[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 87 (Thursday, May 4, 2000)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 25982-26049]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-9534]



[[Page 25981]]

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Part II





Environmental Protection Agency





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40 CFR Part 9 et al.



National Primary Drinking Water Regulations: Public Notification Rule; 
Final Rule

  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 87 / Thursday, May 4, 2000 / Rules 
and Regulations  

[[Page 25982]]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Parts 9, 141, 142 and 143

[FRL-6580-2]
RIN 2040-AD06


National Primary Drinking Water Regulations: Public Notification 
Rule

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: Today, EPA is publishing final regulations to revise the 
general public notification regulations for public water systems to 
implement the public notification requirements of the 1996 Safe 
Drinking Water Act (SDWA) amendments. The regulations set the 
requirements that public water systems must follow regarding the form, 
manner, frequency, and content of a public notice. Public notification 
of violations is an integral part of the public health protection and 
consumer right-to-know provisions of the 1996 SDWA amendments. Owners 
and operators of public water systems are required to notify persons 
served when they fail to comply with the requirements of the National 
Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWR); have a variance or 
exemption from the drinking water regulations; or are facing other 
situations posing a risk to public health. EPA is also publishing today 
revisions to the Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) regulation to be 
consistent with the final public notification regulation.

DATES: Today's rule is effective June 5, 2000. However, the new 
regulations under Part 141, Subpart Q do not apply to public water 
systems in States with primacy for the public water system supervision 
program until May 6, 2002 or until the State-adopted rule becomes 
effective, whichever comes first. The new regulations under Part 141, 
Subpart Q also do not apply to public water systems in jurisdictions 
where EPA directly implements the program until October 31, 2000. Until 
the new regulations under Part 141, Subpart Q apply, public water 
systems must continue to comply with the public notification 
requirements under Sec. 141.32. For purposes of judicial review, this 
final rule is promulgated as of 1 p.m. Eastern time on May 18, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the public comments received, EPA responses, and 
all other supporting documents are available for review at the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency; 401 M Street SW, Water Docket (MC-
4101), Docket #W-98-19, Room EB 57, Washington, DC 20460. For an 
appointment to review the docket, call 202-260-3027 between 9 a.m. and 
3:30 p.m. and refer to docket W-98-19.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The Safe Drinking Water Hotline, toll 
free (800) 426-4791 for general information about the rule and copies 
of this document. For technical inquiries, contact Carl B. Reeverts at 
(202) 260-7273 or e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Acronyms Used in This Rule

CCR  Consumer Confidence Report
CWS  Community Water System
DBP  Disinfection Byproduct
EPA  Environmental Protection Agency
HPC  Heterotrophic Plate Count
IESWTR  Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule
IOC  Inorganic Chemical
LCR  Lead and Copper Rule
MCL  Maximum Contaminant Level
MCLG  Maximum Contaminant Level Goal
MRDL  Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level
MRDLG  Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level Goal
NCWS  Non-Community Water System
NPDWR  National Primary Drinking Water Regulation
NTNCWS  Non-Transient Non-Community Water System
NTU  Nephelometric Turbidity Unit
OGWDW  Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water
OW  Office of Water
PN  Public Notification
PWS  Public Water System
SDWA  Safe Drinking Water Act
SMCL  Secondary Maximum Contaminant Level
SOC  Synthetic Organic Chemical
SWTR  Surface Water Treatment Rule
TCR  Total Coliform Rule
TT  Treatment Technique
TWS  Transient Non-Community Water System
VOC  Volatile Organic Chemical

Table of Contents

I. Statutory Authority
II. Regulation Background
III. Significant Decisions Affecting the Final Rule
IV. Discussion of Final Rule
    A. Purpose and Applicability
    B. Effective Dates and Rationale
    C. Summary of Changes to Current Public Notification 
Requirements
    D. ``Plain Language'' Format of Final Rule
    E. General Provisions of Final Rule (Sec. 141.201)
    1. Who Must Give Public Notice?
    2. What Type of Public Notice is Required for Each Situation?
    3. Who Must Be Notified?
    F. Form, Manner, and Frequency of the Tier 1 Public Notice: 
Violations and Situations With Significant Potential to Have Serious 
Adverse Effects on Human Health as a Result of Short-Term Exposure 
(Sec. 141.202)
    1. Tier 1 Violations and Situations
    2. Timing of the Tier 1 Public Notice (and Consultation 
Requirement)
    3. Form and Manner of the Delivery of the Tier 1 Notice
    G. Form, Manner, and Frequency of the Tier 2 Public Notice: 
Other Violations With Potential To Have Serious Adverse Effects on 
Human Health (Sec. 141.203)
    1. Tier 2 Violations and Situations
    2. Timing of the Tier 2 Public Notice
    3. Form and Manner of the Delivery of the Tier 2 Notice
    H. Form, Manner, and Frequency of the Tier 3 Public Notice: All 
Other Violations and Situations Requiring Public Notice 
(Sec. 141.204)
    1. Tier 3 Violations and Situations
    2. Timing of the Tier 3 Public Notice
    3. Form and Manner of the Delivery of the Tier 3 Notice
    4. Option to Use an Annual Notice, Including the CCR, to Deliver 
Tier 3 Notices
    I. Content of the Public Notice (Sec. 141.205)
    1. Standard Elements of the Public Notice
    2. Multilingual Requirements for Public Notices
    3. Standard Health Effects Language
    4. Standard Language for Monitoring and Testing Procedure 
Violations
    5. Standard Language to Encourage Customers Receiving the Public 
Notice To Distribute the Notice to Other Persons Served
    J. Other Public Notification Requirements
    1. Notice to New Billing Units or New Customers (Sec. 141.206)
    2. Special Notice to Announce the Availability of the Results of 
Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring (Sec. 141.207)
    3. Special Notice for Exceedance of the Fluoride Secondary 
Maximum Contaminant Level (SMCL) (Sec. 141.208)
    4. Special Notice for Nitrate Exceedances Above the MCL by Non-
Community Water Systems (NCWS), Where Granted Permission by Primacy 
Agency Under Sec. 141.11(d) (Sec. 141.209)
    5. Conditions Under Which the Primacy Agency May Give Notice on 
Behalf of Public Water System (Sec. 141.210)
    K. Reporting to the Primacy Agency and Retention of Records
    1. Public Water System Reporting to the Primacy Agency 
(Sec. 141.31)
    2. Retention of Records by Public Water Systems (Sec. 141.33)
    L. Other Changes to the Current Code of Federal Regulations 
(CFR) To Be Consistent With the Final Public Notification 
Regulations
    M. Special State/Tribal Primacy Requirements and Rationale (40 
CFR Part 142, Subpart B)
V. Changes to the Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) Regulation To Be 
Consistent With the Final Public Notification Regulation
VI. Cost of Rule
VII. Other Administrative Requirements

[[Page 25983]]

    A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Review
    B. Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), as amended by the Small 
Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (SBREFA), 5 
U.S.C. 601 et seq.
    C. Paperwork Reduction Act
    D. Executive Order 13132: Federalism
    E. Executive Order 13084: Consultation and Coordination With 
Indian Tribal Governments
    F. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
    G. Executive Order 12898: Environmental Justice
    H. Executive Order 13045: Protection of Children From 
Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks
    I. National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act
    J. Congressional Review Act

    Regulated Entities. Entities potentially regulated by this action 
are public water systems (PWS). The following table provides examples 
of the regulated entities under this rule. A public water system, as 
defined by section 1401 of SDWA, is ``a system for the provision of 
water for human consumption through pipes or other constructed 
conveyances, if such system has at least fifteen service connections or 
regularly serves at least twenty-five individuals.'' EPA defines 
``regularly served'' as receiving water from the system sixty or more 
days per year. EPA has an inventory totaling over 170,000 public water 
systems nationwide.

                       Table of Regulated Entities
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           Category                  Examples of regulated entities
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State/Local/Tribal             Publicly-owned PWSs, such as
 governments.                   municipalities; county governments,
                                water districts, water and sewer
                                authorities, state governments, and
                                other publicly-owned entities that
                                deliver drinking water as an adjunct to
                                their primary business (e.g., schools,
                                State parks, roadside rest stops).
Industry.....................  Privately-owned PWSs, such as private
                                utilities, homeowner associations, and
                                other privately-owned entities that
                                deliver drinking water as an adjunct to
                                their primary business (e.g., trailer
                                parks, factories, retirement homes, day-
                                care centers).
Federal government...........  Federally-owned PWSs, such as water
                                systems on military bases.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The table is not intended to be exhaustive but rather provides a 
guide for readers regarding entities likely to be regulated by this 
action. This table lists the types of entities that EPA is now aware 
could potentially be regulated by this action. Other types of entities 
not listed in this table could also be regulated. To determine whether 
your facility is regulated by this action, you should carefully examine 
the applicability criteria in Sec. 141.201 of the rule. If you have 
questions regarding the applicability of this section to a particular 
entity, consult the person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT section.

I. Statutory Authority

    Section 114 of the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 
(Public Law 104-182), enacted August 6, 1996, amended section 1414(c) 
of the Act (42 U.S.C. 300g-3(c)). Sections 1414(c)(1) and (c)(2) were 
significantly revised and require EPA to amend the existing public 
notification regulations. The amended rules are intended to give 
consumers more accurate and timely information on violations, taking 
into account the seriousness of any potential adverse health effects 
that may be involved. There is no deadline for promulgating the revised 
public notification rule, but EPA is publishing the final rule today to 
enable States to coordinate public notification rule adoption and 
implementation with the ongoing adoption and implementation of the 
Consumer Confidence Report regulations.
    The public notification (PN) provisions were part of the original 
SDWA in 1974 and were subsequently modified in the 1986 SDWA 
amendments. The public notification regulations currently in place were 
promulgated in 1987 and became effective in 1989 (40 CFR 141.32). The 
existing rule remains in place until the new rule goes into effect.
    SDWA Section 1414(c)(1) establishes who must give public notice, 
under what circumstances a notice must be given, and who must receive 
the notice. Section 1414(c)(1)(A) requires that all public water 
systems (PWS) give notice to persons served of any failure to comply 
with any national primary drinking water regulations (NPDWR), including 
any required monitoring. Section 1414(c)(1)(B) further requires a PWS 
to provide a notice when it is operating under a variance or exemption, 
or when a PWS fails to comply with the requirements of a variance or 
exemption. Section 1414(c)(1)(C) authorizes EPA, at the Administrator's 
discretion, to require PWSs to provide notice of the concentration 
level of any unregulated contaminant monitored under EPA regulations. 
Except for the addition of paragraph (C) of section 1414(c)(1), these 
requirements are unchanged from the previous SDWA.
    Section 1414(c)(2) sets the specific requirements for the form, 
manner, and frequency of a notice. Section 1414(c)(2)(A) requires EPA 
to issue regulations, after consultation with the States, that 
prescribe the detailed public notification requirements. The 
regulations must provide for different frequencies of notices based on 
the persistence of the violations and the seriousness of any potential 
adverse health effects that may be involved. Except for the explicit 
requirement in the 1996 amendments that EPA consult with the States 
prior to promulgating the revised regulations, the general directions 
to EPA for issuing regulations are unchanged.
    Section 1414(c)(2)(B) enables States, at their option, to establish 
alternate requirements with respect to the form and content of the 
public notice, as long as the alternative State program provides the 
same type and amount of information as required under the EPA 
regulations. This section was added as a result of the 1996 amendments.
    Section 1414(c)(2)(C) directs EPA to issue regulations which 
require PWSs to distribute a notice within 24 hours to persons served 
for violations with potential to have serious adverse effects on human 
health from short-term exposure. The PWS is also required to send the 
same notice to the primacy agency and to consult with the primacy 
agency within the same 24-hour period on any additional public notice 
requirements. This section is also a new statutory requirement.
    Section 1414(c)(2)(D) directs that EPA's regulations require PWS to 
provide written notice to each person served for each violation not 
covered under Section 1414(c)(2)(C). The section specifies that the 
notice may be: (1) In the first bill, if any, after the violation; (2) 
in an annual report issued no later than one year after the violation; 
or (3)

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by mail or direct delivery as soon as practicable, but no later than 
one year after the violation. This section significantly revises and 
simplifies the previous statutory requirements on the form, manner, and 
timing of the notice.
    Section 1414(c)(2)(E) allows the Administrator the option to 
require a PWS to give notice to persons served of the results of 
unregulated contaminant monitoring required by EPA under section 
1445(a). EPA recently published a revised unregulated contaminant 
monitoring regulation (UCMR), which requires some systems to monitor 
for specified contaminants (64 FR 50556, September 17, 1999). This 
Section is new under the 1996 SDWA amendments.
    Today's final rule fulfills the rulemaking requirements outlined in 
amended Sections 1414(c)(1) and 1414(c)(2) of the SDWA, as amended.

II. Regulation Background

    The final rule published today was proposed on May 13, 1999 (64 FR 
25963). At the same time as the rule was proposed, EPA made available 
for review a draft Public Notification Handbook, comprised of public 
notice templates for different violation situations and other aids to 
public water systems to support implementation of the revised 
regulation. The final rule is based on input from a broad range of 
stakeholders from the public and private sectors. The Agency has also 
actively involved the States as partners in the rule development, as 
required under Section 1414(c)(2)(A) of the 1996 SDWA amendments.
    To gain early input and information from stakeholders on problems 
with the current public notification program, EPA held a series of 
stakeholder meetings in Indianapolis, Indiana, Washington, D.C., and 
Seattle, Washington in late 1997, prior to initiating the rulemaking. 
EPA also used the findings and recommendations from a June, 1992 GAO 
report (``Drinking Water Consumers Often Not Well Informed of 
Potentially Serious Violations'' (GAO/RCED-92-135)).
    In May and June of 1999, during the public comment period after the 
rule was proposed, EPA hosted public meetings in Madison, Wisconsin; 
Washington, DC; Allentown, Pennsylvania; and Phoenix, Arizona. The 
purpose of the meetings was to take comment on the proposed public 
notification rule and to discuss (in a workshop-type setting) the draft 
Public Notification Handbook. The meetings were very well attended and 
the results greatly benefitted both the final public notification rule 
and the final Public Notification Handbook. The final Handbook is 
expected to be published shortly. Reports from all the meetings are 
available for review at EPA's Water Docket (W-98-19) or by downloading 
the documents from EPA's website (www.epa.gov/safewater).
    EPA consulted with the States throughout the development of this 
rule, as required under section 1414(c)(2)(A). Prior to initiating the 
rulemaking, EPA met with a group of States, as part of the early 
involvement meetings set up by the Association of State Drinking Water 
Administrators (ASDWA), to develop the scope of the process and 
identify significant issues under the new statute. During the 
development of the proposed rule, several State drinking water managers 
participated as members of the EPA regulation workgroup. Their 
involvement in the workgroup continued through the development of this 
final rule. EPA also provided briefings to ASDWA on request several 
times as the rule moved forward.

III. Significant Decisions Affecting the Final Rule

    The final rule published today makes a number of significant 
changes to what was proposed, based on decisions EPA made in response 
to the comments received. Section IV of the preamble gives a detailed 
summary of the final rule and an explanation of the significant changes 
made in response to comments. Decisions on five key issues affecting 
the final rule are highlighted below:

A. List of Violations and Situations Requiring a Tier 1 (24-Hour) 
Public Notice

    EPA received many comments related to the proposed public notice 
tier level for violations of the Total Coliform Rule (TCR) and the 
Surface Water Treatment Rule (SWTR). Except for violations where fecal 
contamination was found, the notice tier level for all the TCR MCL and 
SWTR TT violations was proposed to be Tier 2 (30-day notice). Over half 
of the commenters on this issue recommended that the final rule change 
the notice requirement for at least some of the TCR and SWTR violations 
to Tier 1. In particular, many of these commenters believed that 
violations related to exceedances of the turbidity limit were more 
often than not a strong indicator of harmful drinking water posing a 
significant risk from short-term exposure. The rest of those commenting 
on this issue specifically supported leaving as Tier 2 the routine TCR 
violations and all SWTR violations, including those violations related 
to exceedances of the turbidity limit. These commenters believed that 
turbidity violations were more often than not a false indicator of 
potential health risk.
    After considering all the comments, EPA decided to stay with the 
proposal requiring a Tier 2 notice for all TCR and SWTR violations 
(other than where fecal contamination is found under the TCR rule) 
because EPA believes that an automatic Tier 1 notice requirement is not 
justified. Routine TCR and SWTR violations (without supporting 
evidence) are not sufficiently strong or predictable indicators of 
significant potential of risk from short-term exposure. At the same 
time, in response to the range of comments related to the appropriate 
tier level for turbidity exceedances, EPA agrees that certain 
exceedances of the turbidity limit deserve special attention by the 
primacy agency for public notification purposes.
    Accordingly, the final rule continues to classify all turbidity 
violations as Tier 2; adds a new requirement that PWSs consult with the 
primacy agency within 24 hours when exceedances of the maximum 
allowable turbidity limit occur; enables the primacy agency after the 
consultation to elevate specific turbidity violations to Tier 1 when 
warranted; and requires an automatic Tier 1 notice when consultation 
does not take place within the 24-hour period. Since the significance 
of the risk to health of an exceedance of the turbidity limits is 
situational, EPA believes the final rule ensures that notices for 
turbidity violations indicating an immediate health risk will go out 
quickly when necessary (based on the immediate consultation 
requirement) and unnecessary notices will be avoided where the 
violation indicates no immediate risk to health. These decisions are 
discussed in greater detail in section IV.F.1 of the preamble.

B. Standard Health Effects Language Required in Notices for MCL/TT 
Violations

    EPA requested comment on EPA's proposal to use the CCR standard 
health effects language to meet the public notification requirement. 
Although most commenters supported keeping the CCR and public notice 
health effects language the same, a significant minority of commenters 
believed that the public notice language should be separate from the 
CCR language because of the different objectives of the public notice. 
Several commenters also believed that the proposed language for 
specific violations needed revision, and several offered alternative 
language that they believed was more accurate and useful.

[[Page 25985]]

    After considering all the comments, EPA decided to reaffirm its 
intent to keep the standard health effects language identical for the 
public notification and CCR rules. Today's rule publishes identical 
language in the two rules for all the existing regulated contaminants. 
EPA believes the benefits of having identical core health effects 
language outweighs the value of tailoring the language to any unique 
objectives of the public notice. EPA also reviewed the comments 
offering alternative language for specific violations, with particular 
focus on whether any of the proposed language was erroneous or 
misleading. With three exceptions, the final language in today's rule 
(including the amended CCR rule) is the same language as was proposed. 
The three exceptions are for fluoride, fecal coliform/E.coli, and 
several of the disinfectant/disinfection byproducts. These decisions 
are discussed in greater detail in section IV.I.3 of the preamble.

