Setting Priorities for Drinking Water Contaminants (1999) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction
1 Introduction
Pages 9-20
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From page 9... ...
The frequent presence of such contaminants, as well as documented outbreaks of waterborne disease and the many other outbreaks thought to go undetected, are a clear reminder that unprotected and contaminated drinking water can still pose health risks to the population. When Congress amended the SDWA in 1996, it required the U.S.
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From page 10... ...
EPA will need to classify contaminants into those ready for a rule-making decision; those ready for guidance development, including health advisories;2 those needing additional occurrences data; and those that are priorities for additional health effects or other research. Under the SDWA amendments, EPA must determine whether or not to regulate at least five contaminants on the CCL by August 2001 (three and one-half years following publication of the first CCL)
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From page 11... ...
For example, some states support active surveillance and investigation of waterborne disease outbreaks, while others rely on case reports provided by local physicians and public health officers regarding clusters of illness. Until passage of the original SDWA in 1974, there was no enforceable provision in federal law to protect the public from hazardous chemical substances in drinking water.
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From page 12... ...
. The purpose of the original SDWA was to ensure that public water supply systems4 meet national primary drinking water regulations for contaminants to protect public health.
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The 1996 amendments require that methods be considered to protect the population from exposure to recently recognized waterborne pathogens, such as Cryptosporidium. The NRC helped EPA establish the first set of national primary drinking water regulations for individual contaminants and contaminant classes under the original SDWA (NRC, 1977~.
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From page 14... ...
RELATED SDWA PROGRAMS As indicated in Figure 1-2, future CCL development will be closely interrelated with two other drinking water programs established by the SDWA Amendments of 1996: the National Drinking Water Contaminant Occurrence Database (NCOD) and the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulation (UCMR)
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From page 15... ...
Mycobacterium avium intracellulare (MAC) Chemical Contaminants 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethan 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene 1,1-dichloroethane 1,1-dichloropropene 1,2-diphenylhydrazine 1,3-dichloropropane 1,3-dichloropropene 2,4,6-trichlorophenol 2,2-dichloropropane 2,4-dichlorophenol 2,4-dinitrophenol 2,4-dinitrotoluene 2,6-dinitrotoluene 2-methyl-phenol (o-cresol)
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From page 16... ...
EPA'S CONTAMINANT IDENTIFICATION METHOD Prior to the development of the first CCL and the direct involvement of stakeholders, states, and the NRC, EPA began work on a conceptual, risk-based approach for identifying unregulated chemical and microbiological drinking water contaminants. The identified agents were those known or anticipated to occur in public drinking water supply systems and to have the potential to affect human health (EPA, 1996b)
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From page 17... ...
Chapter 4 further discusses the CIM and the process that EPA used to prepare the draft and final 1998 CCL. USE OF SOUND SCIENCE IN FUTURE REGULATORY DECISIONS By congressional intent, the current and future CCLs will serve as cornerstones of EPA's future drinking water program.
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Indeed, it is not unusual for scientists to disagree on the application of sound science to public policy issues. Any scheme that affects the provision of public water is likely to engender legitimate scientific disagreement.
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This is a natural evolution, but it makes it difficult to stipulate what should be considered "sufficient data" for a particular decision process. THE PERSPECTIVE OF THIS REPORT Efficient and practical provision of safe drinking water to communities of varying sizes and widely differing sources and qualities of raw water is a challenging task.
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From page 20... ...
1997b. Meeting Summary: EPA National Drinking Water Contaminant Occurrence Data Base.
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