Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulation

Background

    The 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act requires the EPA to establish criteria for a monitoring program for unregulated contaminants and to publish a list of contaminants to be monitored.  EPA has revised the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR).  The data generated by the new UCMR will be used to evaluate and prioritize contaminants on the Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List, a list of contaminants EPA is considering for possible new drinking water standards. This data will help to ensure that future decisions on drinking water standards are based on sound science. 
    The new rule includes:

• A new list of contaminants for which public water systems must monitor;
• Analytical methods for some of these contaminants; 
• Requirements for all large public water systems (PWS), and a representative sample of small PWS, to monitor for those contaminants on the list for which methods have been promulgated;
• Requirements to submit the monitoring data to EPA and the States for inclusion in the National Drinking Water Contaminant Occurrence Database; and
• 
  Requirements to notify consumers of the results of monitoring. 

• On March 12, 2002, EPA published a Direct Final Rule and a Proposed Rule to establish the electronic reporting date for monitoring results.
• On March 7, 2002, EPA published a Proposed Rule to approve EPA Method 1605 to monitor the Screening Survey List 2 microbiological contaminant Aeromonas.
• On September 4, 2001, EPA published a Direct Final Rule to amend the List 2 Rule and delay the requirements for the electronic reporting of monitoring results.
• On January 11, 2001, EPA published analytical methods for the Screening Survey List 2 contaminants, and is requiring monitoring for those contaminants in drinking water. In this notice, EPA has also modified the UCMR to improve the implementation of monitoring for both List 1 and List 2 contaminants. Read the final rule in HTML or PDF.
• On March 2, 2000, published a rule ( PDF or HTML format) specifying the approved analytical methods for perchlorate and acetochlor and includes a notice about a laboratory approval process for laboratories interested in participating in perchlorate monitoring
• On September 17, 1999, EPA published final revisions to the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule.  The rule is available in an HTML or PDF format.  A Fact Sheet is also available that describes the major provisions of the rule.
• On January 8, 1999, EPA published a rule suspending the current round of unregulated contaminant monitoring for small public water systems. Read the Federal Register notice for that rule. 

    EPA has prepared several guidance and technical documents that explain in more detail the various aspects of the rule, including:

• Technical Background Information for the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulation (EPA 815-R-99-007, March 2000)
• UCMR Guidance for Operators of Public Water Systems Serving 10,000 or Fewer People (EPA 815-R-01-002, January 2001)
• Statistical Design and Sample Selection for the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulation (1999) (EPA 815-R-01-004, August 2001)
• Reference Guide for the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulation (EPA 815-R-01-023, October 2001)
• Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulation Reporting Guidance (EPA 815-R-01-029, November 2001)
• UCMR (1999) List 1 and List 2 Chemical Analytical Methods and Quality Control Manual (EPA 815-R-01-028, December 2001). Replaces UCMR Analytical Methods and Quality Control, 815-R-99-004 and 815-R-00-006, and Supplement A, 815-R-00-002.

Fact Sheets

• UCMR Monitoring for List 1 Contaminants by Large Public Water Systems (EPA 815-F-01-003, January 2001)
• UCMR Monitoring for List 1 Contaminants by Selected Small Public Water Systems (EPA 815-F-01-004, January 2001)
• UCMR: Screening Survey for List 2 Contaminants by Selected Large Public Water Systems (EPA 815-F-01-005, February 2001)
• UCMR: Screening Survey for List 2 Contaminants by Selected Small Public Water Systems (EPA 815-F-01-006, February 2001)
• UCMR: Monitoring by Index Systems (EPA 815-F-01-007, March 2001)

UCMR Update

• Go to general information updates.

UCMR Monitoring List

• Go to list of unregulated contaminants.
• List 3 Algal Toxins - Creating a Cyanotoxin Target List for the UCMR: Meeting Summary from the May 17-18, 2001 meeting. (PDF format)

Benefits of Unregulated Monitoring

    Unregulated contaminant monitoring of public water systems informs the public about contaminants not previously observed in their water systems. This information is used in determining whether a contaminant occurs at a frequency and in concentrations to warrant further analysis and research on potential health effects. Such results may cause the contaminant to be added to the Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List (CCL),  published in February1998 and every five years. The CCL is used to set priorities for research, further monitoring, or regulation. If a decision is made to regulate a contaminant, the benefit of unregulated contaminant monitoring at public water systems is early warning of the contaminant's presence before serious health effects occur. 

For more information, contact the Safe Drinking Water Hotline, 1 (800) 426-4791. 

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