C. Tier 2 (30-Day) Notice Deadline and Flexibility To Extend in 
Appropriate Circumstances

    EPA requested comment on the proposed 30-day time period required 
for the initial Tier 2 public notice, the requirement for a repeat 
notice of ongoing violations every three months, and the discretion 
given to the primacy agency in specific circumstances to extend the 
initial notice to three months or the repeat notice frequency to one 
year (either on a case-by-case basis or by rule). EPA received a wide 
range of comments on the proposed 30-day time period, ranging from 
leaving the current 14-day requirement intact (or even requiring the 
notice sooner), to support for the 30-day proposed period, to moving 
the initial notice to 90 or 120 days after the violation. The comments 
received related to the proposed discretion allowing primacy agencies 
to extend the deadline also ranged widely, from disagreeing with 
allowing any discretion at all, to extending the deadline, to 
requesting that the discretion allowed be more open-ended.
    After considering the wide range of comments, EPA retained the 
proposed 30-day deadline for the initial notice and the 3-month repeat 
notice frequency in the final rule. But EPA did make changes in the 
final rule language in response to commenters requesting 
reconsideration or clarification of EPA's intent in the proposed rule. 
The final rule redefines how and when a primacy agency would be allowed 
to extend the initial notice beyond 30 days and under what 
circumstances the primacy agency could allow less frequent repeat 
notices for unresolved violations. The final rule specifically 
disallows extensions beyond 30 days for unresolved violations or less 
frequent repeat notice for ongoing TCR and SWTR violations. The final 
rule also does not allow primacy agencies to set ``across-the-board'' 
extensions in their policies and rules that would automatically extend 
the notice period or frequency of repeat notice for all the other 
violations.
    EPA continues to believe that extensions to the fixed deadlines may 
be appropriate in certain circumstances, since Tier 2 violation 
situations are very diverse. Tier 2 situations range from violations 
that on some occasions may pose potential adverse health effects from 
short-term exposure (such as SWTR TT violations), to unresolved 
violations that pose chronic health effects from long-term exposure 
(such as benzene violations), and to resolved violations no longer 
posing any potential risk to health. One size does not fit all. The 
final rule reaffirms this intent to provide flexibility to the primacy 
agency to deviate from the deadline in EPA's rule where warranted. 
These decisions are discussed in greater detail in Section IV.G.2 of 
the preamble.

D. Form and Manner of the Delivery of Public Notices

    EPA requested comment on the revised requirements in the proposal 
for deciding on the method of delivery of the public notice. The 
proposed rule would require a water system to: (1) Select at least one 
minimum method from a short list in the regulation, and (2) provide 
additional notices by any other method reasonably calculated to reach 
other persons not reached by the initial method selected. Some 
commenters believed the minimum list should be expanded to allow, for 
instance, use of the newspaper as the minimum method, as in the current 
rule. Other commenters requested that the final rule require that water 
systems use more than one minimum method, since one method is likely to 
be an inadequate response in many cases.
    After considering the comments, EPA has decided to maintain the 
basic requirement as proposed: To require water systems to select at 
least one delivery method from the regulatory list and to take steps 
reasonably calculated to reach the others served by the system. EPA 
believes requiring water systems to select at least one minimum method 
sets a simple, enforceable baseline level of performance for all public 
notices. This initial step must be supplemented by other actions when 
the minimum method is not likely to reach all persons served by the 
system. In the final rule, EPA did not expand the list of minimum 
delivery methods it proposed but it does give the primacy agency 
discretion to select a different minimum method not listed in EPA's 
rule where warranted. The final rule also includes other minor changes 
to the rule language to respond to specific requests for clarification 
of EPA's intent. These decisions for each of the three notice tiers are 
discussed in greater detail in sections IV.F.3, IV.G.3, and IV.H.3 of 
the preamble.

E. Consolidating Public Notice Regulations Into New Subpart (40 CFR 
Part 141, Subpart Q).

    As part of the development of the final rule, EPA conducted a 
thorough search of Part 141 of the current Code of Federal Regulations 
(CFR) to identify all the places where a public notification 
requirement is set or where the current public notification regulations 
are referenced. This led to a consolidation of several ongoing public 
notification requirements into the new public notification regulations 
in Subpart Q of 40 CFR Part 141. The benefits of consolidating all the 
requirements in one place (Subpart Q) are significant. The final 
Subpart Q provides in one place a complete and easily referenced set of 
requirements. This should greatly enhance the understanding of the 
public notification requirements and lead to greater voluntary 
compliance. Many of these ancillary public notification requirements 
are not in the current regulations under Sec. 141.32 and many were not 
part of the proposed rule revision on May 13, 1999. EPA believes that 
since they do not substantively alter the existing requirements, they 
do not require prior notice and opportunity for comment. A summary list 
of the changes to the CFR are included in Table C in Section IV.L of 
the preamble.

IV. Discussion of Final Rule

    This section explains the elements of the final regulation, 
comments requested and comments received on the proposal, and EPA's 
response to the comments. EPA made a number of significant changes to 
the proposal based on comments received, clarified some requirements, 
and edited and reorganized some of the proposed regulatory language to 
improve the presentation. EPA requested comment on all elements of the 
proposed regulation. Comments were received from 53 individuals and 
organizations, representing 22 States, 20 utilities, and 11 
environmental organizations and public interest groups. Almost 200 
people participated in at least one of the four public meetings hosted 
by EPA to

[[Page 25986]]

take comment on the proposed regulation. The ``Response to Comments'' 
document, all the written comments, and the public meeting reports are 
available for review at EPA's Water Docket (W-98-19). Copies are also 
available by downloading the documents from EPA's website (www.epa.gov/safewater/pws/pn/pn.html).

A. Purpose and Applicability

    Today's rule revises the minimum requirements that public water 
systems must meet regarding the form, manner, frequency, and content of 
the public notification. Public water systems must give notice to 
persons served for all violations of National Primary Drinking Water 
Regulations (NPDWR) and for other situations posing a risk to public 
health from the drinking water. The term NPDWR Violations is used in 
the public notification regulations to include violations of the 
Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL), Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level 
(MRDL), treatment technique (TT), monitoring, and testing procedure 
requirements. Public notice is not required, for example, for violation 
of the Consumer Confidence Report regulation. See Table 1 and Appendix 
A of the final rule for the NPDWR violations and other situations 
requiring a public notice. Violations and situations not listed in 
Appendix A do not require a public notice under Subpart Q.
    The rule applies to existing and new public water systems that 
violate a NPDWR or have other situations that pose a risk to health 
from the drinking water. A ``public water system,'' as defined in 40 
CFR 141.2 , is ``a system for the provision to the public of water for 
human consumption through pipes or * * * other constructed conveyances, 
if such system has at least fifteen service connections or regularly 
serves at least twenty-five individuals daily at least 60 days out of 
the year.'' Public water systems regulated under Part 141 may be 
publicly-owned or privately-owned.
    A public water system (PWS) is either a community water system 
(CWS) or non-community water system (NCWS). A CWS, as defined in 
Sec. 141.2, means ``a public water system which serves at least 15 
service connections used by year-round residents or regularly serves at 
least 25 year-round residents.'' A NCWS means ``a public water system 
that is not a community water system.''
    Non-community water systems are further broken out in the drinking 
water regulations into transient non-community water systems (TWS) and 
non-transient non-community water systems (NTNCWS). A NTNCWS is defined 
by EPA under Sec. 141.2 as ``a public water system that is not a 
community water system and that regularly serves 25 of the same people 
over six months of the year.'' An example is a school or business that 
has its own water well. A TWS is defined by EPA under Sec. 141.2 as ``a 
non-community water system that does not regularly serve 25 of the same 
persons over six months of the year.'' An example is a roadside rest 
stop with its own water well.
    For illustration purposes, Table A provides a summary of the number 
of public water systems, broken out by type of system, the number of 
these systems with violations during fiscal year 1998, and the total 
number of violations during the same period. The numbers have been 
updated from those presented in the preamble of the proposed rule, 
which were based on FY 1996 information in the Safe Drinking Water 
Information System (SDWIS) in mid-1997.
    Public water systems must meet the requirements of all NPDWRs in 
effect. Currently, there are NPDWRs in effect covering 80 separate 
contaminants. EPA has also published final regulations for the Interim 
Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule (IESWTR) and the Stage 1 
Disinfection/Disinfectant Byproducts Rule (D/DBP), which will increase 
the number of regulated contaminants to 88 once they go into effect. 
There are also other regulations in progress that will increase the 
number of regulated contaminants to over 90 contaminants by 2002.
    Table A shows that 36,467 (21 percent) of the 170,376 PWS had one 
or more violations in FY 1998. Overall, the 36,467 PWS with violations 
committed a total of 128,459 violations in FY 1998. Over 86 percent (or 
108,459) of these violations were for failure to monitor according to 
the regulations. Although not all violations require a separate public 
notice, each violation requires the PWS to comply with the public 
notification requirements.

                    Table A.--Number of Public Water Systems (PWS) and Violations in FY 1998
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                   Number of PWS
                           Type of PWS                             Number of PWS       with          Number of
                                                                                    violations      violations
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Community Water Systems (CWS)................................          54,367          13,024          64,914
2. Non-transient Non-community Water Systems (NTNCWS)...........          20,255           4,672          27,785
3. Transient Non-community Water Systems (TWS)..................          95,754          18,771          35,760
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................................         170,376          36,467        128,459
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: FY 1998 inventory and violation data from Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), January, 1999.

    As shown in Table A, 54,367 (32 percent) of the public water 
systems are CWSs. CWSs must comply with all NPDWRs in effect. CWSs 
serve residential populations and range from large municipal systems 
that serve millions of persons to small systems that serve fewer than 
100 persons. CWSs can be further categorized as publicly-owned systems, 
privately-owned systems, and systems that provide water as an ancillary 
function of their principal purpose. In FY 1998, 13,024 CWSs committed 
64,914 violations. Approximately 80 percent of community water systems 
serve fewer than 3,300 people.
    Of the public water systems, 20,255 (12 percent) are NTNCWS. 
Virtually all NTNCWSs provide water as an ancillary function of their 
principal purpose (for example, schools, day-care facilities, 
factories). In general, NTNCWSs must comply with the same national 
primary drinking water regulations as community water systems. During 
FY 1998, 4,672 NTNCWSs committed 27,785 violations. Approximately 99 
percent of NTNCWSs serve fewer than 3,300 people.
    The rest of the regulated public water systems (95,754 systems or 
56 percent) are TWSs. Virtually all TWSs provide water as an ancillary 
function of their principal purpose (for example, highway rest stops, 
gas stations, state parks). TWSs must comply only with specified 
national primary drinking water regulations where short-term

[[Page 25987]]

exposure may pose a health threat--total coliform, nitrate, nitrite, 
total nitrate and nitrite, and violations of the Surface Water 
Treatment Rule. TWSs using surface water serving 10,000 persons or more 
must also comply with the new Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment 
Rule (IESWTR) and certain provisions of the Stage 1 Disinfectant/
Disinfection Byproducts (D/DBP) rule when they go into effect starting 
in 2002. TWSs using surface water serving less than 10,000 persons or 
using ground water sources must comply with certain provisions of the 
Stage 1 D/DBP rule by 2004. In FY 1998, 18,771 TWSs committed 35,760 
violations. Over 99 percent of TWSs serve fewer than 3,300 people.

B. Effective Dates and Rationale

    Today's Rule: The public notification rule provisions under Part 
141, Subpart Q become effective June 5, 2000. However, public water 
systems will continue to comply with the public notification 
requirements under Sec. 141.32 until the date the new Subpart Q 
regulations go into effect in each State, Territory, Tribe, or the 
District of Columbia. EPA has set different compliance deadlines based 
on whether EPA or the State (or Territory or Tribe) has primary 
enforcement authority (``primacy'') for the public water system 
supervision program. As of today's rule, States (or Territories) have 
primacy in all jurisdictions except Wyoming, the District of Columbia, 
and on Indian lands. EPA directly implements the public water system 
supervision programs in Wyoming, Washington, D.C., and on all Indian 
lands. The term ``primacy agency'' is used in the final public 
notification rule to refer to either EPA or the State (or Territory or 
Tribe) in cases where EPA, or the State, Territory, or Tribe, exercises 
primary enforcement responsibility for the Subpart Q public 
notification. The term ``State'' is used throughout the rule to apply 
to States, Territories, Tribes, and the District of Columbia.
    Public water systems in primacy States must continue to comply with 
the public notification requirements under Sec. 141.32 until May 6, 
2002 or until the date the State's revised regulation under its 
approved primacy program becomes effective, whichever comes first. The 
two-year period matches the maximum time period allowed for States 
under the primacy regulations (40 CFR Part 142, Subpart B) to adopt new 
and revised National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWRs). EPA 
believes it is appropriate to make the effective date in primacy States 
consistent with the basic two-year time primacy revision period. 
Coordinating the phase-in of the new public notification requirements 
with the State adoption of the revised regulations in each State will 
avoid the potential confusion of having different State and EPA 
requirements in effect in the State at the same time. Although States 
are free to wait the full two years to adopt the new rule, EPA strongly 
encourages States to consider early adoption in order to combine the 
public notification rule and the Consumer Confidence Report rule into 
one primacy revision package or to otherwise take early advantage of 
the efficiencies in today's rule.
    Public water systems in jurisdictions where the drinking water 
program is directly implemented by EPA must continue to comply with the 
public notification requirements under Sec. 141.32 until October 31, 
2000. EPA believes that setting the compliance date for the new rule at 
180 days after publication is appropriate and achievable for public 
water systems in the jurisdictions directly implemented by EPA. Six 
months after publication of the final rule is sufficient time for EPA 
and the water systems to adjust their operating procedures to comply 
with the new requirements. Early implementation will enable the water 
systems to take advantage of the efficiencies in the new regulation as 
early as possible, leading to a more effective public notification 
program.
    In practical terms, the different compliance dates allowed under 
this rule mean that the new requirements will go into effect at 
different times nationwide, based on the speed of the State adoption of 
the new requirements and whether EPA or the State directly implements 
the program. Regardless of the State primacy situation, the latest the 
rule will go into effect in any State will be May 6, 2002, even in 
those States that request and are granted an extension to adopt the 
revised regulation beyond the basic two-year primacy revision time 
period.
    The final public notification rule applies to new and existing 
violations and situations after the date public water systems must 
comply with the new rule. However, EPA is not requiring that public 
water systems provide initial public notices under the new rule where 
the initial public notice has already been given under the regulations 
in place at the time. However, unless the primacy agency makes a 
different determination on a case-by-case basis, the new rule will 
apply to repeat notices for existing violations or for any public 
notice requirements applying to ongoing violations after the new rule 
is in effect.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA had asked for comment on the 
proposed effective dates and solicited suggestions on other options to 
put the new regulations into effect earlier. Several comments were 
received on the proposed effective date, all in support of the two-year 
period allowed for water systems in primacy States.
    EPA Response to Comments: The two-year effective date in the final 
rule for water systems in primacy States is identical to what was 
proposed. The final rule does, however, change the proposed effective 
date for water systems in drinking water programs directly implemented 
by EPA from 90 days after publication to 180 days after publication. 
The shift from 90 days to 180 days was a result of a strong concern 
raised during discussions on the proposed rule that 90 days gave EPA 
insufficient time to effectively make the transition from the existing 
program to the new program in areas where it directly implements the 
program. EPA believes the change to 180 days in the final rule better 
fits the time period needed to shift to the new program under the 
revised regulations.

C. Summary of Changes to Current Public Notification Requirements

    The final rule is a significant revision from the public 
notification regulation under Sec. 141.32 of this part, which has been 
in effect since 1989. The regulation under Sec. 141.32 is referred to 
throughout the preamble as the ``current rule.'' The reason EPA chose 
to refer to the rule under Sec. 141.32, which will be replaced by 
today's action, as the ``current rule'' is because it will continue to 
apply to some water systems for up to two years after publication of 
today's rule. Table B is a summary of the major differences between the 
current rule and the final revised rule.

[[Page 25988]]



  Table B.--Summary of Differences Between Revised PN Rule and Current
                                  Rule
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                       Revised PN rule
 Statutory authority (SDWA,    Current rule (Sec.    (part 141, subpart
     as amended in 1996)             141.32)                 Q)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1414(c)(1), Each owner or     (Sec.  141.32(a) and  (Secs.  141.201(a)
 operator of a PWS shall       (b)) Owner or         and 141.202(a))
 give notice of NPDWR          operators of PWSs     Includes violations
 violations, levels of         must notify persons   from current rule
 unregulated contaminants,     served by the         and adds broader
 and existence of a variance   system for the        definition of
 or exemption to the persons   following             waterborne disease
 served by the system.         violations/           outbreak and other
                               situations:.          waterborne
                              Maximum contaminant    emergencies, adds
                               levels (MCL).         new IESWTR and DBP
                               Treatment technique   standards, moves
                               Testing procedure..   fluoride SMCL and
                               Monitoring.........   nitrate exceedances
                              Operation under a      of the MCL for NCWS
                               variance or           when allowed by
                               exemption.            primacy agency
                              Noncompliance with     under 141.11(d),
                               variance or           failure to take
                               exemption schedule..  confirmation sample
                                                     for nitrate, and
                                                     unregulated
                                                     contaminant
                                                     monitoring public
                                                     notices from other
                                                     parts of the
                                                     regulations. Adds a
                                                     new Appendix A to
                                                     the rule listing
                                                     all violations and
                                                     situations where
                                                     public notification
                                                     is required.
                                                    (Sec.  141.201(c))
                                                     Requires water
                                                     systems to notify
                                                     owners or operators
                                                     of consecutive
                                                     systems. Also
                                                     allows primacy
                                                     agencies to permit
                                                     systems to limit
                                                     distribution of the
                                                     notice if the
                                                     violation is in a
                                                     portion of the
                                                     distribution system
                                                     that is physically
                                                     or hydraulically
                                                     isolated from other
                                                     parts of the
                                                     system.
1414(c)(2)(A), Manner,        (Secs.  141.32(a)(1)  (Sec.  141.201(b))
 frequency, and form are       (iii) and 141.32(a)   Tiers are defined
 prescribed based on           and (b)) There is a   based on
 seriousness and frequency     three-tier system,    seriousness of the
 of violations.                although tiers are    violation or
                               not named.            situation and of
                              Public notices are     potential health
                               divided into three    effects, and all
                               tiers: violations     violations or
                               of MCLs that may      situations are
                               pose an acute risk    assigned to a tier
                               to human health;      (Appendix A).
                               MCLs, treatment      Tier 1 notice for
                               technique, and        violations or
                               variance or           situations with
                               exemption schedule    significant
                               violations; and       potential to have
                               other violations      serious adverse
                               (including            effects on human
                               monitoring) and       health as a result
                               operation under a     of short-term
                               variance or           exposure;
                               exemption..          Tier 2 notice for
                                                     all other
                                                     violations or
                                                     situations with
                                                     potential to have
                                                     serious adverse
                                                     effects on human
                                                     health; and
                                                    Tier 3 notice for
                                                     all other
                                                     violations and
                                                     situations not
                                                     included in Tier 1
                                                     and Tier 2.
1414(c)(2)(C)(iii), Notice    (Sec.  141.31(d))     (Sec.  141.31(d))
 must be provided to           System must provide   Revised to require
 Administrator or primacy      a copy of the         PWS to submit to
 agency.                       notice to the State   the primacy agency
                               within 10 days.       within 10 days a
                                                     certification, with
                                                     copies of the
                                                     notices, for both
                                                     the initial notice
                                                     cycle and all
                                                     repeat notice
                                                     cycles.
                                                    (Secs.  141.202(b)(2
                                                     ) and
                                                     141.203(b)(3)) New
                                                     sections added to
                                                     require
                                                     consultation with
                                                     primacy agency
                                                     within 24 hours for
                                                     violations or
                                                     situations
                                                     requiring a Tier 1
                                                     notice and for
                                                     violations of the
                                                     turbidity MCL of 5
                                                     NTU or a treatment
                                                     technique resulting
                                                     from a single
                                                     exceedance of
                                                     turbidity limits.
1414(c)(2)(C)(1), For         (Sec.  141.32(a)(1)(  (Sec.  141.202) Tier
 violations with potential     iii)(A)-(D) Acute     1 notice--
 to have serious adverse       violations include.   Violations and
 effects on human health as   (1) Any violations     situations include
 a result of short-term        specified by State.   those defined as
 exposure, notice must be     (2) Nitrate/nitrite    acute in the
 distributed as soon as        MCLs.                 current rule, plus:
 practicable but no later     (3) Fecal coliform/    an expanded
 than 24 hours after the       E. coli.              definition of
 occurrence of the violation. (4) Waterborne         waterborne disease
                               disease outbreak in   outbreak to include
                               unfiltered systems    all water systems
                               subject to Surface    and to add other
                               Water Treatment       waterborne
                               Rule..                emergencies;
                                                     violations of the
                                                     maximum turbidity
                                                     limit where
                                                     determined by the
                                                     primacy agency or
                                                     where consultation
                                                     between the system
                                                     and the primacy
                                                     agency does not
                                                     occur within 24
                                                     hours; chlorine
                                                     dioxide MRDL
                                                     violation under new
                                                     DBP rule where
                                                     samples taken in
                                                     the distribution
                                                     system exceed the
                                                     standard or where
                                                     repeat samples are
                                                     not taken in the
                                                     distribution system
                                                     when required;
                                                     violation of the
                                                     testing procedures
                                                     to determine if
                                                     fecal coliform is
                                                     present after any
                                                     repeat sample tests
                                                     positive for
                                                     coliform;
                                                     violations of
                                                     combined nitrate
                                                     and nitrite MCL;
                                                     and failure to take
                                                     a confirmation
                                                     sample for nitrate
                                                     within 24 hours
                                                     when initial sample
                                                     exceeds MCL.

