Water News

EPA will hold a webinar on the fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR5) presenting:

“….information on accessing and communicating UCMR 5 monitoring results. The presentation will review the reporting requirements and data review functionality in EPA’s web-based Safe Drinking Water Accession and Review System (SDWARS) for large (i.e., those serving more than 10,000 people) and small (i.e., those serving 10,000 or fewer people) PWSs. The presentation will also discuss the plan for communicating results from small PWSs, how the public can access the UCMR 5 results in the National Contaminant Occurrence Database, and provide additional resources developed by EPA and other stakeholders to communicate results.”

The two hour webinar will be presented on Wednesday, February 22, 2023. The webinar will be presented again on February 23, 2023 at the same time.

Links to Register
February 22, 2023 (Wednesday), 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm EDT
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/4905478152314043229

February 23, 2023 (Thursday), 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm EDT
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8811438234406903135

Background: The final UCMR5 was published on December 27, 2021. Under the UCMR5, monitoring for 29 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and lithium will occur during 2023-2025.

In the January 18, 2023 Federal Register the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army published a final revised definition of Waters of the United States (WOTUS) under the Clean Water Act.

Page 3142 in the enclosed Federal Register, presents the definition of what is, and what is not considered WOTUS.

December 30, 2022 Press Release:
https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-and-army-finalize-rule-establishing-definition-wotus-and-restoring-fundamental

Background
“The Clean Water Act prohibits the discharge of pollutants from a point source to navigable waters unless otherwise authorized under the Act. Navigable waters are defined in the Act as “the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas.” Thus, “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) is a threshold term establishing the geographic scope of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act. The term “waters of the United States” is not defined by the Act but has been defined by EPA and the Army in regulations since the 1970s and jointly implemented in the agencies’ respective programmatic activities.”

In 2015 EPA and the Army adopted revisions to the definition of WOTUS under the Clean Water Act (the revisions were referred to as the Clean Water Rule). Almost immediately, the Rule was challenged in court and implementation was halted in a number of States. In March 2017 EPA and the Department of the Army indicated their intent to rescind or revise the Clean Water Rule. In April 2020 a revised WOTUS definition was adopted by EPA and the Department of the Army (referred to as the Navigable Waters Protection Rule).

On January 20, 2021 President Biden issued Executive Order 13990 (“Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis”). Executive Order 13990 states in part: “The heads of all agencies shall immediately review all existing regulations, orders, guidance documents, policies, and any other similar agency actions (agency actions) promulgated, issued, or adopted between January 20, 2017, and January 20, 2021, that are or may be inconsistent with, or present obstacles to, the policy set forth in…” Executive Order 13990.

In June 2021 the Department of Justice, in coordination with EPA and the Department of the Army, filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts requesting that the court remand the Navigable Waters Protection Rule (NWPR) back to the agencies. EPA and the Department of the Army indicated their intent to start a new rulemaking to again revise the definition of WOTUS.

Researchers from Duke University and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) published an article: “Locally caught freshwater fish across the United States are likely a significant source of exposure to PFOS and other perfluorinated compounds” in the journal Environmental Research.

Yesterday, EWG issued a Press Release regarding the published study. The opening lines of the Press Release are presented below:
A new study by Environmental Working Group scientists finds that consumption of just a single serving of freshwater fish per year could be equal to a month of drinking water laced with the “forever chemical” PFOS at high levels that may be harmful.
Researchers calculated that eating one fish in a year equated to ingesting water with PFOS at 48 parts per trillion, or ppt, for one month.

