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EPA proposes
new drinking water rules but no new regulations
for contaminants
Minneapolis Star
Tribune - 7/16
The
Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new rules to safeguard
drinking water from byproducts formed during chemical disinfection
and a parasite spread by human and animal waste.
EPA
officials also decided against adding more contaminants to the
list of about 90 that the government already regulates in drinking
water. The agency concluded that for nine of 60 unregulated contaminants
there was no need to create new drinking water standards. The
other 51 contaminants are still being studied.
Environmentalists
raised concerns Tuesday that perchlorate, a toxic part of solid
rocket fuel that has contaminated water supplies in at least 22
states, wasn't among the contaminants whose studies were completed
first. EPA is required by Congress only to study at least five
unregulated contaminants every five years.
At
that rate, according to water experts at the Natural Resources
Defense Council, EPA probably will not issue any new enforceable
standards for perchlorate - or any other of the unregulated contaminants
- until at least 2010.
"Which
essentially would mean a generation of children and adults that
would continue to be exposed to high levels of many of these contaminants,"
NRDC senior attorney Erik Olson said.
But
the agency is trying to move quickly on perchlorate, said Ephraim
King, who directs the EPA Office of Water's standards and risk
management division, which oversees the contaminant studies.
"We
are doing studies on perchlorate, we care tremendously and we're
moving as fast as we can," he said. "We can't start
the formal rule-making process until all the data is on the table."
One
of the EPA rules proposed Friday would require communities to
improve their water treatment plants' ability to monitor for and
protect against cryptosporidium, a waterborne parasite that killed
100 people in Milwaukee in 1993 but is most common in developing
countries.
Water
systems would also be required to use better filters or create
buffer strips to protect watersheds. Annually, EPA estimates,
that would add up to $1.68 to the average household's yearly water
bills.
To
guard against disinfection byproducts, which form when organic
matter reacts with chorine and other disinfectants added to reduce
microbes, EPA would require water treatment systems to monitor
and document where the highest concentrations are in their pipelines.
Both
rules would take effect by mid-2004.
NRDC
criticized the byproducts rule proposal because it would allow
states to make case-by-case decisions using only EPA guidance
about whether to require more action.
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