[[Page 25989]]

 
                                                    Under Sec.  141.209,
                                                     Tier 1 notice is
                                                     also required for
                                                     exceedance of the
                                                     nitrate MCL by NCWS
                                                     where permitted to
                                                     exceed the MCL by
                                                     the primacy agency.
                              Provide copy of       Timing revised to
                               notice to radio and   require notice
                               TV stations within    within 24 hours;
                               72 hours, or by       must use at a
                               posting or hand       minimum electronic
                               delivery within 72    media, posting,
                               hours. Posting must   hand delivery, or
                               continue as long as   other method
                               the violation         approved by the
                               persists.             primacy agency,
                                                     plus any additional
                                                     methods necessary
                                                     to reach all
                                                     persons served.
                              Additional notices:   Revised to not
                               by newspaper within   require additional
                               14 days or posting    notices for same
                               or hand delivery if   violation,
                               no newspaper is       deferring instead
                               available; by mail    to the primacy
                               within 45 days (may   agency to set
                               be waived if state    additional
                               determines            requirements
                               violation has been    (including
                               corrected); and       additional notices)
                               repeat notice every   on a case-by-case
                               three months          basis.
                               thereafter.
1414(c)(2)(D)(1),             (Sec.  141.32)(a))    (Sec.  141.203) Tier
 Regulations shall specify     For MCL, treatment    2 notice includes
 notification procedures for   technique, and        those described in
 violations other than Tier    variance or           Sec.  141.32(a) of
 1; notice shall be in         exemption schedule    the current rule,
 written form.                 violations.           plus the new
                                                     standards under the
                                                     IESWTR and DBP
                                                     rules, and serious
                                                     and persistent
                                                     monitoring and
                                                     testing procedure
                                                     violations, as
                                                     determined by the
                                                     primacy agency.
                              By newspaper within   Revised under Sec.
                               14 days or by         141.203(b) to
                               posting or hand       require notice
                               delivery if no        within 30 days
                               newspaper is          unless the primacy
                               available.            agency allows an
                                                     extension of up to
                                                     three months in
                                                     appropriate
                                                     circumstances.
                                                     Extensions will not
                                                     be allowed for any
                                                     unresolved
                                                     violations, nor
                                                     will automatic
                                                     ``across-the-
                                                     board'' extensions
                                                     for the remaining
                                                     violations be
                                                     allowed. Unless
                                                     primacy agency
                                                     directs otherwise,
                                                     CWS must use mail
                                                     or direct delivery,
                                                     and other methods
                                                     reasonably
                                                     calculated to reach
                                                     persons served.
                                                     NCWS must use
                                                     posting (for as
                                                     long as violation
                                                     persists or for at
                                                     least seven days),
                                                     direct delivery, or
                                                     mail, and other
                                                     methods reasonably
                                                     calculated to reach
                                                     persons served.
                                                     Also requires
                                                     systems to consult
                                                     the primacy agency
                                                     within 24 hours of
                                                     learning of an
                                                     exceedance of
                                                     maximum turbidity
                                                     limits.
                              Additional notices:   The initial notice
                               by mail within 45     does not require
                               days (may be waived   multiple methods of
                               if State determines   delivery unless
                               violation has been    needed to reach
                               corrected), and       persons served.
                               repeat notice every   Repeat notice
                               three months          required every
                               thereafter by mail    three months where
                               or hand delivery.     violation persists,
                                                     unless the primacy
                                                     agency determines
                                                     less frequent
                                                     repeat notice (no
                                                     less frequent than
                                                     annually) is
                                                     warranted in
                                                     appropriate
                                                     circumstances.
                                                     Primacy agencies
                                                     may not allow less
                                                     frequent repeat
                                                     notices for
                                                     microbiological
                                                     violations, nor
                                                     will automatic
                                                     ``across-the-
                                                     board'' decreases
                                                     in frequency be
                                                     allowed for the
                                                     remaining
                                                     violations. Method
                                                     of delivery for
                                                     repeat notice will
                                                     be the same as that
                                                     required for
                                                     initial notices.
                              (Sec.  141.32(b),     (Sec.  141.204) The
                               For monitoring and    violations and
                               testing procedure     situations
                               violations, and       requiring a Tier 3
                               operation under       notice are the same
                               variance or           as those described
                               exemption.            in Sec.  141.32(b)
                                                     of current rule.
                                                    Tier 3 notice is
                                                     also required to
                                                     announce the
                                                     availability of
                                                     unregulated
                                                     contaminant
                                                     monitoring results
                                                     as required under
                                                     Sec.  141.207; and
                                                     for exceedances of
                                                     the SMCL for
                                                     fluoride as
                                                     required under Sec.
                                                      141.208.

[[Page 25990]]

 
                              By newspaper within   Revised to require
                               three months of the   notice within one
                               violation or the      year. Unless
                               granting of           primacy agency
                               variance or           directs otherwise,
                               exemption, or by      CWS must use mail
                               hand delivery or      or direct delivery,
                               posting if no         and other methods
                               newspaper is          reasonably
                               available. State      calculated to reach
                               may allow less        persons served.
                               frequent public       NCWS must use
                               notice (up to 1       posting (for as
                               year) for minor       long as violation
                               monitoring            persists or minimum
                               violations.           of seven days),
                                                     direct delivery, or
                                                     mail, and other
                                                     methods reasonably
                                                     calculated to reach
                                                     persons served.
                                                     Consumer Confidence
                                                     reports (CCRs) or
                                                     other annual
                                                     reports may be
                                                     used, as long as
                                                     notice in CCR meets
                                                     PN requirements.
                              Repeat notice every   Repeat notice
                               three months          annually; method of
                               thereafter by mail    delivery must be
                               or hand delivery.     the same as in the
                                                     initial notice.
Notice to new billing units   (Sec.  141.32(c))     (Sec.  141.206)
 or new customers (not in      Community water       Revised to require
 statute).                     system must give a    notice for any
                               copy of the most      outstanding
                               recent public         violation or
                               notice for any        situation requiring
                               outstanding           notice, including
                               violation of any      monitoring and
                               MCL, any treatment    testing procedure
                               technique             violations.
                               requirement, or any
                               V&E schedule.
                                                    Revised to require
                                                     non-community water
                                                     systems to keep
                                                     notice posted for
                                                     as long as
                                                     violation persists,
                                                     even if notice was
                                                     initially hand-
                                                     delivered or
                                                     otherwise
                                                     distributed.
1414(c)(2)(C)(ii) and         (Sec.  141.32(d))     (Sec.  141.205) Adds
 1414(c)(2)(D)(ii), Content    Each notice must      ``when violation or
 of notices.                   provide a clear       situation was
                               explanation of the    found'' and ``when
                               violation,            system expects to
                               potential health      return to
                               effects, population   compliance or
                               at risk, steps        resolve the
                               being taken to        situation'' to
                               correct violation,    content elements.
                               telephone number of   New requirement to
                               the owner,            include
                               operator, or          ``contaminant
                               designee of the       level.'' Adds name
                               public water          and business
                               system, necessity     address to phone
                               for seeking           number of operator.
                               alternative water     Adds new element
                               supplies, if any,     requiring standard
                               and any preventive    language, where
                               measures consumers    applicable, asking
                               should take until     bill paying
                               the violation is      customers to
                               corrected.            provide copies of
                                                     notice to other
                                                     persons served who
                                                     may not have
                                                     received the notice
                                                     directly from the
                                                     PWS.
                                                    Also, adds minimum
                                                     content elements
                                                     for notices of
                                                     operation under
                                                     variance or
                                                     exemption, which
                                                     parallel CCR
                                                     requirements. No
                                                     longer requires
                                                     health effects
                                                     language for
                                                     operation under a
                                                     variance or
                                                     exemption.
                              (Sec.  141.32(e))     (New Appendix B)
                               Systems must          Revises standard
                               include standard      health effects
                               health effects        language, using
                               language for MCL,     language identical
                               treatment             to the CCR rule.
                               technique, variance
                               or exemption
                               schedule
                               violations, and
                               operation under a
                               variance or
                               exemption.
                                                    Adds standard
                                                     language for
                                                     monitoring and
                                                     testing procedure
                                                     violations.
Providing notice in other     (Sec.  141.32(d))     (Sec.  141.205(c)(2)
 languages (not in statute).   Systems must          ) Revised to
                               provide               require that
                               multilingual          notices contain
                               notices ``where       information in the
                               appropriate''.        appropriate
                                                     language(s)
                                                     regarding the
                                                     importance of the
                                                     notice or contain a
                                                     telephone number or
                                                     address so people
                                                     can obtain a
                                                     translated copy or
                                                     request assistance
                                                     in the appropriate
                                                     language, if system
                                                     serves a large
                                                     proportion of non-
                                                     English speaking
                                                     consumers. Systems
                                                     must determine what
                                                     constitutes a
                                                     ``large
                                                     proportion'' if
                                                     primacy agency does
                                                     not make a
                                                     determination.
Special notice for            (Sec.  141.32(f))     (Sec.  141.208)
 exceedance of Fluoride        Notice of SMCL        Moved to new
 Secondary Maximum             exceedances between   Subpart Q (deletes
 Contaminant Level (SMCL)      2 mg/l and 4 mg/l     Sec.  143.5);
 (not in statute).             (the MCL level)       mandatory language
                               required within 12    is simplified.
                               mos.; shall contain
                               language in Sec.
                               143.5(b).
Special notice for            Public notice is      (Sec.  141.209)
 exceedance of nitrate MCL     required as part of   Incorporates public
 for NCWS (not in statute).    Sec.  141.11(d).      notice requirements
                               Sec.  141.11(d)       in Sec.  141.11(d)
                               allows NCWS to have   to new Subpart Q,
                               nitrate levels        requiring the PN to
                               above MCL> (10 mg/    follow Tier 1
                               l), up to 20 mg/l,    notice requirements
                               if State approves     and content
                               and if they post      requirements in
                               and meet other        Sec.  141.205;
                               conditions.           changes Sec.
                                                     141.11(d) to cross
                                                     reference the
                                                     Subpart Q PN
                                                     requirement.

[[Page 25991]]

 
Public notice by primacy      (Sec.  141.32(g))     (Sec.  141.210 ) No
 agency (not   in statute).    The State may give    change.
                               notice to the
                               public on behalf of
                               the public water
                               system if the State
                               complies with the
                               requirements of
                               Sec.  141.32.
                               However, the owner
                               or operator of the
                               public water system
                               remains legally
                               responsible.
1414(c)(2)(E) Administrator   (Sec.  141.35(d))     (Sec.  141.207)
 may require notice of         Written notice of     Revised to require
 levels of unregulated         availability of       notice of
 contaminants monitored        results within        availability of
 under section 1445(a).        three months after    results within 12
                               system receives       months, following
                               results (surface      Tier 3 delivery
                               water systems only    requirements;
                               need to notify        deletes Sec.
                               after the first       141.35(d).
                               quarter of
                               monitoring).
1414(c)(2)(B) States may      (Sec.  142.10(a))     (Sec.  142.10(a)) No
 establish alternative         Authority to          change.
 notification requirements.    require public
                               water systems to
                               give public notice
                               that is no less
                               stringent than the
                               EPA requirements in
                               Secs.  141.32 and
                               142.16(a).
                              (Sec.  142.16(a)) If  (Sec.  142.16(a))
                               the state chooses     Deletes current
                               to decrease notice    requirement. Allows
                               frequency for minor   primacy agencies to
                               monitoring            establish
                               violations it must    alternative public
                               submit to EPA the     notification
                               criteria used to      requirements with
                               decide the            respect to form and
                               decreased frequency   content of notice,
                               and which             consistent with
                               violations are        1414(c)(2)(B) of
                               minor, and it must    1996 SDWA
                               submit the new        amendments, as long
                               notice requirements.  as they provide
                                                     same type and
                                                     amount of
                                                     information.
                                                    New Sec.
                                                     142.16(a)(2) added
                                                     to require State to
                                                     include in primacy
                                                     program enforceable
                                                     requirements and
                                                     procedures when
                                                     State augments its
                                                     program to take
                                                     advantage of the
                                                     flexibilities built
                                                     into EPA's rule.
                                                     List of special
                                                     primacy
                                                     requirements
                                                     included in Sec.
                                                     142.16(a)(2).
------------------------------------------------------------------------

D. ``Plain Language'' Format of Final Rule

    Today's Rule: As discussed in the preamble to the proposed rule, 
EPA has formatted Subpart Q of these regulations in question-and-answer 
format and made other changes in format and language, consistent with 
the requirements outlined in the June 1, 1998 memorandum sent by 
President Clinton to all Federal agencies, to take steps to improve 
both the clarity and comprehension of regulatory language. The intent 
of ``plain language'' is to produce rules which are clear, concise, 
straight-forward, understandable, and enforceable without extensive 
``legalese.'' The current public notification rule, in particular, has 
been criticized by the General Accounting Office (GAO) and others as 
being too complex and confusing to implement. This criticism was viewed 
by GAO in its 1992 report as one of the reasons the public notification 
process is ineffective.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA requested comment on the new 
format and solicited ideas on ways to make the public notification 
regulation more readable by the regulated community. In general, 
commenters supported the new format, finding it a significant 
improvement from the current rule.
    EPA Response to Comments: The final rule is consistent with the 
overall ``plain language'' strategy incorporated into the proposed 
rule. EPA has made minor formatting and language changes in response to 
specific comments that improve the overall presentation.

E. General Provisions of Final Rule (Sec. 141.201)

    Today's final rule replaces the existing public notification 
regulation with an entirely new subpart (40 CFR Part 141, Subpart Q), 
which incorporates the new provisions under sections 1414(c)(1) and 
(c)(2) of the SDWA, as amended in 1996. The final rule streamlines the 
requirements to more effectively meet the objectives of the public 
notification process. Today's final rule revises the existing public 
notification requirements:
     To tailor the public notification requirements to address 
the potential risk from the violations, with particular focus on the 
notice for violations posing the greatest potential risk to public 
health;
     To simplify the requirements and make them more self-
implementing, allowing water systems to understand and implement their 
public notification obligation without further interpretation;
     To give greater latitude to States to develop alternative 
programs to meet their unique needs and to provide greater flexibility 
to public water systems to tailor distribution of the notice to best 
reach persons served;
     To better integrate the public notification requirements 
for less serious violations with the annual Consumer Confidence Report 
(CCR) for community water systems and with other annual reporting 
mechanisms for non-community water systems; and
     To reduce the burden on water systems of complying with 
the public notification requirements.
1. Who Must Give Public Notice?
    Today's Rule: The final rule under Sec. 141.201(a) requires owners 
and operators of public water systems to give notice to persons they 
serve for all violations of national primary drinking water regulations 
(NPDWRs), when they are operating under a variance or exemption (or 
violate conditions of the variance or exemption), and for waterborne 
emergencies and other specified situations posing a potential risk to 
public health. The violation categories and other situations requiring 
a public notice are identified in the final rule in Table 1 to 
Sec. 141.201 and Appendix A of Subpart Q.