Link to EWG Press Release:
https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/2023/01/ewg-study-eating-one-freshwater-fish-equals-month-drinking

The Press Release/study has been reported by several news outlets (examples presented below):

CNN:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/17/health/freshwater-fish-pfas-contamination-wellness/index.html

CBS News story (note the PFAS video currently posted on CBS website is from a previous PFAS segment, and is not about the EWG study):
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pfas-forever-chemicals-one-fish-us-lakes-rivers-month-contaminated-water/

NBC Chicago:
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/eating-1-fish-from-great-lakes-equal-to-drinking-months-worth-of-contaminated-water-study/3047513/

On January 14, 2023, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) published final maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) as follows:

PFOA: 14 parts per trillion (ppt)
PFOS: 18 ppt

Compliance monitoring will begin January 1, 2024 for systems serving a population over 350. Initial monitoring will be four quarterly samples at entry points to the distribution system. Detection above the minimum reporting level (MRL) will trigger repeat monitoring. DEP has set the MRL at 5 ppt for both PFOA and PFOS.

Link to DEP press release:
https://www.ahs.dep.pa.gov/NewsRoomPublic/articleviewer.aspx?id=22254&typeid=1

Link to Pennsylvania Bulletin with the PFOA and PFOS MCLs:
https://www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pabull?file=/secure/pabulletin/data/vol53/53-2/46.html

In the Pennsylvania Bulletin, the background information on PFAS begins on page 333. Actual rule language begins on page 361. The new PFAS MCLs are presented at the bottom of page 362, and the monitoring requirements are presented on page 365.

Note: In October 2022, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) submitted their draft proposed MCLs for PFOA and PFOS to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. As of today, the proposed MCLs are still under review at OMB. EPA published a “Regulatory Determination” to set MCLs for PFOA and PFOS in March 2021. Once they published that Regulatory Determination, that triggered deadlines under the Safe Drinking Water Act to publish the proposed MCLs within 24 months (by March 31, 2023) and to publish final MCLs 18 months after that (September 2024). EPA’s intent has been to publish the proposed MCLs by the end of 2022 and publish final MCLs by the end of 2023.

In mid-December 2022, the Division of Drinking Water (DDW) released a Standardized Regulatory Impact Analysis (SRIA) for the future hexavalent chromium (CrVI) maximum contaminant level (MCL).

The SRIA presents an evaluation of the costs and benefits of a 10 µg/L MCL. Table 1, page 13, presents the anticipated compliance deadlines for different sized systems.

Beginning on page 32, DDW presents an evaluation of three alternate CrVI MCLs (12 µg/L, 8 µg/L, and 1 µg/L) and a discussion as to why DDW rejected those MCLs.

When the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the final Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) under the previous administration, the Agency was sued in January 2021 by NRDC and several other groups and State Attorney Generals. In early December 2022, NRDC and Environmental Justice reported that EPA staff, in response to the lawsuit, told a federal Court that it intends to propose revisions to the LCRR (via the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) rule) by September 2023 and publish the final LCRI before October 2024 (the deadline for the lead service line inventory).

Here are links to the two posted articles:

NRDC:
https://www.nrdc.org/media/2022/221209-0

Earth Justice:
https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2022/epa-to-reconsider-stronger-rules-for-lead-in-drinking-water

Background:
On January 15, 2021 the final LCRR was published in the Federal Register. On January 20, 2021 the Biden Administration issued a Regulatory Freeze to allow Federal agencies an opportunity to review recent regulations, including the LCRR. EPA delayed the effective date of the LCR Revisions to December 16, 2021 and delayed the compliance deadline until October 16, 2024.

On December 16, 2021 EPA published a notice in the Federal Register that the LCRR will go into effect to support the development service line material inventories (of both the publicly owned and privately owned portions) by October 16, 2024. The December 16, 2021 Federal Register notice also indicated that EPA plans to develop a new proposed rulemaking (the LCRI) to strengthen key elements of the rule.

November 4, 2022 Federal Register, EPA announced that it will update the National Drinking Water Advisory Council (NDWAC) on November 30, 2022 on the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) regulation. The meeting will be a virtual meeting and will be held from 10:30 am to 5:00 pm (ET).

