EPA Unregulated Contaminants Monitoring Rule 3: The Results So Far and What They Might Mean For The Future Massachusetts Water Works Association January 28, 2016
• The Unregulated Monitoring Rule is part of an interconnected set of regulations and processes that EPA uses to determine what contaminants to regulate in drinking water. The following presentation gives a very short summary of how these processes are connected, and then goes into some detail with the current UCMR 3 dataset. This is followed by a short review of the recently proposed UCMR 4 regulation, which is scheduled to run from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2020 . 2
The CCL Rule, Regulatory Determination, the 6 Year Regulation Review, and the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule How Are They All Tied Together to Produce What the Local Public Water Systems Are Ultimately Required to Do? 3
Discussion Topics • Contaminant Candidate List (CCL) and Regulatory Determination Processes • Six Year Regulatory Review • UCMR3 – The Results So Far • UCMR4 – What’s Next?
Contaminant Candidate List • The drinking water CCL is a list of contaminants that are currently not subject to any proposed or promulgated national primary drinking water regulations, but are known or anticipated to occur in public water systems. Contaminants listed on the CCL may require future regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). SDWA requires EPA to publish the CCL every five years. SDWA directs the Agency to consider the health effects and occurrence information for unregulated contaminants as the Agency makes decisions to place contaminants on the list. SDWA further specifies that the Agency place those contaminants on the list that present the greatest public health concern related to exposure from drinking water. EPA uses the CCL to identify priority contaminants for regulatory decision making and information collection. EPA is about to propose the fourth CCL list in early 2016. 5
Regulatory Determination Process (RegDet ) • A regulatory determination is a formal decision on whether EPA should initiate a process to develop a national primary drinking water regulation for a specific contaminant. The law requires EPA to make regulatory determinations for at least five contaminants from the most recent CCL within five years after the completion of the previous round of regulatory determinations. To regulate a contaminant SDWA requires that EPA determine whether: 1. The contaminant may have an adverse effect on the health of persons; 2. The contaminant is known to occur or there is a substantial likelihood the contaminant will occur in public water systems with a frequency and at levels of public health concern; and 3. In the sole judgment of the Administrator, regulation of the contaminant presents a meaningful opportunity for health risk reductions for persons served by public water systems. • For more info on the CCLs and RegDet, go to: http://www2.epa.gov/ccl/basic-information-ccl-and-regulatory- determination#what-is-reg-det 6
Most Recent Regulatory Determination • Every five years, the EPA determines whether we should regulate at least five contaminants in drinking water with a national primary drinking water regulation (NPDWR). • In October 2009, the EPA published the third Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List (CCL3). After extensive review of health effects and occurrence data, on October 20, 2014, the agency announced its preliminary regulatory determinations for five contaminants listed on CCL3. The EPA is making preliminary determinations to regulate strontium in drinking water and to not regulate four contaminants (i.e., dimethoate, 1,3-dinitrobenzene, terbufos and terbufos sulfone). Following the comment period EPA has just finalized the contaminant determinations in the Federal Register (dated 1/4/16). The four contaminants listed above in the preliminary determination will not be regulated, and the fifth, Strontium, has had the determination delayed following the reception of additional data during the comment period. A final determination for Strontium will be issued at some time in the future, 7
6 Year Regulatory Review Process • EPA is required to review its National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWRs) every six years for possible revision. The second review of 71 NPDWRs was completed in 2010. The third review is expected to be completed in 2016. The results of the 2010 review are very briefly summarized in the next slide. • To learn more about the process, please visit the EPA website listed below: • http://www2.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014- 12/documents/815f09002.pdf 8