[[Page 25992]]

    The final rule makes several changes to the current public notice 
regulatory language to improve the clarity and understanding of when a 
public notice is required. Appendix A provides a complete reference 
guide (including regulatory citations) to all violations and situations 
requiring a public notice. Not all violations under the EPA drinking 
water regulations require a public notice. For instance, public notices 
are not required for violations of the reporting regulations under 
Sec. 141.31 and other Part 141 sections. Public notices are also not 
required for violations of the Consumer Confidence Report regulations 
under Subpart O of Part 141. Appendix A will be updated as new NPDWRs 
are promulgated or when other situations arise where a public notice is 
required. A public notice is only required for the violations or other 
situations listed in Appendix A.
    Several other changes were made to Table 1 to Sec. 141.201 in 
today's rule modifying the violations and situations requiring a public 
notice:
     Special public notice provisions already required in the 
current regulations, but not included in the current public 
notification regulations under Sec. 141.32, are added to the list of 
violations and situations requiring a public notice in Table 1 to 
Sec. 141.201. These special public notice provisions include: The 
notice requirements for exceedance of the fluoride secondary maximum 
contaminant level (SMCL) under the existing Sec. 143.5; the requirement 
to give notice of the availability of unregulated contaminant 
monitoring results originally found under Sec. 141.35; and the public 
notice required of non-community water systems under the current 
Sec. 141.11(d) for exceedances of the MCL of 10 mg/l for nitrate (up to 
20 mg/l) without receiving a violation. These changes are discussed in 
Section IV.J of the preamble related to special public notices.
     The existing requirement to give notice for waterborne 
disease outbreaks under the Surface Water Treatment Rule is broadened 
and clarified to include a requirement for a public notice for any 
waterborne disease outbreak and other waterborne emergencies. This 
change is discussed in Section IV.F.1 of the preamble related to Tier 1 
public notices.
     A new requirement is added that explicitly incorporates 
additional public notice requirements as determined by the primacy 
agency for other violations and situations not explicitly listed in 
Appendix A of Subpart Q. This enables the primacy agency to broaden the 
applicability of the public notice regulation to any situation it deems 
important.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA asked for comment on the 
proposal to add explicit regulatory language enabling the primacy 
agency to require public notification for other situations it believes 
have the potential for serious health risk. EPA also asked for comment 
on its proposal to present in tabular form all the situations requiring 
a public notice and its plans to update Appendix A as new rules are 
published. In general, commenters strongly supported the addition of 
Appendix A to the revised regulation and the flexibility explicitly 
allowed the primacy agency to require public notices beyond those 
listed in Appendix A.
    EPA Response to Comments: The final rule is consistent with what 
was proposed. Other than several minor formatting and wording changes 
to improve the presentation, the only significant change to what was 
proposed was to revise the proposed Table 1 to Sec. 141.201(a) to 
conform to the changes made in other sections of the rule. Table 1 to 
Sec. 141.201(a) now includes other situations requiring a Tier 1 notice 
under Sec. 141.202(a) that were added in response to comments. These 
changes to the Tier 1 requirements are discussed in Sections IV.F.1 and 
IV.J of the preamble.
2. What Type of Public Notice Is Required for Each Situation?
    Today's Rule: The final rule under Sec. 141.201(b) divides the 
public notice requirements into three tiers:
     Tier 1 Public Notice, for violations and situations with 
significant potential to have serious adverse effects on human health 
as a result of short-term exposure;
     Tier 2 Public Notice, for other violations and situations 
with potential to have serious adverse effects on human health; and
     Tier 3 Public Notice, for all other violations and 
situations requiring a public notice not included in Tier 1 and Tier 2.
    The form, manner, and frequency of the public notice is determined 
by the tier to which the violation or situation is assigned. Appendix A 
assigns each violation and situation to one of the three tiers. The 
specific requirements for the public notice in each tier are defined 
under Secs. 141.202, 141.203, and 141.204.
    EPA is establishing the three-tier approach to public notification 
to be consistent with the intent of the new public notification 
provisions in the 1996 SDWA amendments. Section 1414(c)(2)(A) directs 
the Administrator to issue regulations that provide for different 
frequencies of notice based on the differences between intermittent and 
persistent violations and the seriousness of any potential adverse 
health effects. Section 1414(c)(2)(C) sets very specific requirements 
for violations with the potential to have serious adverse effects on 
human health from short-term exposure. This includes a new requirement 
that such notices be distributed to persons served no later than 24 
hours after the occurrence of the violation. Section 1414(c)(2)(D) 
requires EPA to define in its regulations the notification procedures 
for all violations not included under subparagraph (C). This section 
requires that such procedures specify that the water system provide 
written notice to each person served in either: (1) The first bill 
prepared, if any, after the violation; (2) in an annual report issued 
no later than one year after the violation; or (3) by mail or direct 
delivery as soon as practicable, but no later than one year after the 
violation.
     Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA requested comment on whether a 
two-or three-tiered structure would be more appropriate for the final 
EPA regulation and what the advantages and disadvantages of the 
preferred tier structure would be. All but three of the twenty 
commenters supported the three-tier structure.
    EPA Response to Comments: EPA made no changes in the final rule to 
what was proposed under Section 141.201(b). In response to the three 
commenters preferring a two-tier notice structure, EPA believes that a 
three-tier approach is more appropriate than a two-tier approach 
because it provides more effective tailoring of the public notice 
requirements based on the seriousness of any potential health effects 
and is still relatively simple and straightforward to implement. 
Violations span a wide range of potential health risks. A ``middle-
tier'' public notice requirement between the 24-hour notice and the 
annual notice is appropriate for those lower-tier violations and 
situations that may have the potential for serious adverse effects on 
human health, but are not significant or urgent enough to require an 
emergency notice. EPA believes a three-tier system of public 
notification effectively separates the form, manner, content, and 
frequency of public notice based on the seriousness of any potential 
adverse health effects. The three-tier system also meets the clear 
objectives and purposes of public notification, is simple and 
straightforward to implement, and meets the requirements of the 
statute.

[[Page 25993]]

3. Who Must Be Notified?

    Today's Rule: The final rule under Sec. 141.201(c) requires that 
each public water system provide public notice to persons served by the 
water system. EPA believes that consumers have a right to know in a 
timely manner whenever violations occur that may affect them, to allow 
them to make their own choices about using drinking water, based on 
their own perceived risk. This is consistent with the statutory 
requirement under the SDWA, which requires that public notice be 
provided to ``the persons served by the system.'' (SDWA, Section 
1414(c)(1)). In response to comments on the proposal, EPA in the final 
rule has clarified the requirement in three ways.
    First, EPA interprets the obligation of the water system to reach 
persons served to extend beyond bill-paying customers and service 
connections to all consumers of the system's drinking water. This is 
defined in the final rule to require that water systems provide the 
notice in a form and manner ``reasonably calculated to reach persons 
served.'' EPA recognizes that reaching the persons served beyond the 
bill-paying customers and service connections may pose a challenge to 
some water systems. Some consumers (such as apartment dwellers, other 
renters, university students, prison inmates, and condominium 
residents) may not be the persons paying the water bill or be otherwise 
linked to the service connection address. The form and manner of the 
public notice necessary to reach all the persons served depends on the 
local situation. To illustrate how EPA interprets the breadth of this 
obligation, EPA has added examples in the rule language under 
Secs. 141.202(c), 141.203(c), and 141.204(c) outlining what additional 
efforts it expects of public water systems to reach persons other than 
the bill-payers or the service connection addresses.
    EPA has also added standard language under Sec. 141.205(d)(3) for 
water systems to use in their public notices (where applicable) to 
encourage those receiving the notice to distribute it to other persons 
who may drink the water. Examples where the use of this standard 
distribution language would apply include notices that are sent to 
apartment and condominium managers, building managers or physical plant 
superintendents, or others who receive the notice who provide drinking 
water to others.
    Second, language under Sec. 141.201(c)(a)(1) has been added to 
define the public notice obligation of public water systems that sell 
or otherwise provide drinking water to other public water systems. 
These ``parent'' systems are responsible for providing public notice of 
the violation or situation to the owner or operator of the 
``consecutive'' systems to whom they sell water, but they are not 
required under the rule to distribute the notice to persons served by 
the consecutive system. Although different public notice arrangements 
are sometimes made between the parent and consecutive system, the 
consecutive system is the water system responsible under this rule for 
delivering the notice to the persons it serves. Although the legal 
obligation is clear under the rule, EPA recommends that each 
consecutive water system in its contract with the parent system agree 
on the most effective approach for distributing public notices. EPA 
will give examples of such agreements in the Public Notification 
Handbook.
    Third, language under Sec. 141.201(c)(2) has been added to enable 
the primacy agency, at its option, to make exceptions to the system-
wide notice requirement if specific regulatory criteria are met. The 
new language will allow a water system to limit distribution of the 
notice to those persons served by a portion of the distribution system 
impacted by the violation, where the water system is able to 
demonstrate that the affected portion of the system is physically or 
hydraulically isolated from all other parts of the distribution system. 
This replaces the more limited discretion given to primacy agencies in 
the current rule, which allows less than system-wide notice for 
violation of EPA's chemical standards only when the elevated 
contaminant levels are contained in a separable portion of the 
distribution system with no interconnections. Today's rule broadens the 
allowable exceptions to a system-wide notice by adding ``hydraulically 
isolated'' to the exception criteria. Although not open-ended, the 
amended language recognizes situations other than physical separation 
where there is clear and certain evidence that persons served by a 
portion of the distribution system have no chance of being affected by 
the violation.
    To meet EPA's criterion that a portion of the distribution system 
must be physically isolated to be eligible for an exception to the 
system-wide notice requirement, a system must show the primacy agency 
that the affected portion is separated from other parts of the 
distribution system with no interconnections. Because of the physical 
separation, the elevated contaminant levels contained in only that 
portion of the system would have no bearing on the contaminant levels 
in other parts of the system. In such a situation, EPA believes a 
primacy agency may permit an exception to system-wide notice. These 
exceptions to system-wide notice are already allowed in the current 
rule for violations of the chemical standards under Secs. 141.23(i)(4), 
141.24(f)(15)(iii), and (h)(11)(iii). Today's rule incorporates this 
exception criteria into Sec. 141.201(c)(2).
    To meet EPA's criterion that a portion of the distribution system 
must be hydraulically isolated to be eligible for an exception to the 
system-wide notice requirement, a system must show that the water in 
the affected portion is separated from the water in all other parts of 
the distribution system because the projected water flow patterns and 
water pressure zones effectively isolate the water to that portion of 
the system. This hydraulic isolation can result from the design of the 
distribution system (e.g., pressure zones, backflow prevention devices) 
or be created through system operation (e.g., flow control). An example 
associated with the Total Coliform Rule is the presence of E. coli 
downstream from a pipe break that the system can demonstrate, to the 
satisfaction of the primacy agency, led to the entry of fecal 
contamination, and that the water downstream from the break does not 
flow into any other part of the distribution system. Another example, 
related to a chemical standard (e.g., nitrate, fluoride), is a 
situation where contaminant levels exceeding the MCL are shown to be 
from a single source and found only in the distribution main leading 
from that source. The water system in this situation may be eligible 
for an exception if it could demonstrate, using other monitoring 
information and distribution flow modeling, that exceedances above the 
MCL could only be found in the single distribution main because of 
water flow patterns and pressure zones (the ``hydraulics'') under all 
operational scenarios. For both of these examples, the decision on 
whether to permit an exception to the system-wide notice requirement 
rests solely with the primacy agency.
    Primacy agencies seeking authority to grant exceptions to the 
system-wide notice requirement must meet the special primacy conditions 
under Sec. 142.16(a)(2) in their approved primacy program. Decisions by 
the primacy agency to permit exceptions must be in writing and 
otherwise documented based on use of the regulatory criteria in today's 
rule. EPA recognizes that there are other situations where the water 
system has evidence that not all the

[[Page 25994]]

persons served by the system are affected equally by the violation. In 
these situations, EPA expects the water system to tailor the language 
in the public notice its sends system-wide, to communicate who is at 
most risk from the violation and who is at minimal risk. All such 
notices, unless the water system is granted an exception by the primacy 
agency, are required to be distributed system-wide according to the 
requirements in this part.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA asked for comments on its 
interpretation of who must be notified under the SDWA and the proposed 
rule. A substantial number of commenters recommended that EPA allow 
exceptions to the proposed (and current) requirement that the notice go 
to persons served by the entire system, particularly where it is clear 
that only a portion of the persons served are affected by the 
violation. Other commenters asked EPA to clarify how far the water 
system must go to ensure that its notice reaches all persons served.
    EPA Response to Comments: The final rule reaffirms the statutory 
language that water systems provide the public notice to persons served 
by the entire system. In response to comments, however, the final rule 
now includes language enabling the primacy agency, at its option, to 
make exceptions to the system-wide notice requirement where the 
violation is shown to be due to exceedances in a portion of the system 
that is physically or hydraulically isolated from the rest of the 
system. EPA also added language in the final rule to respond to 
requests that EPA clarify public notice responsibilities for persons 
selling water to other water systems (i.e., ``consecutive systems'').
    Several commenters requested that EPA change the distribution 
requirement from ``persons served by the system'' to ``persons 
affected,'' to allow less than system-wide notice where the available 
evidence indicates that the violation affects only a portion of the 
persons served by the system. EPA disagrees with changing the baseline 
requirement to distribute notices of all violations system-wide, 
because EPA strongly believes that consumers have a right-to-know in a 
timely manner when violations occur that may affect them. In situations 
where evidence indicates that not all persons served are affected 
equally by the violation, EPA expects the water system to tailor the 
language in the public notice to communicate who is at most risk and 
what actions they should take, not to limit the notice distribution 
based on relative risk. EPA does agree, however, that exceptions to the 
system-wide notice distribution may be warranted when the contaminant 
exceedances are shown to be contained exclusively in an isolated 
portion of the distribution system. In such a situation, only those 
persons served by that portion of the system are affected. Accordingly, 
EPA has added language in the final rule allowing the primacy agency to 
grant exceptions, at its option, where the violation is shown to be due 
to exceedances in a portion of the system that is physically or 
hydraulically isolated from the rest of the system.
    Several other commenters gave examples of situations where they 
believed a system-wide notice is unwarranted. EPA believes the language 
added in the final rule effectively addresses these comments by 
allowing exceptions to the system-wide requirement, at the primacy 
agencies discretion, when the system can demonstrate that specific 
engineering and hydraulic criteria are met. EPA's intent in adding the 
language is explained earlier in this preamble section. EPA's detailed 
response to specific comments on this provision is contained in the 
``Response to Comments'' document contained in the docket for this 
rule.

F. Form, Manner, and Frequency of the Tier 1 Public Notice: Violations 
and Situations With Significant Potential to Have Serious Adverse 
Effects on Human Health as a Result of Short-Term Exposure 
(Sec. 141.202)

1. Tier 1 Violations and Situations
    Today's Rule: The final rule under Sec. 141.202(a) requires a Tier 
1 public notice for specific violation categories and other situations. 
The list of violations requiring a Tier 1 public notice in today's rule 
includes all violations in the current rule defined as posing acute 
health effects. In addition, a number of new violations and situations 
have been added to those already required under the current regulation. 
Tier 1 notice requirements under the final rule are required for:
     Violation of the MCL for total coliform, when fecal 
coliform or E. coli are present in the water distribution system, or 
when the water system fails to test for fecal coliforms or E. coli 
after any repeat sample tests positive for coliform. Failure to test 
for fecal coliform or E. coli is not defined as an acute violation 
requiring a 72-hour notice in the current rule.
     Violation of the MCL for nitrate, nitrite, or total 
nitrate and nitrite, or when a water system fails to take a 
confirmation sample within 24 hours of the system's receipt of the 
first sample showing exceedance of the nitrate or nitrite MCL. 
Violation of the total nitrate and nitrite MCL and the failure to take 
a required confirmation sample are not defined as acute violations in 
the current rule.
     Exceedance of the nitrate MCL by non-community water 
systems (NCWSs), where permitted to exceed the MCL by the primacy 
agency under the criteria established under Sec. 141.11(d). The 
authority given by primacy agencies under Sec. 141.11(d) to allow NCWS 
to exceed the MCL level of 10 mg/l (up to 20 mg/l) is unchanged by 
today's action. The final public notification rule incorporates the 
public notice requirements for qualifying NCWSs into a new special 
public notice under Sec. 141.209. Qualifying NCWS must follow the Tier 
1 notice requirements. This existing requirement is not explicitly 
incorporated into the current public notice rule.
     Violation of the MRDL for chlorine dioxide, where one or 
more samples taken in the distribution system the day following an 
exceedance of the MRDL at the entrance of the distribution system 
exceed the MRDL. A Tier 1 notice is also required when the water system 
does not take required samples in the distribution system. These are 
new Tier 1 notice requirements incorporated from the Stage 1 D/DBP rule 
published on December 16, 1998 (63 FR 69390).
     Violation of the turbidity MCL under Sec. 141.13(b) or a 
violation of the SWTR and IESWTR treatment technique requirements 
resulting from a single exceedance of the maximum allowable turbidity 
level, where the primacy agency determines after consultation initiated 
by the water system that a Tier 1 public notice is required. Violations 
resulting from exceedance of these turbidity limits will routinely 
require a Tier 2 notice except where the primacy agency determines, 
after consultation, that a Tier 1 notice is required for the specific 
situation. The consultation requirement under Sec. 141.203(b)(3) is 
triggered whenever these specific turbidity violations occur. 
Consultation must take place as soon as practical but no later than 24 
hours after the violation is known. If the water system is unable to 
consult with the primacy agency within the 24-hour period, the public 
notice requirement is automatically elevated to a Tier 1. Where the 
notice requirement is elevated to a Tier 1, the public water system 
must distribute the notice as soon as practical but no later than the 
subsequent 24-hour period after the Tier 1 requirement is known (i.e., 
no later than 48 hours after the

[[Page 25995]]

public water system first learns of the violation). This provision is 
not included in the current rule.
     Occurrence of a waterborne disease outbreak, as defined in 
Section 141.2, and other waterborne emergencies. This is an expanded 
Tier 1 notice requirement from that required under the current rule, 
which is limited to outbreaks related to violations of the Surface 
Water Treatment Rule for unfiltered systems. Today's final rule adds an 
explicit reference to Sec. 141.2 to clarify the definition of 
waterborne disease outbreaks requiring a Tier 1 public notice. The 
following definition of a waterborne disease outbreak is in Sec. 141.2:

    Waterborne disease outbreak means the significant occurrence of 
acute infectious illness, epidemiologically associated with the 
ingestion of water from a public water system which is deficient in 
treatment, as determined by the appropriate local or state agency.

