Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
future regulation (published in March 2, 1998,
Federal Register
). When regulating
additional contaminants, EPA is to give priority to those contaminants that pose the
greatest threat to public health and is to consider specific subgroups, such as infants,
children, the elderly, pregnant women, individuals with a history of serious illness, or
other subgroups that may be at greater-than-average risk due to exposure to contam-
inants in drinking water. Interim regulations can be promulgated without going through
all of the steps normally required if there is an urgent threat to public health. As the
analytical ability to detect small concentrations of added contaminants improves, water
suppliers will be faced with an ever-increasing list of specific contaminant limits that
must be monitored and met.
There will be a point at which regulations reach a practical limit on regulating the
quality of water that can be produced by treatment and as measured at the exit to the
treatment plant. As a result, regulatory emphasis may shift in the future to steps de-
signed to:
•
Provide greater protection of raw-water quality in surface water watersheds or
groundwater wellheads. Most systems should already be implementing some type of
watershed or wellhead protection program, but they can expect increased attention
from customers as inventory data and protection boundaries become widely available.
Increased attention may bring increased regulation.
•
Limit water quality changes in the distribution system. Current results relative to
coliform bacteria, lead, and copper, and disinfection by-products have established prec-
edents for regulating water quality at the point of delivery to the customer, not just at
the exit from the water plant. Future regulations may well add limitations on other
constituents at the tap. For example, current limits on nitrates are at the treatment plant
exit and do not take into account the potential increases in nitrite that may occur in
the distribution system as the result of nitrification.
•
Impose increasingly stringent requirements for operator certification. Current reg-
ulations mandate the establishment of a certified operator program for all federally
regulated community and nontransient-noncommunity systems in the near future (cur-
rent deadline: February 2001). Future regulations may establish more definitive regu-
lation of operator qualification and certification.
•
Require suppliers to demonstrate the adequacy of system capacity. States are now
required to develop an implementation strategy for existing systems to acquire and
maintain system capacity by October 2000. It is conceivable that this effort may be
followed by added regulations designed to compensate for any perceived inadequacies
of this initial effort.
•
Establish requirements for the technical, managerial, and financial capabilities of
the water supplier. In order to receive state revolving fund loans, a water supplier must
already demonstrate that it has the technical, managerial, and financial ability to com-
ply with SDWA requirements. Regulatory intervention in these areas may well increase
in the future.
The prudent water supplier will adopt and regularly update a strategic plan for
anticipating and dealing with a changing regulatory environment.
Additional Information
For an additional detailed information of the Legislative and Regulatory History of the
Safe Drinking Water Act, please refer to the comprehensive discussion by Pontius, F.
W., and Clark, S. W., Chapter 1,
Water Quality & Treatment
, 5th Ed., AWWA, 1999.
