A report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) this month found that “systemic limitations” at EPA have led the agency to make regulatory determinations on drinking water contaminants based not upon which pose the greatest risk to human health, but on the limited availability of occurrence data for some chemicals. To respond to the situation, a GAO official testifying at a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing this month recommended several internal changes at EPA, but said that statutory changes to the Safe Drinking Water Act were not necessary to address the issue.
The report, Improvements in Implementation Are Needed to Better Assure the Public of Safe Drinking Water, also found that the Safe Drinking Water Act’s statutory criteria for making regulatory determinations is broad and open to varying interpretations – factors that may have contributed to EPA’s decision to only regulate one drinking water contaminant since the passage of the 1996 amendments. To address these issues, GAO recommended that EPA develop policies or guidance to help Office of Water staff make regulatory determinations based on the statutory criteria on a consistent basis.
Also appearing at the hearing, EPA Deputy Administrator Robert Perciasepe said that under the Obama Administration EPA has made “substantial progress” toward increasing the consistency and transparency of drinking water oversight, but “there is room for improvement.” To that end, Perciasepe said in the future EPA will consult with an independent panel of scientists on proposed regulatory determinations, “post the regulatory determination process publicly,” and review the process every five years.
Perciasepe told the committee that EPA’s most recent proposed contaminant candidate list contains 116 contaminants. This includes a “short list” of 32 contaminants where enough data exists to make decisions, and which is being prioritized based on the greatest public health concerns.
Copies of all the testimony from the hearing, as well as GAO’s report, are available online athttp://amwa.net/epwjl11.