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The EPA announced seven priority areas for enforcement and compliance assurance for FY 2020–FY 2023. Six of these areas are National Compliance Initiatives (NCIs),  which are the core of the NCI program. The goal of the NCI program is to achieve increased compliance with environmental regulations through enforcement actions and other compliance assurance tools. These activities will be led by EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.

One of the priority areas focuses on reducing noncompliance with drinking water standards at community water systems (CWSs). According to EPA’s news release, “an initial focus of this NCI is to work with the EPA’s Office of Water to increase capacity in states, tribes and the EPA to address drinking water violations. The objective is to support the FY 2018–FY 2022 Agency Strategic Plan goal of reducing by 25% by the end of FY 2022 the number of CWSs that are out of compliance with health-based standards. In FY 2018, 7% of the nation’s CWSs had at least one health-based violation.”

The seventh, non-NCI priority area, will contribute to EPA’s goal of reducing childhood lead exposures through the Federal Lead Action Plan. According to the agency, these efforts may include:

  1. increasing compliance with—and awareness of the importance of—lead-safe renovations under the Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) rule;

  2. developing a mapping tool to identify communities with elevated lead exposures;

  3. conducting targeted geographic initiatives; and

  4. undertaking public awareness campaigns on lead issues.