The working group of the National Drinking Water Advisory Council (NDWAC) established to review potential revisions to the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR), held its first meeting on March 25 and 26. This initial meeting focused on providing background material to the workgroup members before moving into a more detailed discussion of corrosion control techniques.
A good portion of the corrosion control discussion revolved around the premise of whether some form of “re-optimization” should be required for systems and what would trigger such a requirement. However, no strong consensus was reached on a recommended path forward due to the complexity of the issue. In particular, many workgroup members struggled with how much impact changes in corrosion control practices would have and the weight to give such potential changes in comparison to other issues yet to be discussed (and where bigger risk reductions are probable).
Follow-up meetings and conference calls will be scheduled throughout 2014 and early 2015 to address other major components of the LCR, including sampling protocols, lead service line replacement and public education. Based on that schedule, recommendations from the workgroup, and subsequently, the full NDWAC, are not expected to reach the EPA Administrator until well into 2015. Following the submission of NDWAC recommendations, development of further analyses and typical review processes are likely to push the proposal of a revised LCR into late 2015.
AMWA member Robert Steidel, City of Richmond Virginia Director of Utilities, was appointed as a member of the NDWAC workgroup reviewing potential revisions to the LCR. AMWA staff is also attending all meetings and will provide continual updates on the process.