During its meeting last week, the National Drinking Water Advisory Council (NDWAC) unanimously agreed to establish a working group to provide recommendations for potential revisions to EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule (LCR). Long-term revisions to the LCR have been on the agency’s agenda for several years, but the process has stalled largely due to the complexities involved in developing potential changes.
After almost a full day of discussions on the issues at play for revising the LCR, NDWAC members endorsed the formation of a workgroup that will include representatives from a wide range of stakeholders, as well as several current NDWAC members. EPA’s proposed schedule for the workgroup has it convening early in January, with meetings going throughout 2014. At the end of its deliberations, the workgroup will report back to the full NDWAC, which will then make its final recommendations to the EPA Administrator.
The other topic garnering significant discussion during NDWAC’s meeting, taking up the bulk of the meeting’s second day, was emerging concerns about the increased occurrence of harmful algal blooms (HABs) in water supplies and algal toxins potentially making their way into public water supplies. NDWAC is contemplating recommendations to the EPA Administrator for increased focus on the issue and potential actions to better understand the science and regulatory implications of this increasing prevalent threat to drinking water supplies.
A full NDWAC meeting summary, including all presentations made to the council, will be posted to EPA’s NDWAC website in the coming weeks.