The agenda and information on registering for the meeting will be posted on EPA’s website at the following address (no information is currently available): https://www.epa.gov/ndwac

Background
The final Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) was published in January 2021 and was scheduled to go into effect in March 2021. The LCRR included a number of changes and modifications to the LCR. Before the LCRR went into effect, however, the new Biden Administration pulled the LCRR back for additional review and delayed the effective date until December 16, 2021.

On Dec. 16, 2021, EPA published a Federal Register notice regarding the LCRR. That notice indicated the LCRR will go into effect so as to not delay the requirement for public water systems to develop a service line material inventory that includes both the publicly owned and privately owned portions of the service line by October 16, 2024. In the December 21, 2021 Federal Register EPA also indicated that they intend to modify many of the key elements of the LCRR in a separate rulemaking (“The agency concluded that there are significant opportunities to improve the LCRR”). EPA referred to this future rule as the LCRI.

November 2, 2022, the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) Division of Drinking Water (DDW) released a second draft of the Cross-Connection Control Policy Handbook (CCCPH) for public review and comment. Comments are due by December 9, 2022.

Link to second draft of CCCPH:
https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/documents/cccph/cccph_draft_nov2022.pdf

On Monday, December 5, 2022 at 9:30, DDW will hold a public hearing on the second draft of the CCCPH. The public hearing will be available by remote video software only.

The public hearing can be viewed at the following location:
https://video.calepa.ca.gov/

Background
The current cross connection control and backflow prevention regulations were adopted in 1987 (California Code of Regulations, Title 17, Division 1 Chapter 5, Subchapter 1, Group 4, Article 1, Sections 7583 – 7604). In October 2017, AB 1671 was signed into law. AB 1671 added sections 116407 and 116555.5 and amended section 116810 of the Health and Safety Code. AB 1671 required the following:

• By January 1, 2020, the SWRCB was to adopt updated standards for backflow protection and cross connection control,
• SWRCB to hold two public hearings on proposed standards before adoption,
• The updated standards can be adopted through a “policy handbook” and do not need to follow Administrative Procedures Act requirements.

In February 2020, DDW staff held a public workshop to present their anticipated changes to cross connection control and backflow prevention regulations. The first draft of the CCCPH was published in February 2021 for review and comment, and the first of the two required public hearings was held in April 2021.

In July 2021 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the draft fifth Contaminant Candidate List (CCL5) for public review and comment. On October 28, 2022 EPA signed off on the final CCL5. EPA posted a pre-Federal Register publication copy of the final CCL5.

The “CCL 5 includes 66 chemicals, 3 chemical groups (cyanotoxins, disinfection byproducts (DBPs), and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and 12 microbial contaminants.”

The CCL5 list of chemicals begins on page 15 of the enclosed. The list of chemical groups begins on page 18, and the list of microbials is on page 19.

EPA CCL5 webpage:
https://www.epa.gov/ccl/contaminant-candidate-list-5-ccl-5

Background
Within 18 months of enactment of the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments, and then every five years thereafter, EPA is required to propose and finalize a CCL. Constituents are included on the CCL that “…are not subject to any proposed or promulgated national primary drinking water regulation, which are known or anticipated to occur in public water systems, and which may require regulation….” After publication of the CCL, EPA then goes through a review process (referred to as a Regulatory Determination) and makes an assessment as to whether a drinking water regulation should be promulgated for at least five of the constituents on the CCL.

November 1, 2022, the Division of Drinking Water (DDW) posted a copy of the new PFAS Monitoring Order. This Monitoring Order rescinds DDW’s two previous PFAS Monitoring Orders: (1) Order DW 2021-0001 and (2) Order DW 2020-0003.

This new PFAS monitoring order requires quarterly monitoring with the first sample collected before March 31, 2023. Also enclosed is the template cover letter to public water systems, and the two attachments to the Monitoring Order (Exhibit A is a list of sources that are to be monitored and Exhibit B is a list of detection levels for purposes of reporting results in Consumer Confidence Reports). Monitoring is to be conducted using EPA Method 533.