Today's final rule also adds ``other waterborne emergencies'' to the 
list of situations requiring a public notice. The definition of 
``waterborne emergency'' is illustrated in the final rule by example, 
but EPA's intent is to have the Tier 1 public notice requirement apply 
to any waterborne emergency (whether a violation or not) with 
significant potential to pose adverse health effects from short-term 
exposure. The examples in the final rule to illustrate this include, 
but are not limited to: Failure or significant interruption in key 
water treatment processes, a natural disaster that disrupts the water 
supply or distribution system, or a chemical spill or unexpected 
loading of possible pathogens into the source water that significantly 
increases the potential for drinking water contamination.
     Other violations or situations with significant potential 
to have serious adverse health effects from short-term exposure, as 
determined by the primacy agency. This enables the primacy agency to 
elevate to Tier 1 other violations and situations not specifically 
identified as requiring a Tier 1 notice in Appendix A, when necessary 
to protect public health. The final rule allows the primacy agency to 
elevate either violations or situations; the current rule applies only 
to ``violations.''
    EPA has limited its list of violations and situations routinely 
requiring a Tier 1 notice to those with a significant potential for 
serious adverse health effects from short-term exposure. There are 
other serious violations which may indicate a potential for adverse 
health effects from short-term exposure in specific circumstances. But 
EPA did not designate these other violations as automatically requiring 
a Tier 1 notice because they represent exceedances of indicator 
parameters which are not strongly or consistently linked to the 
occurrence of the possible acute health effects. Most routine Total 
Coliform Rule (TCR) MCL violations and Surface Water Treatment Rule 
(SWTR) TT violations would fall into this category. These violations 
are included in the Tier 2 list. EPA believes focusing the 24-hour 
notice requirement in its rule on the more limited set of violations 
will increase the effectiveness of the Tier 1 notices and lead to 
greater health protection. When a specific violation or situation 
clearly warrants a Tier 1 notice based on the strength of the evidence, 
EPA expects the primacy agency to use its discretion to elevate the 
notice requirement to Tier 1. Use of this discretion is authorized 
under the final EPA rule to ensure that the public is effectively 
informed of these violations and situations not explicitly listed by 
EPA as requiring a Tier 1 notice.
    EPA decided to include violations resulting from exceedance of the 
maximum allowable turbidity limit in its Tier 1 list of violations 
under Table 1 to Sec. 141.202, but Tier 1 would only apply when the 
primacy agency directs such a notice after consultation with the public 
water system. This was because EPA believes that violations resulting 
from an exceedance of the maximum allowable turbidity limit may be an 
indicator that there is significant potential of adverse health effects 
from short-term exposure. There is a strong possibility of serious 
consequences to public health if the public is not alerted quickly when 
pathogens have passed through to the drinking water. However, EPA does 
not believe that all such turbidity excursions should prompt a Tier 1 
notice, thus justifying a new requirement that the system consult with 
the primacy agency within 24 hours to determine whether the specific 
situation warrants a Tier 1 notice. Requiring immediate consultation 
with the primacy agency will ensure that Tier 1 notices will be 
required when supported by the evidence. Requiring consultation rather 
than an automatic Tier 1 notice also avoids unnecessary and costly 
notices. When consultation with the primacy agency does not occur 
within 24 hours, the final rule automatically requires that a Tier 1 
notice be distributed.
    EPA expects that some of the routine violations related to 
turbidity exceedances should require a Tier 2 (not a Tier 1) notice 
because a turbidity exceedance by itself, without other supporting 
information, has not been shown to date to be a predictable indicator 
of a pathogen loading in the finished water. A single exceedance of the 
maximum allowable turbidity limit, although a violation, may also prove 
to be a false reading because of a testing equipment malfunction. EPA 
is continuing research on turbidity as an indicator of pathogen loading 
as part of the development of the Long Term Enhanced Surface Water 
Treatment Rule. Given the relatively small number of single exceedance 
turbidity violations (estimated at less than 200 per year), the 
additional primacy agency workload for consultation should not be 
overly burdensome. The final rule provides the best balance between 
getting a notice out quickly to protect public health and avoiding 
unnecessary alarm and confusion through issuance of unnecessary 
notices.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA requested comment on its 
proposed list of violations and situations requiring Tier 1 public 
notification. EPA received a range of comments recommending changes to 
the proposed list.
    First, many commenters specifically focused on those proposed Tier 
2 violations which may in some circumstances pose a significant and 
immediate risk from short-term exposure, specifically violations of the 
TCR and SWTR/IESWTR. In particular, over half of these commenters 
recommended that turbidity excursions resulting in a violation be 
automatically elevated to a Tier 1 notice because they believed that 
turbidity violations were more often than not a strong indicator of 
harmful drinking water posing a significant risk from short-term 
exposure. The rest of those commenting on this issue specifically 
supported leaving all turbidity violations in Tier 2 (as was proposed) 
because they believed that turbidity violations were more often than 
not a false indicator of potential health risk. Virtually all the 
commenters agreed that turbidity was useful as an indicator to trigger 
immediate follow-up by the water system.
    Second, commenters asked EPA to be more precise in defining which 
violations or situations required a Tier 1 notice. In particular, 
commenters asked EPA to better define when EPA intended a Tier 1 notice 
to be triggered for a waterborne disease outbreak, to clarify when 
failure to test for fecal coliform required a Tier 1 notice, and to 
better specify which chlorine dioxide violations required a Tier 1 
notice.
    Third, several commenters requested that EPA provide more explicit 
criteria for when EPA intended for the primacy agency to elevate other 
violations and

[[Page 25996]]

situations not explicitly listed in the EPA rule to a Tier 1 notice.
    EPA Response to Comments: The final rule reflects several 
substantive changes to what EPA proposed, based on comments received on 
the proposal. In response to comments recommending that the proposal be 
changed to require that all TCR MCL violations and all SWTR TT 
violations require a Tier 1 notice because of their potential risk from 
short-term exposure, EPA decided to stay with the Tier 2 requirement as 
proposed. EPA believes that an automatic Tier 1 notice requirement is 
not justified because routine TCR and SWTR violations (without 
supporting evidence) are not sufficiently strong or predictable 
indicators of significant potential of risk from short-term exposure. 
Routine TCR violations with no evidence of fecal contamination clearly 
do not provide sufficient evidence indicating significant potential of 
short-term health risk. Routine violations of the treatment technique 
requirements under the SWTR and IESWTR do provide an indication of 
problems with disinfection or filtration treatment, but they are not in 
themselves sufficient evidence indicating significant potential of 
short-term health risk.
    In response to the range of comments related to the appropriate 
tier level for turbidity violations, EPA agrees that certain 
exceedances of the turbidity limit deserve special attention in the 
final rule. Accordingly, EPA has added language in the final rule 
addressing this specific situation. For the reasons outlined earlier in 
this section, the final rule: Continues to classify all turbidity 
violations as Tier 2; adds a new requirement that PWSs consult with 
their primacy agency within 24 hours when exceedances of the maximum 
allowable turbidity limit occur; enables the primacy agency after the 
consultation to elevate specific turbidity violations to Tier 1 when 
warranted; and requires an automatic Tier 1 notice when consultation 
does not take place within the 24-hour period. Since the significance 
of the risk to health of an exceedance of the turbidity limit is 
situational, EPA believes the final rule ensures that Tier 1 notices 
will go out quickly when necessary (based on the immediate consultation 
requirement) while avoiding unnecessary notices where the violation 
poses no risk to health.
    In response to comments asking that EPA clarify the violations and 
situations requiring a Tier 1 notice, EPA agrees and has added language 
in Table 1 to Sec. 141.202 of the final rule to more precisely define 
when a Tier 1 notice is required. In response to specific comments, EPA 
also added several new Tier 1 categories to Table 1 to ensure that 
Table 1 accurately and completely lists all the violations and 
situations where a Tier 1 notice is required. In addition, the final 
Table 1 list incorporates two existing public notice requirements not 
explicitly referenced as Tier 1 requirements under the proposal: The 
notice required under Sec. 141.11(d) for those NCWS allowed by the 
primacy agency to exceed the nitrate standard; and the notice required 
under Sec. 141.23(f)(2) when a system fails to take a nitrate 
confirmation sample after the initial sample showed an exceedance of 
the MCL. These changes incorporated existing requirements currently 
found in other sections of the CFR. Finally, changes were made in the 
final rule language to broaden the definition of waterborne disease 
outbreak by adding other waterborne emergencies and making minor 
changes in the language related to failure to test for fecal coliform 
and chlorine dioxide violations to clarify when the Tier 1 notice is 
required.
    In response to comments asking for more explicit criteria to guide 
primacy agencies on when to elevate other violations and situations to 
the Tier 1 list, EPA has decided not to specify additional criteria in 
the final rule. EPA believes that the primacy agency needs wide 
latitude to access individual situations based on the regulatory 
definition of the Tier 1 notice under Sec. 141.201(b). EPA also 
encourages public water systems to use the Tier 1 notice protocols 
whenever a violation or situation has significant potential to pose 
adverse health effects from short-term exposure. Since time is of the 
essence to protect public health in such situations, public water 
systems should act quickly to notify persons served, without waiting 
for direction from the primacy agency. EPA will shortly be issuing the 
final Public Notification Handbook and the Public Notification Primacy 
Guidance, which will offer examples of other situations where it 
believes a Tier 1 notice may be necessary.
2. Timing of the Tier 1 Public Notice (and Consultation Requirement)
    Today's Rule: The final rule under Sec. 141.202(b) requires that a 
Tier 1 public notice be provided by the public water system as soon as 
possible but no later than 24 hours after the system learns of the 
violation. The public water system is also required to initiate 
consultation with the primacy agency within that same 24-hour period 
and comply with whatever subsequent public notification requirements 
are established during that consultation.
    The timing and process established for the Tier 1 public notice in 
the final rule is significantly different from the current rule.
     First, the public water system is required to distribute 
the notice within 24 hours (as required under Section 1414(c)(2)(C)(i) 
of the SDWA), rather than within 72 hours required in the current rule. 
This is a statutory obligation for such violations under the 1996 SDWA 
amendments. EPA interprets the statute under Section 1414(c)(2)(C)(i) 
to require this initial public notice within the first 24 hours to 
apply regardless of when the consultation with the primacy agency takes 
place.
     Second, the final rule sets a new requirement that the 
water system consult with the primacy agency to determine subsequent 
public notification requirements. EPA interprets the statute under 
Section 1414(c)(2)(C)(iii) and (C)(iv) to require that the public water 
system consult with the primacy agency within the first 24 hours after 
the violation becomes known to the water system, to determine 
subsequent public notice requirements (e.g., repeat notice frequencies, 
form and manner of subsequent notice, etc.). In contrast, the current 
rule sets the subsequent public notice requirements in the rule itself, 
rather than on a case-by-case basis as a result of consultation with 
the primacy agency.
    The final rule identifies a number of elements which may be covered 
during the consultation, including the timing, form, manner, frequency, 
and content of subsequent notices, the duration of the notice when 
posted, and other actions reasonably calculated to ensure the notice is 
provided to persons served. Additional notices may be necessary to 
reach other persons served who may not have seen the initial notice and 
to reaffirm the seriousness of the public health risk from drinking the 
water. EPA also believes, but does not require in the final rule, that 
a supplemental notice to announce that the violation has been resolved 
and the risk from the drinking water has been abated is an effective 
way to bring closure to the emergency situation. The decision on when 
to require subsequent notices can best be handled by the primacy agency 
on a case-by-case basis in consultation with the public water system.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA requested comment on the new 
requirement for a 24-hour notice for Tier 1 public notices and the new 
consultation process within the same

[[Page 25997]]

24-hour period proposed in lieu of more prescriptive EPA requirements. 
EPA also asked for comment on its interpretation of the statute under 
Section 1414(c)(2)(C), which allows EPA to require public water systems 
to consult with the primacy agency. EPA received many comments on the 
new 24-hour notice requirement, ranging from support of the new 
requirement to a request that the final rule give water systems (or the 
primacy agency) flexibility to allow more than 24 hours when necessary 
to produce an effective notice. Some commenters supported maintaining 
the 72-hour requirement in the current rule, others thought that 24 
hours was too long a period. Many other comments were received 
requesting clarification of when the 24-hour clock would start.
    EPA Response to Comments: In response to comments received, EPA 
made minor changes in rule language to what was proposed, primarily to 
clarify EPA's intention. In response to comments that the 24-hour 
deadline be increased or decreased, EPA has decided to maintain the 
proposed period because of the clear statutory language and intent 
under the 1996 SDWA amendments. As described in the preamble to the 
proposed rule, in setting the deadline for Tier 1 notification, EPA was 
limited by the provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act 
(1414(c)(2)(C)(i)), which allow a maximum of 24 hours for violations 
with the potential to cause serious health effects as a result of 
short-term exposure.
    In response to questions about when EPA intended the 24-hour clock 
to begin, EPA wants to reaffirm the language in the proposal:'' * * * 
as soon as possible but no later than 24 hours after the system learns 
of the violation.'' EPA believes it is important to hold the PWS 
responsible for learning about a violation and the actions it is 
required to take. Accounting in the rule for every way in which a 
system could learn of a violation would make the rule overly 
complicated. EPA wishes to restate that the trigger point for 
notification is when the system learns that the violation has occurred, 
not at the point when a system expects that a violation will occur 
(e.g., when the presence of coliform is discovered and the system is 
awaiting the results of a confirmation sample). If systems use an 
independent laboratory, this means that the 24-hour clock starts when 
the laboratory reports to the public water system the analytical 
results that indicate a violation has occurred. To get the notice out 
as soon as practical but no later than 24 hours, EPA encourages systems 
to ``gear up'' in advance for preparing a notice. EPA recommends that 
public water systems review the public notification requirements for 
each violation type and develop a fill-in-the-blank Tier 1 notice based 
on the templates to be issued with the final Public Notification 
Handbook.
    In response to comments on the proposed new consultation 
requirement under Sec. 141.202(b)(2) and (b)(3), EPA has decided to 
retain the language as proposed. Some commenters requested that the 
consultation deadline be changed from 24 hours to the end of the next 
business day. Even though the public water system is required to 
distribute the notice to persons served within 24 hours whether or not 
consultation occurs, EPA believes that any delay in getting the primacy 
agency involved is unwarranted given the seriousness of the Tier 1 
situation. Other commenters asked for clarification of the term 
``initiate consultation,'' particularly when the water system is unable 
to contact the State within the 24-hour period. EPA intends the phrase 
``initiate consultation'' to require, at a minimum, that the system 
take active steps to contact the primacy agency. EPA and most States 
now have voice mail or an emergency hotline, so public water systems 
should always be able to leave a message indicating that an attempt at 
initiating consultation was made. EPA recognizes that full and complete 
consultation may not be possible if the primacy agency is unavailable. 
EPA plans to work with States during the primacy revision process to 
augment the States' capability to respond on a 24-hour basis to 
potential Tier 1 notice situations.
    Finally, several commenters believed that the proposed requirement 
under Sec. 141.202(b)(3) to comply with any additional notice 
requirements resulting from the consultation was too vague and open-
ended. In response, EPA intends that the primacy agency have broad-
based discretion to respond to the specific situation. Authorizing the 
primacy agency to respond appropriately to the specific situation will 
strengthen the public notice response to situations posing significant 
potential of short-term risk to health.
3. Form and Manner of the Delivery of the Tier 1 Notice
    Today's Rule: The final rule, under Sec. 141.202(c), allows the 
public water system some flexibility in choosing the specific method of 
delivery to distribute the notice. This is significantly different from 
the current rule, which requires that an initial notice be provided in 
all cases by electronic media and that subsequent notices be delivered 
first by newspaper and later on by mail. The final rule does require 
water systems to use, at a minimum, at least one of the following 
delivery methods: appropriate broadcast media, posting of the notice in 
conspicuous locations, hand delivery, or another minimum delivery 
method specified in writing by the primacy agency. It also establishes 
an enforceable performance standard, requiring the water system to use 
delivery methods reasonably calculated to reach all other persons not 
reached by the minimum method within the 24-hour period, including all 
residential, transient, and non-transient users of the water.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA requested comment on the 
revised requirements defining the form and manner of the Tier 1 
notices. Many commenters believed that the proposed list of minimum 
methods was too limiting, and that other methods should be added to 
this minimum list to give water systems greater choice. Other 
commenters requested that the final rule require water systems to use 
more than one minimum method, since one method in many cases would not 
reach all persons served. Several commenters felt that the use of a 
performance standard (``take steps reasonably calculated to reach all 
persons served''), in lieu of additional listed methods to reach others 
not covered by the minimum method, gave water systems too much 
flexibility.
    EPA Response to Comments: EPA made one substantive change and made 
other edits to the language in Sec. 141.202(c), in response to the 
comments received on the proposal. Based on comments received, the 
final rule added a fourth item to the list of minimum forms of notice 
delivery, which authorizes the primacy agency to approve in writing the 
use of a substitute delivery method not already listed in EPA's rule. 
The proposed rule did not give the primacy agency the discretion to 
allow use of methods other than those explicitly listed under 
Sec. 141.202(c). EPA agrees with the commenters that the proposed 
minimum list of delivery methods (broadcast media, posting, and hand 
delivery) was too limiting and potentially inappropriate to some Tier 1 
situations.
    Commenters recommended adding a wide variety of delivery methods to 
the minimum list, including newspaper, postal patron mailing, e-mail, 
or priority mail. EPA believes the best response to these comments is 
to allow primacy agencies to substitute methods other than those listed 
to fit the specific

[[Page 25998]]

situation, because no single list will fit all situations.
    Other commenters believed EPA should require that more than one 
minimum delivery method be used. EPA disagrees. Using one of the listed 
minimum methods, coupled with the requirement that the system take 
steps ``reasonably calculated to reach all persons served'' ensures 
that additional methods are employed where necessary. Although 
additional methods are not always required, EPA expects that most 
community water systems will need to use more than one method of 
delivery to effectively reach all persons served. In contrast, one 
method may be adequate for many very small community water systems or 
non-community systems to reach the persons they serve. In addition, the 
consultation with the primacy agency required for Tier 1 notices under 
Sec. 141.202(b) is intended to be a backup where systems are unable or 
unwilling to comply fully with the requirement.

