site Environmental Report.