On May 28, California’s Department of Public Health (CDPH) finalized a rule setting a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for hexavalent chromium (CrVI) at 10 parts per billion (ppb) in drinking water. The 10 ppb enforceable limit is significantly higher than California’s public health goal for CrVI of 0.02 ppb. Implementation of the 10 ppb standard, which was set taking technical feasibility and cost into account as required under California law, is projected to cost $156 million per year statewide. Information on the CrVI proposal is available at CDPH’s Hexavalent Chromium MCL webpage.
At the Federal level, EPA is moving forward with its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessment of CrVI. The CrVI assessment has been added to the agenda for EPA’s public bimonthly IRIS meeting to be held on June 25-27 in Arlington, VA. During the meeting, EPA will take comment on preliminary materials supporting its assessment. Once completed, the IRIS CrVI assessment will inform EPA’s decision on whether further regulation is needed at the federal level. Additional information on the bimonthly IRIS meeting, including links to the preliminary materials, is available on EPA’s webpage for the meeting.