[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2108 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2108

To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to increase consumer confidence in 
    safe drinking water and source water assessments, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 9, 1999

 Mr. Pallone (for himself, Mr. Franks of New Jersey, Mr. Markey, Mrs. 
Capps, Mr. Andrews, Mr. Bonior, Mr. Hinchey, and Mr. Lewis of Georgia) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to increase consumer confidence in 
    safe drinking water and source water assessments, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION. 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Drinking Water Right-to-Know Act of 
1999''.

SEC. 2. RADIUM 224 IN DRINKING WATER.

    Section 1412(b)(13) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300g-
1(b)(13)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(H) Radium 224 in drinking water.--A national 
                primary drinking water regulation for radionuclides 
                promulgated under this paragraph shall require testing 
                drinking water for the presence of radium 224 not later 
                than 48 hours after taking a sample of the drinking 
                water.''.

SEC. 3. CONSUMER CONFIDENCE REPORTS BY COMMUNITY WATER SYSTEMS.

    Section 1414(c)(4) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300g-
3(c)(4)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (A)--
                    (A) by striking ``The Administrator'' and inserting 
                the following:
                            ``(i) In general.--The Administrator'';
                    (B) in the first sentence--
                            (i) by striking ``customer of'' and 
                        inserting ``consumer of the drinking water 
                        provided by''; and
                            (ii) by inserting before the period at the 
                        end the following: ``that includes a report on 
                        the level of each contaminant that--
                                    ``(I) may be difficult to detect in 
                                finished water; and
                                    ``(II) may be present at levels 
                                that present a public health concern in 
                                finished water;'';
                    (C) in the second sentence, by striking ``Such 
                regulations shall provide'' and inserting the 
                following:
                            ``(ii) Regulations.--The regulations 
                        shall--
                                    ``(I) provide'';
                    (D) by striking ``contaminant. The regulations 
                shall also include'' and inserting ``contaminant;
                                    ``(II) include'';
                    (E) by striking ``water. The regulations shall also 
                provide'' and inserting ``water;
                                    ``(III) provide'';
                    (F) by striking the period at the end of the 
                subparagraph and inserting ``; and''; and
                    (G) by adding at the end the following:
                                    ``(IV) direct public water systems 
                                to mail consumer confidence reports to 
                                residential consumers and mail consumer 
                                confidence reports suitable for posting 
                                to customers providing water to non-
                                residential consumers, in addition to 
                                other methods provided for by the 
                                regulations.'';
            (2) in subparagraph (B), by inserting after clause (vi) the 
        following:
                            ``(vii) The requirement that each community 
                        water system shall report to consumers of 
                        drinking water supplied by that community water 
                        system--
                                    ``(I) any detection of a 
                                contaminant described in section 
                                1453(a)(2)(D);
                                    ``(II) any known or potential 
                                health effects of each contaminant 
                                detected in the drinking water, to the 
                                maximum level of specificity 
                                practicable, including known or 
                                potential health effects of each 
                                contaminant on children, pregnant 
                                women, and other vulnerable 
                                subpopulations, as determined by the 
                                Administrator;
                                    ``(III) known or suspected sources 
                                of contaminants detected in the 
                                drinking water identified by name and 
                                location; and
                                    ``(IV) information on any health 
                                advisory issued for the contaminant, 
                                including actions that consumers can 
                                take to protect themselves from 
                                contamination in the drinking water 
                                supplied by the community water 
                                system.'';
            (3) in subparagraph (C)--
                    (A) in clause (i), by striking ``its customers'' 
                and inserting ``consumers of drinking water provided by 
                the system''; and
                    (B) in clause (iii), by striking ``customers of'' 
                and inserting ``consumers of its drinking water'';
            (4) in clause (ii) of the second sentence of subparagraph 
        (D), by striking ``of its customers'' and inserting ``consumer 
        of its drinking water''; and
            (5) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(F) Notice of newly detected contamination with 
                potential to have adverse health effects.--The 
                procedures under subparagraph (D) shall specify that 
a public water system shall provide written notice to each consumer by 
mail or direct delivery--
                            ``(i) as soon as practicable, but not later 
                        than 30 days after the date of discovery of new 
                        contamination or a significant increase in 
                        contamination (as compared to the level of 
                        contamination reported in any previous consumer 
                        confidence report) by a regulated contaminant 
                        that is above the maximum contaminant level 
                        goal for that contaminant; or
                            ``(ii) as soon as practicable, but not 
                        later than 30 days after the date of the 
                        discovery of new contamination or the detection 
                        of a significant increase in contamination (as 
                        compared to the level of contamination reported 
                        in any previous consumer confidence report) by 
                        an unregulated contaminant.
                    ``(G) Definition of consumer.--In this paragraph, 
                the term `consumer' includes--
                            ``(i) a customer of a public water system; 
                        and
                            ``(ii) the ultimate consumer of the 
                        drinking water.''.