G. Form, Manner, and Frequency of the Tier 2 Public Notice: Other 
Violations With Potential To Have Serious Adverse Effects on Human 
Health (Sec. 141.203)

1. Tier 2 Violations and Situations
    Today's Rule; The final rule under Sec. 141.203(a) requires a Tier 
2 public notice for the following violation categories and other 
situations:
     All violations of the MCL, MRDL, and treatment technique 
requirements, except where a Tier 1 notice is required under 141.202(a) 
or where the primacy agency determines a Tier 1 notice is required;
     Violations of the monitoring and testing procedure 
requirements where the primacy agency determines that a Tier 2 public 
notice is required; and
     Failure to comply with the terms and conditions of any 
existing variance or exemption in place.
    The above list is similar to the list in the comparable section of 
the current rule, with three exceptions:
     First, the final rule sets the new public notice 
requirements for the Stage 1 Disinfectant/Disinfection Byproducts (D/
DBP) Rule and the Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule (63 FR 
69389 and 69477, December 16, 1998). (Today's rule also amends the 
Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) regulations to define the CCR 
requirements for these new rules. See Section V of the preamble for 
discussion of the CCR rule changes included in today's rulemaking.)
     Second, the final rule enables the primacy agency, at its 
option, to elevate the public notice requirement for specific 
monitoring or testing procedure violations from a Tier 3 to a Tier 2 
notice, taking into account the potential health impacts and the 
persistence of the violation. Unless the primacy agency determines 
otherwise, monitoring and testing procedure violations will be reported 
in a Tier 3 notice.
     Third, although the final rule continues to designate 
turbidity MCL and TT violations as Tier 2 (as in the current rule and 
as proposed), the final rule has added a new requirement under 
Sec. 141.203(b)(3) that a public water system consult with the primacy 
agency within 24 hours after learning of the violation to determine 
whether the specific situation should be elevated to a Tier 1 notice.
    Table 1 to Sec. 141.202 explicitly authorizes the primacy agency, 
after consultation, to elevate to Tier 1 those violations related to 
exceedance of the maximum allowable turbidity level. When consultation 
does not take place within the 24-hour period, a Tier 1 notice is 
automatically required. The public water system must distribute the 
Tier 1 notice by the end of the next 24-hour period (or no later than 
48 hours after the system learns of the violation). (See discussion in 
preamble under Section IV.F.1 related to Tier 1 notices and under 
Section IV.G.2 related to the turbidity consultation requirements.)
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA requested comment on the list 
of violations included under Tier 2. Comments were also requested on an 
alternative option that would require a Tier 2 notice, rather than a 
Tier 3 notice, for all monitoring and testing procedure violations, 
unless the primacy agency explicitly allowed a Tier 3 notice. Many 
comments received on this section related to which of the violations 
proposed as requiring a Tier 2 notice should be elevated to Tier 1. The 
response to these comments is included in Section IV.F.1 of the 
preamble, related to Tier 1 requirements. Other than the Tier 1 issue, 
most of the comments supported the proposed list of violations as 
requiring a Tier 2 notice. A few of the commenters did, however, 
recommend that certain violations proposed as Tier 2 (e.g., Lead and 
Copper Rule (LCR) treatment technique violations) be moved to Tier 3. 
Other commenters asked EPA to clarify and possibly add criteria for the 
situations in which EPA expects primacy agencies to elevate monitoring 
violations from a Tier 3 notice to a Tier 2 notice.
    EPA's Response to Comments: EPA made no changes to the language in 
Sec. 141.203(a) from what was proposed, based on comments received on 
the proposal. In response to comments recommending that LCR violations 
be moved to Tier 3, EPA has decided to leave the rule as proposed. For 
public health and right-to-know reasons, EPA believes that treatment 
technique violations deserve the same level of notice as MCL 
violations. LCR TT violations are an indicator of potential increased 
levels of lead or copper in drinking water. This is a significant 
public health issue for a large segment of the population and, for this 
reason, EPA believes that a Tier 3 notice is not appropriate. In 
response to comments that EPA specify additional criteria on when 
primacy agencies should elevate Tier 3 notices to Tier 2, EPA has 
decided not to add to the performance criteria in the proposal (``* * * 
taking into account health effects and the persistence of the violation 
* * *''). EPA intends that the primacy agency exercise broad discretion 
on when to elevate Tier 3 notices to Tier 2 as part of its approved 
primacy program. EPA plans to make recommendations on how to decide 
when to elevate violations to higher tiers in its guidance to primacy 
agencies on implementing the public notification rule.
2. Timing of the Tier 2 Public Notice
    Today's Rule: The final rule under Sec. 141.203(b)(1) requires the 
public water system to provide a Tier 2 public notice to persons served 
as soon as practical, but no later than 30 days after the system learns 
of the violation. Posted notices are required by the final rule to 
remain in place for as long as the violation or situation persists, but 
in no case for less than seven days, even if the violation or situation 
is resolved. The final rule under Sec. 141.203(b)(2) also requires the 
public water system to repeat the notice every three months for as long 
as the violation persists. In contrast, the current rule requires a 
newspaper notice within 14 days, a notice mailed to all bill-payers 
within forty-five days, and a repeat notice mailed every three months 
thereafter until the violation is resolved.
    The final rule gives the primacy agency discretion, in appropriate 
circumstances, to extend the time period allowed for the Tier 2 notice 
from 30 days to up to three months for the initial notice and to allow 
repeat notice less frequently than every three months (but no less than 
once per year). Permission must be granted in writing. Although the 
discretion given to the primacy agency is fairly broad, the final rule 
specifically disallows extensions of the 30-day deadline for the 
initial public notice for any unresolved violation. It also 
specifically disallows primacy

[[Page 25999]]

agencies from approving repeat notices less frequently than every three 
months for TCR, SWTR, and IESWTR TT violations. The final rule also 
does not allow primacy agencies to establish regulations or policies 
that automatically give ``across-the-board'' extensions or reductions 
in the repeat notice frequency for all the other violations.
    EPA believes that giving the primacy agency discretion in 
appropriate circumstances to extend the initial notice beyond 30 days 
or to allow repeat notices less frequently than every three months is 
clearly warranted. The violation situations under Tier 2 are very 
diverse, ranging from violations that on some occasions may pose 
potential adverse health effects from short-term exposure (such as 
routine SWTR TT violations), to unresolved violations that pose chronic 
health effects from long-term exposure (such as benzene violations), 
and to resolved violations no longer posing any potential risk to 
health. One size does not fit all! An extension beyond 30 days may be 
appropriate for violations that were quickly resolved. An extension to 
three months may allow the water system to include the initial notice 
in the same mailing as the quarterly bill, with no loss in 
effectiveness.
    As referred to earlier in Section IV.G.1 of the preamble, the final 
rule also establishes a new provision under Sec. 141.203(b)(3) 
requiring public water systems to consult with the primacy agency 
within 24 hours of learning of a violation related to exceedance of the 
maximum allowable turbidity limit. Violation of the maximum allowable 
turbidity limit, when combined with other site-specific information, is 
an indication that pathogens may have passed through to the finished 
water. EPA is requiring consultation under the public notification rule 
so the primacy agency can determine whether to elevate the notice 
requirement to a Tier 1. Where consultation does not take place as 
required in the 24-hour period, a Tier 1 public notice requirement is 
automatically triggered and the public water system must distribute the 
notice within the next 24-hour period. The new consultation requirement 
overlaps with current SWTR regulations requiring public water systems 
to inform the primacy agency by the close of the next business day 
whenever turbidity levels exceed 5 NTU. Today's rule amends the current 
SWTR rule to eliminate the overlapping requirement. A discussion of 
this new provision, including why EPA established this new consultation 
requirement, is contained in Section IV.F.1 of the preamble.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA requested comment on the 
proposed 30-day time period required for the initial Tier 2 public 
notice, the requirement for a repeat notice of ongoing violations every 
three months, and the discretion given to the primacy agency in 
specific circumstances to extend the initial notice to three months or 
the repeat notice frequency to one year (either on a case-by-case basis 
or by rule). A broad range of comments were received on the proposed 
30-day time period for the initial Tier 2 notice, ranging from leaving 
the current 14-day requirement intact (or even requiring the notice 
sooner), to support for the 30-day proposed period, or to moving the 
initial notice to 90 or 120 days after the violation. A significant 
minority of commenters objected to allowing the primacy agency any 
discretion to extend the Tier 2 deadlines, believing that such 
discretion made a more complex rule which could be used inappropriately 
to give public water systems longer notice periods than intended under 
the rule. Other commenters supported giving the primacy agency 
flexibility to extend the Tier 2 deadlines, but asked for clarification 
or offered alternatives to the proposed extension process.
    EPA Response to Comments: After considering all the comments, EPA 
has decided to retain the proposed 30-day period for the initial notice 
and the 3-month repeat notice frequency in the final rule. But, in 
response to the large number of commenters requesting reconsideration 
or clarification of the proposed deadline extension, the final rule 
redefines how and when primacy agencies would be allowed to extend the 
initial notice beyond 30 days and under what circumstances the primacy 
agency would allow less frequent repeat notices for unresolved 
violations. The proposed rule would have allowed the primacy agency the 
discretion to deviate from the regulatory time period for ``specific 
circumstances'' as defined under the individual approved primacy 
programs. In Sec. 141.203(b)(1) and (b)(2) of the final rule, EPA 
replaced the proposed criteria allowing extensions in ``specific 
circumstances'' with a list of the specific violation situations where 
the discretion to extend or allow less frequent repeat notice is 
prohibited.
    In response to comments recommending that the Tier 2 deadline be 
set at 14 days or less, EPA believes the 30-day deadline will work most 
effectively because of the need to sharply differentiate the public 
health circumstances for violations requiring a Tier 2 notice from 
those requiring a Tier 1 notice. Routine violations in Tier 2 are not 
usually considered to pose a serious health risk from short-term 
exposure, thus immediate notification is not routinely needed to get 
people out of harm's way. The final rule recommends, however, that the 
notice be distributed as soon as practical, but sets the outer boundary 
at no longer than 30 days after the system learns of the violation. A 
violation that routinely requires a Tier 2 notice but for whatever 
reason poses elevated risk from short-term exposure may be elevated to 
Tier 1 at the discretion of the primacy agency.
    EPA also disagrees with commenters recommending that the Tier 2 
deadline be set at 90 or 120 days after the violation is known. EPA 
believes that a 30-day baseline period is appropriate and achievable 
for most Tier 2 violations and situations. A 30-day period is long 
enough after the violation for the system to gather the information 
needed to develop an effective notice and soon enough to meet the clear 
preference of many stakeholders to be informed as soon as practical 
after the violation. EPA believes setting a 90- or 120-day baseline 
period for the wide range of violations requiring a Tier 2 notice would 
threaten the public health and right-to-know objectives underpinning 
the public notification requirement. EPA does believe that there are 
situations where it is appropriate to extend the time frame for 
notification of some of these violations beyond 30 days, but these 
situations are the exception to the norm. The final rule addresses the 
exceptions to the 30-day deadline by enabling the primacy agency, at 
its option, to extend the deadline for the initial notice up to three 
months in appropriate circumstances.
    In response to comments opposing any extension of the initial 
public notice period beyond 30 days, EPA believes that the violations 
and situations requiring a Tier 2 notice encompass a wide range of 
violations. One size does not fit all! Although EPA believes that the 
30-day deadline is applicable for most Tier 2 situations, giving the 
primacy agency the discretion to extend the 30-day deadline gives the 
needed flexibility to respond to local situations. For example, an 
extension may be especially appropriate for violations that were 
quickly resolved and no longer pose a risk to public health, or where 
an extension may allow the water system to include the notice in the 
same mailing as a quarterly bill with no loss in effectiveness. At the 
same time, EPA has limited the primacy agency flexibility to grant 
extensions by prohibiting extensions for any unresolved violation. The 
final rule also does not allow primacy agencies to establish ``across-

[[Page 26000]]

the-board'' extensions for all violations through their rules and 
regulations. EPA will work with the States as they develop their 
primacy revision packages to reach agreement on how this flexibility 
will be used in their approved primacy program.
3. Form and Manner of the Delivery of the Tier 2 Notice
    Today's Rule: The final rule under Sec. 141.203(c) requires public 
water systems issuing Tier 2 notices to use one or more of the minimum 
methods specifically listed in the rule and to take other steps that 
are reasonably calculated to reach persons served in the required time 
period. The final rule significantly changes the requirements for 
delivery of the Tier 2 notice in the current rule. For example, the 
current rule (for community water systems) first requires a newspaper 
notice, followed by a notice either mailed or directly delivered to 
customers.
    In contrast, the final rule requires that community water systems, 
at a minimum, mail or otherwise directly deliver the notice to each 
customer receiving a bill and to other service connections to which 
water is delivered. The requirement to deliver the notice to other 
service connections where water is delivered adds an obligation not 
explicit in the current rule. The final rule requires that non-
community water systems, at a minimum, post the notice in conspicuous 
places or mail or directly deliver to each customer and service 
connection (if known). Beyond this regulatory minimum, all public water 
systems must take steps reasonably calculated to reach other persons 
served by the system who would not normally be reached by the minimum 
regulatory method. Examples where persons served may not be reached by 
the minimum method include: community water systems that provide 
drinking water to persons who do not pay a water bill (e.g., students, 
renters, nursing home residents, prison inmates) and therefore would 
not routinely see a mailed notice; and non-community water systems with 
situations where persons who use the drinking water might not see the 
posted notice (e.g., seasonal residents in a resort). The final rule 
also gives the primacy agency the option to prescribe a different 
method of delivery for the water system, based on policies and 
procedures established as part of its approved primacy program.
     Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA requested comment on the 
revised requirements for the method of delivery of the Tier 2 public 
notice. Comments were also requested on an alternative option to the 
proposal on the method of delivery that would give the public water 
system discretion to select from a list the methods it would use, with 
no required minimum, to meet the overall performance standard. Many 
comments were received on the proposed list of minimum methods systems 
could choose from. Some commenters believed the minimum list should be 
expanded to allow, for instance, use of the newspaper as the minimum 
method, as in the current rule. Other commenters requested that the 
final rule require that water systems use more than one minimum method. 
Still other commenters recommended that the final rule add a 
requirement to consult with the primacy agency before selecting a 
method.
    EPA Response to Comments: The final rule maintains the obligation 
that was proposed, requiring water systems to take steps beyond the 
specified minimum that are reasonably calculated to reach persons 
served by the system, whether they were bill-paying customers, other 
service connections where water is delivered, or other persons served. 
The final rule also includes two new requirements that were not in the 
proposal: delivery of repeat notices must follow the same requirements 
as the initial notice; and permission given by the primacy agency to 
deviate from the method of delivery presented in the final rule must be 
in writing.
    In response to comments that the proposed list of minimum delivery 
methods be expanded, EPA believes no additions to the proposed minimum 
list are necessary, as the listed methods provide a good baseline for 
most systems in meeting the performance standard to reach all persons 
served. Beyond this regulatory minimum, water systems are obligated to 
use any other method reasonably calculated to reach other persons 
served by the system if they would not normally be reached by solely 
relying on the minimum regulatory method. Any other methods used would 
serve to enhance this minimum objective.
    EPA disagrees that a newspaper notice should be explicitly listed 
as one of the minimum delivery methods, as it is in the current rule. 
EPA believes that a newspaper notice is beneficial as a supplemental 
method to mail or hand delivery, and it may be included in a water 
system's strategy to use media coverage to reach others not reached by 
mail or hand delivery. But newspaper notices are not as effective as 
mail or hand delivery in directly reaching persons served. Newspaper 
notices are typically placed in the legal notices section of the 
newspaper where they are not likely to be read. If newspapers are used 
as an additional method of delivery, EPA strongly recommends that 
systems purchase advertising space near the front of the newspaper, 
rather than placing a legal notice. EPA prefers that community water 
systems focus on methods that will get the notice in people's hands at 
their place of residence.
    In response to comments requesting that EPA not set a minimum 
delivery method at all in the final rule, relying instead solely on a 
narrative performance standard, EPA believes that a list of minimum 
methods establishes a necessary baseline level of performance that is 
clear and simple to understand and implement. EPA agrees with these 
commenters on the importance of flexibility in the public notification 
process. However, EPA feels that the rule must specify basic minimum 
requirements in order to allow the rule to be self-implementing and 
enforceable. Therefore, while the rule provides flexibility it also 
requires that at least one listed minimum method be used to measure 
baseline performance, to be supplemented if the minimum method is not 
likely to reach all persons served. Systems have flexibility in 
determining what supplemental methods should be used. In addition, 
primacy agencies may allow, as part of their approved primacy program, 
other minimum methods not listed as the minimum methods in EPA's rule.

H. Form, Manner, and Frequency of the Tier 3 Public Notice: All Other 
Violations and Situations Requiring Public Notice (Sec. 141.204)

1. Tier 3 Violations and Situations
    Today's Rule: The final rule under Table 1 to Sec. 141.204(a) 
requires a Tier 3 public notice for: a monitoring or testing procedure 
violation, except where a Tier 1 notice is already required for 
specific violations or where the primacy agency determines that the 
violation requires a Tier 2 or Tier 1 notice; operation under a 
variance granted under Section 1415 or exemption granted under Section 
1416 of the SDWA; announcing the availability of unregulated 
contaminant monitoring results, as required under Sec. 141.207; and 
exceedances of the secondary maximum contaminant level (SMCL) for 
fluoride, as required under Sec. 141.208. The special public notice 
required for announcing the availability of the unregulated contaminant 
monitoring results and the special notice for exceedances of the 
fluoride SMCL, while not included in the

[[Page 26001]]

comparable section of the current rule, are not new requirements and 
can be found elsewhere in the current Code of Federal Regulations. The 
final rule simply consolidates all the Tier 3 notice requirements in a 
single table for ease of reference.
    Today's rule also makes two other changes from the current rule. It 
explicitly enables the primacy agency to require a Tier 2 (rather then 
a Tier 3) notice for specific monitoring or testing procedure 
violations, taking into account the potential health impacts and 
persistence of the violation. It also explicitly excludes from Tier 3 
the monitoring and testing procedure violations where a Tier 1 notice 
is already required under the rule. These Tier 1-type monitoring and 
testing procedure violations are listed in Table 1 to Sec. 141.202 and 
discussed in Section IV.F.1 of the preamble.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA requested comment on the list 
of violations proposed to require a Tier 3 notice. Specifically, 
comments were requested on an alternative option that would require a 
Tier 2 (rather than Tier 3) notice for monitoring and testing procedure 
violations, with the option given to the primacy agency to downgrade 
such violations to a Tier 3 notice for minor violations. Most of the 
comments received supported the lead proposal: requiring a Tier 3 
notice for monitoring and testing procedure violations, but giving the 
primacy agency the option to elevate serious violations to a Tier 2. A 
significant minority of commenters, however, preferred the alternative 
option, requiring Tier 2 notice for these types of violations, unless 
the primacy agency lowered the notice requirement for a specific 
violation to Tier 3. A few commenters requested that the final rule 
require a Tier 2 notice for certain monitoring and testing procedure 
violations, rather than giving discretion to the primacy agency to make 
these decisions.
    EPA Response to Comments: EPA made several changes in the 
regulatory language proposed under Sec. 141.204(a), but the changes did 
not alter in any significant way the list of violations and situations 
requiring a Tier 3 notice. The final rule deleted the item from the 
proposed Table 1 to Sec. 141.204(a) which authorized the primacy agency 
to add other violations and situations to the Tier 3 list, as it was 
redundant with the same authority already granted under Table 1 to 
Sec. 141.201(a). The final rule also added to the Tier 3 list the 
special notice requirements already required under Secs. 141.207 and 
141.208. Table 1 to Sec. 141.204 of the final rule now offers a 
complete list of Tier 3 required notices for ease of reference. The 
other changes made to the proposed language were similar clarifications 
to improve the overall presentation.
    In response to the comments received on the proposed alternative 
option to require Tier 2 notices for monitoring violations, EPA 
disagrees and has decided to retain the lead proposal (i.e., requiring 
Tier 3 notice for monitoring violations, with discretion given to the 
primacy agency to elevate to Tier 2). EPA believes that Tier 3 notice 
is appropriate because most monitoring and testing procedure violations 
pose no ongoing risk to public health, and annual notice fulfills the 
public's right-to-know expectations about these violations. While some 
monitoring and testing procedure violations may have the potential for 
serious adverse health effects, most do not. EPA believes that 
elevating the major or more serious monitoring and testing procedure 
violations from Tier 3 to Tier 2 must be done on a case-by-case basis, 
based on the primacy agency's assessment of the potential health 
impacts arising from the lack of monitoring and the persistence of the 
monitoring violation. It would be impossible to identify in the rule 
all instances where Tier 2 notice would be more appropriate. As a 
result, the rule gives primacy agencies the authority to elevate any 
monitoring violation to Tier 2, based on potential health effects or 
persistence of the violation.
    EPA also disagrees with commenters who recommend that the rule 
should distinguish major monitoring and testing procedure violations 
from other monitoring and testing procedure violations. EPA believes 
this would make the rule unnecessarily complex. Again, primacy agencies 
have discretion under the rule to elevate monitoring and testing 
procedure violations to Tier 2 if they see a need to do so.
2. Timing of the Tier 3 Public Notice
    Today's Rule: The final rule under Sec. 141.204(b)(1) requires that 
public water systems provide a Tier 3 public notice to persons served 
no later than one year after the system learns of the violation or 
other situations requiring a Tier 3 public notice. The final rule also 
requires the public water system to repeat the notice annually for as 
long as the violation or situation persists. In contrast, the current 
rule requires an initial notice to be mailed within three months (with 
possible extension to one year at the State's option for minor 
monitoring violations) and a repeat notice every three months 
thereafter until the violation is resolved. EPA believes that requiring 
a notice no more frequently than annually for Tier 3-type situations is 
appropriate, given the great number of violations requiring such a 
notice (i.e., 108,599 of the 128,459 violations reported to EPA in FY 
1998) and the fact that most monitoring and testing procedure 
violations do not pose a health risk. The final rule allows water 
systems, at their option, to distribute the Tier 3 public notice as 
soon as they believe it is appropriate for their specific situation.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA requested comment on the 
proposal to require Tier 3 notices no later than 12 months after the 
violation occurs. A substantial number of commenters expressed concern 
over the long time period (12 months) allowed to complete the Tier 3 
public notice requirements for monitoring and testing procedure 
violations. Some commenters recommended that the 12-month period be 
limited to minor monitoring violations only (as in the current rule), 
with the notice for the major monitoring violations to be required much 
sooner. A significant minority of commenters believed that 12 months 
was too long after the violation to be useful to consumers and in some 
cases (transient non-community water systems) would be quite 
ineffective since consumers present at the time of the violation will 
be long gone.
    EPA Response to Comments: EPA carried forward to the final rule the 
proposed 12-month requirement for Tier 3 notices, making language 
changes to Sec. 141.204(b) to conform to the changes made under the 
comparable section for Tier 2 requirements. In response to comments 
requesting that the final rule add the phrase ``as soon as possible'' 
to the one-year Tier 3 notice deadline, EPA has decided to retain the 
language as proposed, without adding the phrase. EPA believes that 
requiring notice ``as soon as possible'' is appropriate and necessary 
for the more serious violations in Tiers 1 and 2. But violations and 
situations requiring a Tier 3 notice by definition do not pose any 
direct risk to public health. EPA has chosen not to parallel this 
language for Tier 3, so as not to hinder the effectiveness of other 
more immediate notices. Systems are of course free to issue the notice 
in advance of the 12-month deadline where they believe it is 
appropriate.
    In response to comments that a 12-month period is too long after 
the violation to be useful and this deadline should be limited to minor 
monitoring violations only, EPA disagrees with such a limitation. The 
routine violations and situations in Tier 3 are by definition