Summary of 2010 6 Year Review • The following 4 chemicals were recommended for regulatory revision: Acrylamide, Epichlorohydrin, Tetrachloroethylene, and Trichloroethylene • The following chemicals and organisms are already in the process of having their regulatory provisions reviewed and changed: Bromate, Chloramines, Chlorine, Chlorine dioxide, Chlorite, Coliform, Copper, Cryptosporidium, Giardia lamblia, HAA5, Lead, Legionella, TTHMs, and Viruses The remaining 53 NPDWR contaminants either remain appropriate, are lower priority for revision, or do not yet have sufficient health effects data available to make a determination for revision. 9
About the Unregulated Contam inant Monitoring Rule • EPA uses the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) to collect data for contaminants that are suspected to be present in drinking water and do not have health-based standards set under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). • The SDWA Amendments of 1996 provide for: • Monitoring no more than 30 contaminants every five years • Monitoring large systems and a representative sample of small public water systems serving less than 10,000 people • Storing analytical results in a National Contaminant Occurrence Database (NCOD) • EPA’s selection of contaminants for a particular UCMR cycle is largely based on a review of the Contaminant Candidate List (CCL). • EPA pays for the analysis of all samples from systems serving 10,000 or fewer people. • EPA coordinates an approval program for laboratories that wish to analyze public water system samples. 10
WHO HAD TO MONITOR? • Assessment Monitoring (List 1 contaminants) • All PWSs serving more than 10,000 people and 800 representative PWSs serving 10,000 or fewer people monitor for 21 List 1 contaminants during a 12-month period from January 2013 through December 2015. • Screening Survey (List 2 contaminants) • All PWSs serving more than 100,000 people, 320 representative PWSs serving 10,001 to 100,000 people, and 480 representative PWSs serving 10,000 or fewer people monitor for seven List 2 contaminants during a 12-month period from January 2013 through December 2015. • Pre-Screen Testing (List 3 contaminants) • EPA selected 800 representative PWSs that serve 1,000 or fewer people, do not disinfect, and have wells located in areas of karst or fractured bedrock to participate in monitoring for two List 3 viruses during a 12- month period from January 2013 through December 2015. 11
The Current Rule - UCMR3 • PWS Monitoring continued until December 31, 2015. The UCMR3 program has now been completed. • Results of sampling by PWSs are now available to the public for the period from January 1, 2013 through June 30, 2015 at the following EPA website: • http://www2.epa.gov/dwucmr/national-contaminant- occurrence-database-ncod • The final set of results for UCMR3 will not be available until about May 15, 2016 • Summaries of national data and Regional data so far are included on the following slides.
Available Information on UCMR3 Contaminants • This information and more is available in the Summary document available with the data download on the National Contaminant Occurrence Database (NCOD) which is referenced in one of the previous slides. 13
More UCMR3 Contaminant Info 14
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Selected UCMR3 Contaminant Data for New England # 0f Total # of Range of Contaminant # PWS with Total # PWS Detections > Samples detections Reference Detections Sampled MRL Level 1,4 Dioxane 150 1,655 3.6 – 0.07 µg/l 0.35 µg/l 63 270 Chromium 1,481 3,096 41.2–0.02 µg/l 100 µg/l 214 271 Chromium +6 2,269 3,090 2.0 – 0.03 µg/l NA 245 270 Vanadium 1,053 3,128 30.8 – 0.2 µg/l 21 µg/l 151 270 Molybdenum 90 3,128 93 - 1 µg/l 40 µg/l 29 271 Strontium 2,987 2,991 1,400 – 2.0 1,500 µg/l 270 270 µg/l Chlorate 2,293 3,079 11,000 – 20 210 µg/l 232 270 µg/l PFOA 11 1,692 0.081 - 0.02 0.4 µg/l 7 271 µg/l PFOS 15 1,692 0.43 – 0.05 0.2 µg/l 5 272 17 µg/l
Results For Selected UCMR3 Contaminants in Massachusetts # Detections Total Number Range of Contaminant # PWSs with Total Number > MRL of Samples Detections Reference Detections of PWSs Level Sampled 1,4 Dioxane 117 1,071 0.61- 0.07 µg/l 0.35 µg/l 48 165 Chromium 1,037 1,996 41.2 - 0.20 µg/l 100 µg/l 143 165 Chromium +6 1,540 1,999 20.0 - 0.30 NA 148 165 µg/l Strontium 2,008 2,010 940 – 2.0 µg/l 1,500 µg/l 165 165 Molybdenum 24 2,012 4.40 – 1.0 µg/l 40 µg/l 12 165 Vanadium 549 2,012 12.0 – 0.20 21 µg/l 90 165 µg/l Chlorate 1,452 1,995 11,000-0.20 210 µg/l 145 165 µg/l PFOA 8 1,072 0.062 - 0.02 0.4 µg/l 4 165 µg/l PFOS 11 1.072 0.43 - 0.06 µg/l 0.2 µg/l 2 165 18
UCMR4 Here We Go Again – What Comes Next? 19
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