The National Drinking Water Advisory Council (NDWAC) Lead and Copper Working Group held its seventh, and presumed final, in-person meeting on June 24 and 25 to discuss potential revisions to the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR). During this meeting, the working group deliberated on a fourth draft of recommendations outlining potential LCR revisions for the full NDWAC to consider before submitting them to EPA.
The majority of working group members have lined up behind a revised LCR approach focused on a program of complete lead service line removal. Such a removal program would be accompanied by more robust outreach and education as well as revised monitoring and corrosion control requirements that would work together to help reach removal goals while being implementable for both utilities and state regulators. For copper, there is a clearer consensus that it needs to be evaluated separately from lead and in line with the current science on the occurrence and health risks of copper in drinking water.
During a webinar prior to the in-person working group meeting, the full NDWAC was briefed on the current draft LCR recommendations and had an opportunity to express initial questions and concerns for the working group to consider as it finalizes its report. Several of the NDWAC members were impressed with the “visionary” and “out-of-the-box” nature of the working group’s draft recommendations. However, there appeared to be equal concern with the potential impacts and implementability of the recommendations, with some members indicated a desire for additional quantified impact analyses (even if preliminary) that would assist in their evaluation and recommendation process.
Many of the details and specific wording in the report still need ironing out based on the recent meeting’s discussions, and the working group will continue to work on those details over the next few months before submitting the report for full NDWAC review during their next meeting (currently anticipated for this fall).