[[Page 26002]]

non-serious violations, and EPA believes that Tier 3 requirements 
should apply to all the routine monitoring and testing procedure 
violations. Tier 3 notification is more a right-to-know issue than a 
public health concern. EPA acknowledges that some monitoring and 
testing procedure violations have the potential to mask potentially 
serious situations. Rather than attempt to address every case where 
this may happen, it is more efficient to provide primacy agencies the 
authority to elevate monitoring and testing procedure violations to 
Tier 2 or even Tier 1 if they believe the need exists.
    A commenter's point that requiring notice as soon as possible would 
motivate systems to return to compliance more quickly is well taken. 
However, EPA believes that the vast majority of systems with monitoring 
or testing procedure violations return to compliance well in advance of 
the requirement for the public notice. Elevating the notice 
requirements for these violations to encourage systems to return to 
compliance is not relevant. For systems with continuing monitoring 
violations, using the public notification process as an incentive to 
comply with the monitoring requirements should be part of the primacy 
agency's overall compliance strategy. Primacy agencies are free under 
the final rule to elevate the notice requirements from Tier 3 to Tier 2 
to meet this compliance objective.
3. Form and Manner of the Delivery of the Tier 3 Notice
    Today's Rule: The notice distribution requirements for Tier 3 
notices are patterned after the Tier 2 requirements under Sec. 141.203. 
The basic requirement to take steps reasonably calculated to reach both 
bill-paying customers and the other persons served who do not receive a 
bill applies for Tier 3 notices as well. The method of delivery 
requirements in the final rule for the initial Tier 3 notices and any 
repeat notices are the same as those prescribed for the Tier 2 public 
notice.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA requested comment on the 
revised requirements for the method of delivery of the Tier 3 notices. 
Commenters generally supported the proposed method of delivery 
requirements. Several commenters requested clarification of EPA's 
intent related to reporting multiple monitoring violations in a single 
notice, since in some cases a water system missing a single sample may 
generate separate monitoring violations for all regulated contaminants 
under the single analytical technique. For example, one analytical 
method is used to monitor for the 21 regulated VOCs; missing the one 
sample, therefore, generates 21 monitoring violations.
    EPA Response to Comments: EPA made minor changes to proposed 
Sec. 141.204(c), to conform to the changes made in the comparable 
section of the final rule for the form and manner of the Tier 2 notice. 
See the discussion of EPA's response to comments in Section IV.G.3 of 
the preamble. In response to the request that EPA clarify how multiple 
monitoring violations should be presented in a single Tier 3 notice, 
EPA strongly supports efforts by systems to use a single Tier 3 notice 
to communicate multiple violations whenever appropriate. To make EPA's 
intent clearer, EPA changed the first of the ten elements required in 
every public notice to explicitly reference the possibility of multiple 
violations in a single notice. Section 141.205(a)(1) now reads (with 
the changes in italics): ``* * * description of the violation or 
situation, including the contaminant(s) of concern * * * '' EPA will 
also provide examples and a notice template in the Public Notification 
Handbook to illustrate how multiple monitoring violations can be 
presented in a single notice.
4. Option To Use an Annual Notice, Including the CCR, To Deliver Tier 3 
Notices
    Today's Rule: The final rule under Sec. 141.204(b)(2) gives the 
water systems the option of providing an annual notice listing all Tier 
3 violations occurring during the previous year, as long as the water 
system makes certain that the annual notice is distributed no later 
than one year after the earliest of the included violations. For 
systems with multiple monitoring violations, the advantages of using an 
annual notice instead of individual notices for every violation are 
compelling, both in terms of reduced cost and in terms of effective 
communication with the consumers. Further, Sec. 141.204(d) allows 
community water systems, if appropriate, to use the annual Consumer 
Confidence Report (CCR) as the vehicle for giving initial public notice 
for violations occurring during the previous twelve months. However, 
the use of the CCR as a vehicle for the annual public notice has strict 
limitations: the CCR can only be used if the CCR meets the timing, 
content, and distribution requirements required under the public 
notification rule. The specific conditions for use of the CCR as the 
annual Tier 3 public notice are listed in Sec. 141.204(d) of the final 
rule.
    Since the vast majority of the violations require a Tier 3 public 
notice, the burden on public water systems with multiple Tier 3 
violations would be dramatically reduced through use of an annual 
notice and, where possible, the CCR. EPA recommends that public water 
systems consider how the CCR and public notification requirements can 
be better coordinated to take advantage of these efficiencies.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA requested comment on the option 
to allow public water systems to provide an annual notice of violations 
in lieu of individual Tier 3 notices and on the use of the CCR to meet 
the Tier 3 public notification requirements. In general, virtually all 
commenters supported the option given to public water systems with 
multiple Tier 3 violations to use an annual public notice. But many 
commenters had reservations about the proposed option for using the CCR 
as the vehicle for the annual public notice. Most commenters believed 
that using the CCR was a good idea in concept, but they identified 
significant problems in practice if the final rule required that the 
CCR must first meet the Tier 3 public notification rule requirements. 
The CCR and public notification rules have different timing, delivery, 
and content requirements that are difficult to reconcile. A significant 
minority of commenters disagreed altogether with giving systems the 
option to use the CCR as the annual public notice because they believed 
the purposes of the public notice and the CCR are so different.
    EPA Response to Comments: EPA retained in the final rule the 
proposed language allowing water systems, at their option, to issue an 
annual Tier 3 notice of violations occurring during the year (including 
using the CCR where appropriate). The final rule made minor changes to 
the proposed language in Secs. 141.204(a)(2) and 141.204(d) to better 
define the limitations on their use and to clarify EPA's intent, but 
the final rule makes no significant changes to what EPA proposed. EPA 
agrees with the commenters who supported the use of the CCR but 
expressed reservations about how such an option would actually work. 
EPA acknowledges that there are significant limitations to using the 
CCR as the annual Tier 3 public notice. However, where the timing of 
violations allows it, EPA does recommend coordinating the CCR and the 
annual Tier 3 public notice. Coordinating the two related activities 
would reduce redundancy and would be less costly. An annual Tier 3 
public notice as part of the CCR would sharpen the overall message and 
be more likely to get consumers' attention. EPA will provide in the 
final Public Notification Handbook suggestions and examples on

[[Page 26003]]

how to coordinate the annual Tier 3 notices with the CCR.
    In response to comments that EPA should change the public notice 
requirements to better fit into the format and content of the CCR, EPA 
believes such changes would undermine the intent of the public notice. 
EPA is also limited by the specific timing, delivery, and content 
requirements of the public notification provisions in the SDWA, as 
amended. Because EPA encourages water systems to use the CCR where 
possible, EPA investigated ways to extend the deadline for Tier 3 
notices to 18 months. EPA concluded such a change could not be made in 
the rule because the 12-month period is clearly required by statute. 
This limits the use of the CCR as the initial public notice to only 
those violations occurring within 12 months of the CCR publication. 
Practically, this means that for CCRs published on July 1 (as required 
under the CCR rule), the CCR could only be used as the initial public 
notice for violations that occurred after July 1 of the previous year.
    In response to the commenters who objected to EPA allowing use of 
the CCR at all for the initial public notice, EPA continues to support 
initiatives by public water systems to better coordinate the CCR and 
the public notices because the violation information required for both 
is complimentary, the objectives are similar, and coordinating the two 
similar requirements is more efficient and effective.

I. Content of the Public Notice (Sec. 141.205)

1. Standard Elements of the Public Notice
    Today's Rule: The final rule specifies a list of ten elements that 
must be included in a public notice for water systems with violations 
of National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWRs) and for most 
other situations requiring a public notice. The rule also specifies 
four elements that must be included in notices for water systems 
operating under a variance or exemption. The final rule revises and 
edits the existing list of standard elements required in every public 
notice and strengthens the criteria and standards defining notice 
quality.
     Ten elements are required under Sec. 141.205(a) for public 
notices of violations of NPDWRs, including monitoring and testing 
procedure violations, or other situations requiring a public notice. 
The ten required elements include:
    1. A description of the violation or situation that occurred, 
including the name of the contaminant(s) and level(s) (where 
applicable);
    2. When the violation or situation occurred;
    3. Any potential adverse health effects;
    4. The population at risk;
    5. Whether alternative water supplies should be used;
    6. What actions consumers should take;
    7. What the system is doing to correct the violation or situation;
    8. When the water system expects to return to compliance or 
otherwise resolve the situation;
    9. The name, business address, and phone number of the water system 
owner or operator; and
    10. A statement appended to the notice (where applicable) to 
encourage notice recipients to distribute the notice to other consumers 
who might not have seen the notice.
    This list of elements is significantly changed from the content 
requirements in the current rule, as discussed later in this section.
     Four elements are required under Sec. 141.205(b) for 
public notices for water systems operating under a variance or 
exemption:
    1. An explanation for the reasons for the variance or exemption;
    2. The date the primacy agency granted the variance or exemption;
    3. A brief status report on compliance with the variance or 
exemption conditions; and
    4. A notice of any opportunity for public input into the review of 
the variance or exemption.
    The current rule does not set the required content elements for 
public notices for variances or exemptions.
     Four performance standards are listed under 
Sec. 141.205(c)(1) defining the adequacy of the notice. The notice:
    1. Must be displayed in a conspicuous way when printed or posted;
    2. Must not contain overly technical language or very small print;
    3. Must not be formatted in a way that defeats the purpose of the 
notice; and
    4. Must not contain language that nullifies the purpose of the 
notice.
    The performance standards in today's final rule modify slightly the 
comparable elements in the current rule.
    Note that the information required under Sec. 141.205(b) for 
variances or exemptions is identical to that already required to be 
included in the CCR. Community water systems operating under a variance 
or exemption are encouraged to use their CCR to give the Tier 3 public 
notification, as long as the timing and delivery requirements required 
under the final public notification regulation are met. Public water 
systems that are not required to issue a CCR may, at their option, 
combine the variance and exemption notice with other violations 
occurring over the last year into a single annual public notice. Using 
the CCR or other annual notice is inappropriate for public water 
systems violating the conditions of a variance or exemption. Such 
violations require a 30-day Tier 2 notice.
    Today's rule broadens the applicability of the content requirements 
under Sec. 141.205(a) to include not only notices required for 
violations of the NPDWRs but also for other situations requiring a 
public notice. The current rule does not specify content requirements 
for ``other situations'' requiring a public notice. The list of ``other 
situations'' requiring a public notice has been considerably expanded 
in today's rule. The situations requiring a public notice other than an 
NPDWR violation or a variance or exemption are listed in part IV of the 
final Appendix A to Subpart Q. Six ``other situations'' are listed:
     Tier 1 Notice Requirement Under Sec. 141.202(a) for 
Waterborne Disease Outbreak;
     Tier 1 Notice Requirement Under Sec. 141.202(a) for Other 
Waterborne Emergency;
     Tier 1 Notice Requirement Under Sec. 141.202(a) for Other 
Situations as Determined by Primacy Agency;
     Special Notice Under Sec. 141.207 to Announce the 
Availability of Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Data;
     Special Notice Requirement Under Sec. 141.208 for 
Exceedance of the Fluoride Secondary Maximum Contaminant Level (SMCL); 
and
     Special Notice Requirement Under Sec. 141.209 for 
Exceedance of Nitrate MCL for Non-Community Water Systems, When Allowed 
by Primacy Agency.
    Except where the content requirements are otherwise specified in 
the rule language, EPA intends the content requirements under 
Sec. 141.205(a) to apply. The only exceptions in the rule are: (1) The 
special notice for the fluoride SMCL exceedance under Sec. 141.208, 
where the entire text of the notice consists of standard language 
specified in Sec. 141.208(c); and (2) the special notice announcing the 
availability of unregulated contaminant monitoring results under 
Sec. 141.207, where the standard elements related to a violation do not 
apply. Applying the same content requirements under Sec. 141.205(a) for 
both violations and other situations makes sense because

[[Page 26004]]

the questions posed by persons served by water systems for both are 
basically the same. In both cases, the persons served need to 
understand what is prompting the notice, what health risk the 
underlying violation or situation poses, what steps should be taken to 
minimize risk, and what the water system is doing to resolve the 
violation or situation.
    Under Sec. 141.205(a) of today's rule, EPA is making small but 
significant changes from the list of notice elements currently required 
under Sec. 141.32. Other than adding the ``other situations'' to the 
definition of each element, the changes from the current rule are as 
follows:
     Element (a)(1), the description of the violation or 
situation, is modified to include both the name of the contaminant(s) 
and the contaminant level(s) (where applicable);
     Element (a)(2), when the violation or situation occurred, 
and element (a)(8), when the system will return to compliance or 
resolve the situation, are added;
     Element (a)(9), the water system contact information, is 
expanded to require the name and business address of the contact in 
addition to the phone number;
     Element (a)(10), standard language encouraging persons 
receiving the notice to distribute it to other persons served (where 
applicable), is added.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: Comments were requested on the list 
of elements in the proposal and the four performance standards 
identified for how the notices must be presented. Several commenters 
expressed concern that the ten elements required in notices for 
violations of NPDWRs do not fit into every notice situation. They felt 
that by requiring them in every notice, EPA's proposal may 
inadvertently hinder the public water system's ability to issue an 
effective notice. Other commenters raised specific concerns around the 
individual elements.
    EPA Response to Comments: EPA made several changes to the proposed 
language in the final rule, but the changes did not substantively 
change the notice content requirements under Secs. 141.205(a), (b), and 
(c)(1). In response to comments that the proposed requirement under 
Sec. 141.205(a) may be too restrictive because it requires all ten 
elements to be included for every notice regardless of the situation, 
EPA wants to reaffirm its intent that the ten elements are meant to 
apply to every notice situation. Each of the ten elements must be 
addressed in some manner for each notice, regardless of the violation 
type (including monitoring and testing procedure violations) or 
situation, the notice tier, and the method of delivery. But EPA expects 
public water systems to use this simple baseline requirement to guide 
development of a complete and effective notice, not to force systems to 
add information that is inappropriate or not useful in a given 
situation. To reflect this intent, EPA has made key changes to the rule 
language to clarify where discretion in their use is allowed. In 
response to comments, EPA also amended the language to provide better 
definition and clarity for some of the elements. If used as EPA 
intends, the content requirements under Sec. 141.205(a), as amended in 
the final rule, will not hinder the development of effective notices. 
To enhance EPA's expectations regarding use of the ten elements, EPA 
has developed public notice templates and sample notices for a variety 
of violations and situations. These templates and sample notices will 
be included in the Public Notification Handbook to be issued shortly.
2. Multilingual Requirements for Public Notices
    Today's Rule: The final rule under Sec. 141.205(c)(2) is much more 
specific than the current rule in defining the multilingual 
requirements to be met by public water systems. The current rule under 
Sec. 141.32 (c)(2) sets a general performance standard, requiring 
simply that the notice shall be multilingual where appropriate. The 
final rule requires public water systems serving a large proportion of 
non-English speaking consumers (as determined by the primacy agency) to 
include in their notices, in the appropriate languages, information on 
the importance of the notice or a telephone number or address where 
persons served may contact the water system to obtain a translated copy 
of the notice or to request assistance in the appropriate languages. 
The multilingual requirement in the final rule is in two parts:
     Sec. 141.205(c)(2)(i), which sets the same basic 
multilingual requirements as in the CCR rule; and
     Sec. 141.205(c)(2)(ii), which requires the water system to 
determine when and how it must meet the multilingual requirement when 
the primacy agency has not made the determination.
    EPA encourages water systems to go beyond the minimum multilingual 
requirements in this rule, particularly for Tier 1 notice situations, 
and provide a fully translated copy of the notice on request or offer 
telephone assistance in the appropriate language. The Public 
Notification Handbook will contain sample language regarding the 
importance of the notice in various languages as well as complete Tier 
1 public notice templates in Spanish.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: Comments were requested on the more 
specific multilingual requirements for public water systems required 
under the proposed rule. Most of the commenters requested that the 
final rule provide more clarity on when the multilingual requirements 
would apply and how the rule language (``PWS serving a large proportion 
of non-English speaking consumers'') would be interpreted by the 
primacy agency.
    EPA Response to Comments: To respond to comments requesting more 
clarity on how and when the multilingual requirements would apply, EPA 
added a new paragraph in the final rule (Sec. 141.205(c)(2)(ii)) 
amending the proposed section to require water systems to comply with 
the multilingual requirements where appropriate, even in those cases 
where the primacy agency does not provide further direction. The 
proposed rule language required water systems serving a large 
proportion of non-English speaking consumers, as determined by the 
primacy agency, to meet the multilingual requirements. The final rule 
maintains the proposed language under Sec. 141.205(c)(2)(i), but it now 
also includes a second paragraph not in the CCR rule requiring that 
water systems, in the absence of further primacy agency direction, 
comply with the multilingual requirements where appropriate. EPA 
intends the second paragraph (141.205(c)(2)(ii)) to provide a baseline 
regulatory requirement ensuring that public water systems, in the 
absence of additional primacy agency direction, would continue the 
multilingual programs they are required to have in place under the 
current rule.
    In response to comments that the final rule establish criteria to 
guide the primacy agencies and water systems on who must comply with 
the multilingual requirements, EPA has decided not to establish such 
criteria in the final rule. EPA agrees, however, that additional 
guidance would be useful. EPA will provide examples in the Public 
Notification Handbook of the range of situations where it believes 
multilingual notices are appropriate. EPA will work with those States 
which are already developing multilingual programs under the CCR rule 
to guide implementation of the similar requirements for the public 
notification program.
    EPA agrees with a number of commenters that compliance with the 
letter and spirit of the multilingual requirements will be extremely 
difficult, particularly for situations where many different languages 
are spoken by large numbers of consumers. EPA also

