(Washington, D.C.-August 12, 2005) Twenty-six unregulated contaminants
will be monitored by many U.S. drinking water suppliers under a new rule
proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency. This second cycle of
the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 2) also proposes the
use of nine analytical methods to detect the contaminants.
The data collected will help EPA determine whether to regulate the
contaminants, their occurrence in drinking water, the potential
population exposed to each, and the levels of exposure.
The rule encompasses some contaminants that are not regulated under
existing law. EPA currently has regulations for more than 90
contaminants. The Safe Drinking Water Act requires EPA to identify up
to 30 contaminants for monitoring every five years. The first cycle,
UCMR 1, published in 1999, covered 25 chemicals and one microorganism.
The contaminants are divided into two lists: assessment monitoring and
screening surveys. EPA has information from some public water systems
on 11 contaminants chosen for assessment monitoring but lacks a national
estimate of how widely they occur. EPA needs to collect more data on
the 15 selected for screening surveys because analytical methods have
been only recently developed.
All public water systems serving more than 10,000 people and a sample of
800 systems serving 10,000 people or fewer will monitor those
contaminants on the assessment list for 12 months during July 2007
through June 2010. Additionally, 322 systems serving more than 100,000
people and 800 serving 100,000 or fewer will conduct the screening
surveys during a 12-month period from July 2007 through June 2009.
The substances were chosen through a process that included a review of:
- An existing list of "reserved" contaminants for which no
analytical methods were yet available.
- EPA's Contaminant Candidate List, which contains priority
contaminants that are researched to make decisions about whether
regulations are needed. The contaminants on the list are known or
anticipated to occur in public water systems. However, they are
currently unregulated by existing national drinking water regulations.
- Additional contaminants of concern based on current research of
occurrence and various health-risk factors.
Costs for the five-year UCMR 2 will total approximately $42.1 million.
EPA will conduct and pay for the monitoring for those water systems
serving 10,000 people or fewer at a cost of $8.05 million.
For general information on UCMR 2, visit the EPA Safewater website at:
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/ucmr/ucmr2 or call the Safe Drinking Water
Hotline at 800-426-4791, Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
Eastern time.