[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 796 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 796

  To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to ensure that drinking water 
  consumers are informed about the risks posed by arsenic in drinking 
                                 water.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 26, 2001

  Mrs. Boxer (for herself, Mr. Reid, Mr. Lieberman, Mrs. Clinton, Mr. 
Corzine, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. Wellstone) introduced the following bill; 
 which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and 
                              Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to ensure that drinking water 
  consumers are informed about the risks posed by arsenic in drinking 
                                 water.

    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 ``Community Right-to-Know Arsenic Risk 
Act''.

SEC. 2. NOTICE CONCERNING RISKS POSED BY ARSENIC IN DRINKING WATER.

    Part F of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j-21 et seq.) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 1466. NOTICE CONCERNING RISKS POSED BY ARSENIC IN DRINKING 
              WATER.

    ``(a) In General.--A consumer confidence report prepared by a 
community water system under section 141.154 of title 40, Code of 
Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation), shall include a short 
educational statement concerning arsenic that--
            ``(1) uses language such as the following: `While your 
        drinking water meets EPA's standard for arsenic, it does 
        contain arsenic. EPA's standard is based not only on the 
        possible health effects of arsenic, but also on the costs of 
        removing arsenic from drinking water. EPA continues to research 
        the health effects of arsenic ingestion, which is a mineral 
        known to cause cancer in humans at high concentrations and is 
        linked to other health effects such as skin damage and 
        circulatory problems.'; or
            ``(2) uses substantially similar language developed by the 
        community water system in consultation with the State agency 
        having jurisdiction over safe drinking water matters.
    ``(b) Applicability.--Subsection (a) applies to any community water 
system that--
            ``(1) is required to prepare and deliver consumer 
        confidence reports under subpart O of title 40, Code of Federal 
        Regulations (or a successor regulation); and
            ``(2)(A) with respect to a report required to be delivered 
        under that subpart not later than July 1, 2001, detects arsenic 
        in the drinking water provided by the community water system at 
        a level that is above 0.025 milligrams per liter but below the 
        maximum contaminant level; and
            ``(B) with respect to a report required to be delivered 
        under that subpart after July 1, 2001, detects arsenic in the 
        drinking water provided by the community water system at a 
        level that is above 0.005 milligrams per liter but that is 
        equal to or below the maximum contaminant level.''.
                                 <all>