[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 67 (Friday, April 5, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15253-15254]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-8482]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-5453-8]


EPA's Drinking Water Health Advisory Program

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Announcement of a stakeholder meeting on the Drinking Water 
Health Advisory Program.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has scheduled a 
one-day public meeting on EPA's Drinking Water Health Advisory Program. 
The purpose of this meeting is to have a dialogue with stakeholders and 
the public at large on the future of EPA's Drinking Water Health 
Advisory Program. This program is non-regulatory and is designed to 
provide guidance to individuals and government officials on the health 
effects of drinking water contaminants. The upcoming meeting is a 
continuation of a series of meetings with stakeholders that started in 
1995 to obtain input on the Agency's Drinking Water Program. These 
meetings were initiated as part of the Drinking Water Program 
Redirection efforts to help refocus EPA's drinking water priorities and 
to take a risk-based approach in the allocation of program resources. 
Thus, the Agency seeks to ensure that the highest priority chemicals 
are targeted for public health protection. At the upcoming meeting, EPA 
is seeking input from stakeholders on a number of issues related to the 
Health Advisory Program

[[Page 15254]]
as a first step in the assessment of this program's effectiveness.

DATES: The stakeholder meeting on the Drinking Water Health Advisory 
Program will be held on May 21, 1996 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

ADDRESSES: Resolve, Inc. (an EPA contractor) is utilizing TLI Systems, 
Inc. as a subcontractor to provide logistical support for the 
stakeholders meeting. The meeting will be held at the Resolve, Inc. 
offices at 2828 Pennsylvania Avenue (Suite 402), N.W. Washington, D.C. 
20007.
    Members of the public may submit written comments pertaining to the 
Drinking Water Health Advisory Program to: Ms. Barbara Corcoran, Office 
of Science and Technology, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, (Mail 
Code: 4304), 401 M Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20460. It would be 
most helpful for the success of the meeting to receive written comments 
10 working days prior to the meeting.
    Members of the public wishing to attend the meeting may register by 
phone by contacting Ms. Adriane Alexander at TLI Systems, Inc. (Phone: 
301-718-2276, ext. 500) by May 10. Those registered for the meeting 
will receive background materials at least one week prior to the 
meeting.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general information about the 
meeting logistics, please contact Ms. Adriane Alexander at TLI Systems, 
Inc., 4340 East West Highway, Suite 1120, Bethesda, Maryland 20814 
(Phone: 301-718-2276, ext. 500); Fax: 301-718-2277).
    For information on the Drinking Water Health Advisory Program, 
please contact Ms. Barbara Corcoran, at the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, 401 M Street, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20460 (Phone: 
202-260-1332; Fax: 202-260-1036).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Background on the Drinking Water Health Advisory Program

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Drinking Water Health 
Advisory Program was initiated in 1978 to provide information and 
guidance to individuals or agencies concerned with potential risk from 
drinking water contaminants for which no national regulations exist. 
Health Advisories are developed for contaminants that meet two 
criteria: (1) The contaminant has the potential to cause adverse health 
effects in exposed humans; and (2) the contaminant is either known to 
occur or might reasonably be expected to occur in drinking water 
supplies. Each Health Advisory contains information on the nature of 
the adverse health effects associated with the contaminant and the 
concentrations of the contaminant that would not be anticipated to 
cause an adverse effect following various periods of exposure. Health 
Advisories are developed for one-day, ten-day, longer term 
(approximately 7 years, or 10% of an individual's lifetime) and 
lifetime exposure based on data describing noncarcinogenic end points 
of toxicity. In addition, the Health Advisory summarizes information on 
available analytical methods and treatment techniques for the 
contaminant. To date, EPA has issued over 150 Health Advisories 
covering a wide variety of inorganic, pesticides and nonpesticide 
organic chemicals, munition related compounds, and microbials.

B. Request for Stakeholder Involvement

    EPA began a series of stakeholder meetings in March of 1995 to 
obtain input on a number of issues related to the Agency's Drinking 
Water Program. Separate stakeholder meetings were conducted on 
priorities for the Drinking Water Program; scientific data needs; 
treatment technology; health assessment; analytical methods; source 
water protection; small systems capacity building; focusing and 
improving implementation; revising chemical monitoring requirements and 
defining source protection as a best available technology (BAT); and 
other revisions to strengthen enforcement and implementation. Input 
from those meetings helped the Agency in the development of a draft 
comprehensive drinking water redirection plan released for public 
comment on November 19, 1995 (USEPA, Drinking Water Program Redirection 
Proposal, A Public Comment Draft; EPA 810-D-95-001. Nov. 1995).
    The upcoming meeting deals specifically with EPA's efforts to 
assess the existing Drinking Water Health Advisory Program in order to 
determine what changes should be made to this program to make it more 
effective in the future. The specific issues for discussion at the 
meeting include (but may not be limited to) the following:
    (1) How and when are drinking water health advisories used by State 
governments and others?
    (2) Are less-than-lifetime health advisory values used, and if so, 
how?
    (3) Do you suggest any changes to the current health advisory 
methodology?
    (4) What chemicals are of greatest concern for development of new 
health advisories?
    (5) Which existing Health Advisories should be revised?
    (6) How should the agency prioritize chemicals for the health 
advisory program in the future?
    (7) Is the present format and content of the health advisory 
documents useful? Would you like other kinds of information included 
than currently provided?
    (8) Do you find the summary Fact Sheets useful? Should EPA continue 
this practice?
    (9) Are the summary tables on the status of health advisories 
helpful? Should EPA include additional information to the summary 
tables? What kind of information (e.g., critical endpoints, analytical 
methods, treatment technologies)?
    (10) Would it be useful to develop a clearinghouse on States-
developed health advisories? How would it work?
    (11) What mechanisms for obtaining current information on the 
Health Advisory Program are most useful to you?
    (12) Do States and other stakeholders need guidance on how to use 
health advisories?
    (13) Should EPA expand the scope of the Health Advisory Program to 
incorporate information on other water quality issues (e.g., aquatic 
life concerns, fish contamination levels safe for human consumption, 
etc.)?
    EPA has convened this public meeting to hear the views of 
stakeholders on how the current Health Advisory Program is working and 
how it can be improved. The public is invited to provide comments on 
the issues listed above or other issues related to the Health Advisory 
Program in writing or during the May 21, 1996 meeting.

    Dated: March 26, 1996.
 Tudor T. Davies,
Director, Office of Science and Technology.
[FR Doc. 96-8482 Filed 4-4-96; 8:45 am]
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