EPA responded to AMWA’s January 27 letter to Administrator Lisa Jackson about the agency’s Cr-VI guidance by initiating a meeting between Deputy Administrator Bob Perciasepe and AMWA staff. During the meeting EPA said it would revise the Cr-VI guidance to further explain its recommendations about proper analytical technique. EPA is also working with state drinking water programs to craft a risk communication message that states and utilities could use to communicate to the public. The timeline for these actions was not specified.
Finally, EPA said that the timeline for proceeding with a regulatory standard for Cr-VI would not begin until the peer review of EPA’s IRIS assessment of the chemical is complete. The peer review panel will likely be convened in the spring.