SEC. 4. SOURCE WATER ASSESSMENTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 1453(a)(2) of the Safe Drinking Water Act 
(42 U.S.C. 300j-13(a)(2)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting a semicolon; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) assess the susceptibility of each public 
                water system in the delineated areas to any contaminant 
                that--
                            ``(i) is subject to a national primary 
                        drinking water regulation promulgated under 
                        section 1412;
                            ``(ii) is included on a list of unregulated 
                        contaminants that is published under section 
                        1412(b)(1)(B);
                            ``(iii) is the subject of a health advisory 
                        that has been published by the Administrator;
                            ``(iv) is monitored under the source water 
                        assessment program established under this 
                        subsection;
                            ``(v) is known or suspected to be from a 
                        pollution source, including--
                                    ``(I) a nonpoint source;
                                    ``(II) a facility subject to the 
                                Comprehensive Environmental Response, 
                                Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 
                                (42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.); or
                                    ``(III) a factory or other 
                                operating facility that generates, 
                                treats, stores, disposes of, or 
                                releases a material regulated or 
                                reported under--
                                            ``(aa) the Federal Water 
                                        Pollution Control Act (33 
                                        U.S.C. 1251 et seq.);
                                            ``(bb) the Solid Waste 
                                        Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et 
                                        seq.);
                                            ``(cc) the Clean Air Act 
                                        (42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.); or
                                            ``(dd) section 313 of the 
                                        Superfund Amendments and 
                                        Reauthorization Act of 1986 (42 
                                        U.S.C. 11023); or
                            ``(vi) is monitored by the United States 
                        Geological Survey under the National Water 
                        Quality Assessment program;
                    ``(D) identify each contaminant described in 
                subparagraph (C) that the State determines presents a 
                threat to public health;
                    ``(E) for each assessment under subparagraph (C), 
                require monitoring for contaminants described in 
                subparagraph (C) if the State determines that a 
                contaminant may have been released by a potentially 
                significant source;
                    ``(F) identify, with the maximum specificity 
                practicable, known or suspected sources of pollution 
                that may threaten public health;
                    ``(G) apply to wellheads, groundwater recharge 
                areas, watersheds, and other assessment areas 
                determined to be appropriate by the Administrator; and
                    ``(H) be developed, updated, and implemented in 
                cooperation with members of the general public that are 
                served by each source water assessment area included in 
                the program.''.
    (b) Public Availability.--Section 1453(a)(7) of the Safe Drinking 
Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j-13(a)(7)) is amended by inserting ``and all 
documentation related to the assessments'' after ``assessments''.
    (c) Plans.--Section 1453(a) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 
U.S.C. 300j-13(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(8) Plans.--
                    ``(A) Initial plan.--Not later than 1 year after 
                the date of enactment of this paragraph, the State 
                shall submit to the Administrator the plan of the State 
                for carrying out this subsection.
                    ``(B) Updates.--Not later than 5 years after the 
                date of the initial submission of the plan and every 5 
                years thereafter, the State shall update, and submit to 
                the Administrator, the plan of the State for carrying 
                out this subsection.''.
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