Tens of thousands (over 58,000) small or very small regulated community water systems (approximately 500 population served) in the United States will have a difficult time in complying with the requirements of the US Safe Drinking Water Act and its Amendments. One option available to small utilities in the United States is the installation of package treatment plants. Package technologies, which are assembled in a factory, skid mounted and transported to the site, offer an alternative to in-ground conventional treatment technology. The major advantage of package plants are their compact size, cost-effectiveness, relative ease of operation and design for unattended operation. Performance data demonstrate that package plants can meet traditional goals with regard to controlling microbiological contaminants and turbidity. In general, package plants not meeting the Safe Drinking Water Act Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) have problems caused by lack of operator attention, such as not varying chemical dosage to meet changing raw water quality and by failure to run for periods of time long enough to achieve stable operation.