Washington Update

Having devoted most of this session to budgetary matters, the 105th Congress delayed consideration of major environmental and regulatory reform legislation. On the regulatory front, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues the process of implementing the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996.

Regulatory Impact Analysis

The EPA is holding a series of stakeholder meetings as it develops the new regulatory impact analysis framework for drinking water regulations. The Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 require the EPA to conduct cost-benefit analysis for proposed national primary drinking water regulations. Stakeholders have been asked for input on the various components of such analysis, including treatment design and costs, baseline estimates and benefits analysis. The EPA is consulting a wide range of stakeholders representing state and tribal governments, public water systems, public health organizations, environmental and other interest groups, academics, engineering firms and other interested parties.

Small Systems Technologies

The EPA has published a list of Surface Water Treatment Rule compliance technologies for small water systems. With an emphasis on controlling microbial contaminants, the list includes chlorine in solid, liquid and gas forms and chlorine dioxide as disinfectants appropriate for use by small systems. New research shows that chlorine dioxide combined with chlorine may be an effective barrier against Cryptosporidium.

Groundwater Disinfection Rule

Under another mandate of the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996, the EPA continues working with stakeholders to advance a Groundwater Disinfection Rule to establish disinfection requirements for groundwater systems. The purpose of this new rule is to prevent the several million illnesses annually attributed to contaminated groundwater. In every decade since 1920, 43 to 56 percent of disease outbreaks reported in all types of water systems were caused by contaminated, inadequately treated groundwater. Chlorination is likely to be included as one among Best Available Technologies for disinfection. Recent meetings have focused on methods for detecting pathogens, especially viruses, in groundwater.

D/DBP Rule

The EPA published an updated version of the Disinfectants/Disinfection By-products Rule in the Federal Register of November 3, 1997. Among issues open for public comment are compliance time frames that could be problematic for small systems.

Regulatory Reform

Following the failure of regulatory reform legislation in 1995, a new bill was introduced in 1997 by Senators Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Fred Thompson R-Tenn.). The Regulatory Improvement Act of 1997 (S. 981) has strong bipartisan cosponsorship. Supporters of the bill predict that, if enacted, it could provide more protection for public health and the environment at less cost than the current mix of regulatory programs. Risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis provisions are described as flexible enough to accommodate reasonable assumptions of risk and consideration of unquantifiable benefits and costs, where necessary. The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee held the first hearing on S. 981 in September.