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Six Year Review
of Drinking Water Standards
The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) requires EPA to review each national
primary drinking water regulation (NPDWR) at least once every six years
and revise them, if appropriate. SDWA specifies that any revision must
maintain or increase public health protection. EPA developed a systematic
approach, or protocol, for the review of NPDWRs in consultation with stakeholders.
EPA has applied this protocol to the Agency's initial Six-Year Review
of most of the NPDWRs published prior to the 1996 SDWA Amendments (i.e.,
pre-1997 NPDWRs). Today the Agency is announcing its preliminary
revise/not revise decisions for 68 chemical NPDWRs and the Total Coliform
Rule (TCR). EPA is requesting public comment on these preliminary determinations,
the data and information used to support these determinations, and on
the protocol the Agency used to conduct the review.
Based on the Agency's review, and pending an evaluation of public comments,
EPA preliminarily believes that the 68 chemical NPDWRs remain appropriate
at this time, and that the TCR should be revised. However, the Agency
notes that there are a number of scientific assessments either planned
or underway that may indicate the need for further revisions for a subset
of these 68 regulations in the future.
Schedule
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November 1999
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Initial stakeholder meeting to discuss EPA's preliminary
thinking on the protocol for reviewing NPDWRs |
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June - November 2000
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Meetings with the National Drinking Water Advisory
Council |
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April 17, 2002
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Announcement of the Results of
EPA's Review of Existing Drinking Water Standards and Request for
Public Comment |
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April 17th - June 17th 2002
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60 day public comment period |
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May 2002
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Stakeholder meeting planned to discuss EPA's protocol
and the preliminary decisions |
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August 2002 timeframe
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Publish a Federal Register notice with the final
revise/not revise decisions |
Statutory Requirements
Section 1412(b)(9) of the Safe Drinking Water Act states,
"The Administrator shall, not less often
than every 6 years, review and revise, as appropriate, each national
primary drinking water regulation promulgated under this title. Any
revision of a national primary drinking water regulation shall be promulgated
in accordance with this section, except that each revision shall maintain,
or provide for greater, protection of the health of persons."
Links
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- Fact Sheet: Announcement of
the Results of EPA's Review of Existing Drinking Water (pdf 151 KB)
- Six-Year Notice and Request for Public
Comment
- Federal Register Publication
- Summaries
of related meetings
- Issue papers for the November 17, 1999 stakeholder meeting:
In a related effort, EPA must periodically consider the need for new
drinking water standards and include greater public participation in its
decisions. The Contaminant Candidate List
was developed to help EPA determine priorities for additional research,
occurrence monitoring, possible rulemaking.
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