[[Page 26005]]

believes that compliance with the multilingual requirements is very 
important if notices are to effectively reach all persons served, 
particularly for Tier 1 situations. Although EPA is unable to provide a 
translation service, as some commenters recommended, EPA will include 
in Appendix C of the Public Notification Handbook a translation in 
several languages of the key phrases EPA believes are critical in a 
public notice for communicating the importance of the message. It will 
also work actively with the States, utility associations, and other 
assistance providers to provide better support to utilities where 
needed. EPA believes that widespread compliance with the multilingual 
requirements depends on active and ongoing support from EPA, the 
States, the Tribes, and utility associations, and other assistance 
providers.
3. Standard Health Effects Language
    Today's Rule: The final rule under Sec. 141.205(d)(1) retains the 
requirement that all public notices for MCL and treatment technique 
violations use mandatory health effects language to explain the health 
risks posed by the violation. The final rule replaces the standard 
language in the current rule for each NPDWR with a new Appendix B to 
Subpart Q, which provides a table of regulated contaminants with the 
required language. The final health effects language is shorter, 
simpler, and consistent with the language EPA uses in similar outreach 
forums and documents. Under the rule published today, the health 
effects language required for both the final public notification rule 
and the Consumer Confidence Report rule are identical.
    EPA believes it does not make sense to require standard health 
effects language different from the CCR language unless there is a 
compelling reason specific to the public notice situation. Although EPA 
recognizes that the CCR and public notice may be given at different 
times and may be intended to meet different objectives, EPA believes 
that the benefit of using identical core health effects language 
outweighs the value of tailoring the language to the unique objectives 
of the public notice. EPA expects that public water systems will 
supplement the mandatory health effects language or otherwise put the 
language in the context of the overall notice to meet the unique 
purposes of the specific public notice. Examples of public notices 
applicable to different situations are included in the final Public 
Notification Handbook, which will be issued shortly.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA requested comment on EPA's 
proposal to use the CCR standard health effects language to meet the 
public notification requirement. In particular, EPA solicited comment 
on specific situations or violations where the CCR language is believed 
to be inappropriate or incomplete. Most commenters supported keeping 
the CCR and public notice health effects language the same. A 
significant minority of commenters believed that the public notice 
language should be separate from the CCR language because of the 
different purpose of public notification. Several commenters provided 
alternative language for specific violations that they believe better 
expressed the health concerns that needed to be communicated in the 
public notice for the violation. Other commenters requested that EPA 
vary the required health effects language based on the strength of 
evidence underlying the standard, particularly for carcinogens, or 
include in the language information on the quality of the source 
waters.
    EPA Response to Comments: With three exceptions, the health effects 
language in today's final rule is identical with the language that was 
proposed:
     The first exception is the language in the final rule for 
violations of the fluoride MCL. Today's rule revises the public 
notification language proposed in Appendix B to Subpart Q for fluoride. 
Today's action also amends the CCR rule to include this revised 
fluoride language. The revised fluoride language for violations of the 
MCL now includes more specific information on the cosmetic effects of 
exceedances above 2 mg/l, which is the fluoride secondary maximum 
contaminant level (SMCL). EPA's response to comments received 
concerning the fluoride standard language is included in Section IV.J.3 
of the preamble.
     The second exception is the language EPA proposed in the 
public notification rule for new and revised standards under the Stage 
1 D/DBP rule. EPA is incorporating the language that was proposed into 
the final rule with only minor editorial changes to maintain consistent 
language for contaminants with the same health effects. Today's action 
also amends the existing CCR rule to insert the exact language that is 
contained in the final public notification rule.
     The third exception is the language in the final rule for 
fecal coliform/E. coli MCL violations. The language in the current CCR 
rule and the proposed rule listed infants, young children, and people 
with severely compromised immune systems. EPA agrees with several 
commenters that drinking water with violations of the fecal coliform/
E.coli standard may pose a special health risk to the elderly as well. 
Accordingly, the EPA has amended the proposed public notification rule 
and revised the current CCR rule to add ``some of the elderly'' to the 
standard health effects language for fecal coliform/E.coli.
    The final rule affirms the proposed requirement to use standard 
health effects language in Appendix B in public notices for violations 
of the MCL, TT, and MRDL standards. In addition, EPA reaffirmed its 
intent to keep the standard health effects language identical for the 
public notification and CCR rules. Today's action publishes identical 
language in the two rules for all the existing regulated contaminants. 
EPA will maintain this policy direction when considering the public 
notification and CCR rule requirements for new and revised standards, 
unless there is a compelling reason specific to the new rules for the 
language to be different.
    In response to the comments received offering alternative language 
to the proposal for specific violations, EPA undertook a systematic 
review of each comment to determine, first, if the proposed public 
notification language (and the underlying CCR rule language) was 
erroneous or misleading and, second, if there was a reason unique to 
the public notification objective for the language to be different from 
the CCR. EPA started with the presumption that the CCR language and the 
public notification language should be the same unless there were 
compelling reasons to be different. Based on this review, EPA has 
concluded that there were no errors in the standard language in the 
existing CCR rule justifying a change and no compelling reason for the 
core health effects language in the final public notification rule to 
be different than what was already in place in the CCR rule. Therefore, 
with the two exceptions discussed earlier in this section, the proposed 
language is carried forward unchanged into the final public 
notification and amended CCR rules. EPA's detailed response to the 
commenters offering alternative language is contained in the ``Response 
to Comments'' document in EPA's docket for this rule.
    In response to several commenters who recommended that the language 
be greatly simplified for low-literacy audiences, EPA believes such a 
change is unwarranted. EPA notes that the health effects language 
developed for the CCR rule, and used in the proposed

[[Page 26006]]

public notification rule, was targeted to low-literacy audiences. It is 
intended to be simplified language, while still communicating essential 
health information.
    EPA does agree with several of the commenters who recommended that 
EPA periodically review the public notification and health effects 
language required in both the CCR and the public notification rules. 
EPA intends to conduct such a review periodically as new and revised 
regulations are developed and as new health effects materials are 
developed based on ongoing research and new information.
4. Standard Language for Monitoring and Testing Procedure Violations
    Today's Rule: The final rule under Sec. 141.205(d)(2) adds a new 
section requiring that all public notices contain the following 
standard language for monitoring and testing procedure violations:

    We are required to monitor your drinking water for specific 
contaminants on a regular basis. Results of regular monitoring are 
an indicator of whether or not your drinking water meets health 
standards. During [compliance period], we [``did not monitor or 
test'' or ``did not complete all monitoring or testing''] for 
[contaminant(s)], and therefore cannot be sure of the quality of 
your drinking water during that time.

    The mandatory language is required in all public notices for 
monitoring and testing procedure violations. EPA recognizes that many 
monitoring violations are minor, and are quickly resolved and pose 
little potential risk to health. For most monitoring and testing 
procedure violations, water systems resume monitoring quickly after a 
single violation. The standard language will be most effective where 
the water system supplements the standard language with a clear 
explanation of the status of the violation, its relative seriousness 
related to public health risk, and how it was rectified.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA solicited comment on proposed 
standard language, particularly the phrase ``* * * and we are unable to 
tell whether your health was at risk during that time.'' EPA also 
requested comment on an option to not require any specific language in 
the public notice for all monitoring violations. Although most 
commenters supported the new provision requiring standard language to 
be included in public notices for monitoring violations, several 
commenters offered edits or alternative language. Other commenters 
recommended that the standard language be applied selectively or 
tailored to take account of the wide range of monitoring violation 
situations. A significant minority of the commenters disagreed 
altogether with the need to require any standard language for 
monitoring violations in EPA's rule.
    EPA Response to Comments: The final rule retains the proposed new 
requirement to use standard language in the public notice for 
monitoring and testing procedure violations. In response to commenters 
supporting the standard language but offering edits to better meet 
EPA's objective, the standard language under Sec. 141.205(d)(2) in the 
final rule has been significantly revised from the language as 
proposed.
    EPA revised the proposed language to speak of the potential health 
effects of failure to monitor in more general terms, in response to 
comments that more specific health effects language does not always 
apply to notices across the wide range of monitoring and testing 
procedure violations where the language must be used. EPA's intent is 
to clearly and simply alert consumers that lack of monitoring or 
failure to meet testing requirements may in some cases disguise a 
potential risk to health. It is intended to prompt questions from 
persons served about the significance of a specific monitoring and 
testing procedure violation. EPA expects water systems to anticipate 
such questions and to answer them for the specific situation in the 
full public notice.
    In response to comments that EPA delete the requirement to use 
standard language in favor of a narrative performance standard, EPA 
considered setting a performance standard rather than requiring 
mandatory standard language in the final rule. EPA opted to retain 
standard language in the final rule because the Agency believes that, 
in the absence of a reported MCL, MRDL, or treatment technique 
violation, consumers may presume that the drinking water provided by 
their water system is safe. This may sometimes not be an appropriate 
presumption. The standard language clearly and simply alerts consumers 
that lack of monitoring in some cases may disguise a potential risk to 
health. Although EPA believes that the vast majority of monitoring 
violations are quickly resolved and do not disguise a potential risk to 
health, EPA intends the standard language to prompt questions about the 
significance of the specific monitoring violation. In routine 
circumstances, these questions should be anticipated and answered in 
the full public notice. EPA's intent is not to alarm consumers 
unnecessarily; rather, the information should help inform consumers 
about the significance of the monitoring or testing procedure 
violation.
5. Standard Language To Encourage Customers Receiving the Public Notice 
To Distribute the Notice to Other Persons Served
    Today's Rule: The final rule under Sec. 141.205(d)(3) adds a new 
section requiring that public notices contain standard language, where 
applicable, encouraging the customers receiving the public notice to 
distribute the notice to other persons served by the public water 
system (such as tenants, residents, patients, etc.). The required 
standard language is as follows:

    Please share this information with all the other people who 
drink this water, especially those who may not have received this 
notice directly (for example, people in apartments, nursing homes, 
schools, and businesses). You can do this by posting this notice in 
a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.

    Mailed notices, in particular, are routinely sent to only the bill-
paying customers, and therefore may not reach some consumers at risk 
unless actions are taken to notify them of the violations. EPA believes 
that this standard language is appropriate as a safety net and is 
necessary to encourage those receiving the public notice to take steps 
to alert others of the violations and potential risk from drinking 
water.
    Compliance with this requirement is one of, but not the only, 
reasonably-calculated steps a public water system must take to reach 
other persons who may not receive or see the notice. The final rule 
gives the water system discretion to add the distribution language when 
it determines such a notice is needed to reach persons served beyond 
those who receive the initial notice directly from the water system.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: Comments were solicited on the 
proposed standard language and any alternative language that would meet 
EPA's intent. Most commenters supported the proposed requirement to 
include standard distribution language in public notices. A few 
commenters believed such standard language was not always appropriate 
and recommended that the final rule give the water system or primacy 
agency flexibility in determining when it was applicable. A number of 
comments offered edits to the proposed text to better communicate the 
intended message.
    EPA Response to Comments: The final rule retains the proposed 
requirement that water systems include in their notices the standard 
language contained in Sec. 141.205(d)(3) to encourage persons receiving 
the notice to distribute it to

[[Page 26007]]

others who are served by the water system. EPA agreed with commenters, 
however, that the standard language should be required only where it is 
applicable and useful to reach those persons served by the system who 
may not hear about the violations through traditional means. Therefore, 
the final rule gives the water system discretion to determine when the 
standard language is applicable. The proposed rule required the 
standard language to be used for all notices. The final rule also 
includes minor edits to the proposed standard language in response to 
suggestions from commenters. EPA believes the revised language is 
simpler than what was proposed and would apply to more situations and 
encourage wider distribution. EPA disagrees with several commenters who 
claimed that such a new requirement is not warranted. On the contrary, 
EPA believes the standard language will serve as a safety net, 
encouraging those receiving the public notice to alert others who would 
otherwise not hear of the potential risk from their drinking water due 
to the violation.

J. Other Public Notification Requirements

1. Notice to New Billing Units or New Customers (Sec. 141.206).
    Today's Rule: The final rule modifies the current regulatory 
provision requiring that public notices go to new billing units. The 
current rule requires that community water systems send a copy of the 
most recent public notice to all new billing units for ongoing MCL and 
TT violations or violations of the conditions of existing variances or 
exemptions. The final rule broadens the requirement to include any 
ongoing violation or situation that required an initial public notice 
(including ongoing monitoring and testing procedure violations) and 
adds a new provision requiring non-community water systems to 
continuously post the notice to inform new customers of any ongoing 
violations. EPA is revising the current rule to better ensure that new 
customers served by all public water systems are made aware of any 
continuing violations of drinking water standards. The initial notice, 
if posted in a location where new consumers pass by, will meet this new 
requirement. However, water systems that deliver the initial notice to 
some but not all the existing customers (or that otherwise have the 
notice out of sight of new consumers) have an additional responsibility 
under this new provision. EPA believes this new provision makes notices 
more readily available to new consumers not receiving the notice under 
the current regulation.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA requested comment on the change 
to the current rule extending the requirement to cover ongoing 
monitoring and testing procedure violations and to require that the 
notice be provided to new customers by both community and non-community 
water systems. Commenters raised a number of concerns with the proposed 
language. Several commenters believed that compliance with the new 
requirement would be difficult to track. Other commenters felt that the 
notice to new billing units of ongoing monitoring violations was 
unnecessary and that the more effective vehicle to communicate these 
violations, for community water systems at least, would be the CCR.
    EPA Response to Comments: EPA is retaining the requirement for 
notice to new billing units as proposed. The final rule makes minor, 
clarifying changes from the proposal, but the basic changes to the 
current requirements in the proposal have been retained in the final 
rule. In response to comments that the new requirement extending the 
current requirement to include notice to new billing units for ongoing 
monitoring violations was inappropriate and difficult to track, EPA has 
decided to leave the proposed requirement unchanged. EPA believes that 
notification to new customers of all ongoing violations meets a clear 
right-to-know objective. It is part of the operator's obligation to 
reach the persons they serve, regardless of when they move into the 
distribution area. In response to State commenters anticipating 
significant difficulty in tracking compliance, EPA expects that when a 
system submits the certification of compliance to the primacy agency 
under Sec. 141.31(d) after each violation event, it would also commit 
the PWS to sending the notice to new billing units until the violation 
is resolved. EPA does not intend for systems to forward to primacy 
agencies a copy of every public notice sent to new customers. EPA will 
include in the Public Notification Handbook a discussion of how the 
certification process will work.
2. Special Notice To Announce the Availability of the Results of 
Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring (Sec. 141.207)
    Today's Rule: The final rule creates a new Sec. 141.207 to add the 
timing and other public notification details to the notice requirement 
under the recently published Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule 
(UCMR). The UCMR carried over an existing provision in Sec. 141.35, 
which required that the water systems give notice to the public of the 
availability of unregulated contaminant monitoring results. The UCMR 
retains the same reporting requirement as in the former Sec. 141.35 but 
eliminates the 3-month deadline for giving the public notice, 
referencing instead the timing and other requirements contained under 
Sec. 141.207 of today's rule. Today's rule sets a 12-month deadline for 
this special notice, to allow public water systems, at their option, to 
report the availability of all the results in a single annual notice, 
reducing the number of required notices from four to one. EPA 
encourages community water systems to include the annual notice 
required under this section in their CCR, as long as the CCR meets the 
public notification timing and delivery requirements. The unregulated 
contaminant monitoring results (where detected) must already be 
included in the CCR, so meeting both requirements in the CCR will be 
both more efficient for the regulated community and less confusing to 
the public.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA requested comment on the 
proposed approach to meeting the requirements under Sections 
1414(c)(2)(E) and 1445(a)(2)(E) of the 1996 SDWA. EPA also requested 
comment on its proposal to shift the timing of the notice from three 
months to twelve months. Most commenters supported the timing change. 
Several commenters recommended that EPA delete the requirement for this 
special notice requirement altogether from the public notification 
rule, as it is already adequately covered by the CCR (for community 
water systems at least).
    EPA Response to Comments: The final rule retains the requirement, 
as proposed, to provide notice of the availability of unregulated 
contaminant monitoring results within twelve months of the monitoring. 
In response to several commenters who recommended that the notice 
requirements be provided within three months (as required in the former 
Sec. 141.35), EPA has decided to retain the proposed 12-month notice 
deadline. EPA sees this distribution of information as a right-to-know 
issue, with a different public notification message than the higher-
tier notices because it is not related to a violation of an existing 
standard. The change in the timing of the public notice is to allow 
water systems, at their option, to report the availability of all the 
results just once during the year. Nothing precludes a water system 
from distributing notice of the availability of results of monitoring 
for unregulated contaminants sooner.

[[Page 26008]]

    In response to comments that the special notice announcing the 
availability of unregulated contaminant monitoring results is 
overlapping and redundant with a similar requirement in the CCR rule, 
EPA is responding to a statutory requirement under Section 1414(c)(1) 
and (c)(2)(E) of the 1996 SDWA amendments and is carrying over an 
existing requirement. EPA does agree, however, that community water 
systems should be allowed and encouraged to include the notice of the 
availability of the results in the CCR, if the timing and delivery 
requirements are met. EPA believes close coordination between the 
public notification requirement and the CCR reporting requirement for 
this information will be both more efficient for the regulated 
community and less confusing to the public.
3. Special Notice for Exceedance of the Fluoride Secondary Maximum 
Contaminant Level (SMCL) (Sec. 141.208)
    Today's Rule: Today's action moves the current special fluoride 
notice requirements under Sec. 143.5 into the new Subpart Q public 
notification provision at Sec. 141.208. The special public notice is to 
alert persons served who may not otherwise be notified that the 
fluoride levels in the drinking water may pose a cosmetic dental risk 
to children under nine years old. The final rule retains the current 
requirement that community water systems provide a special notice to 
persons served when they exceed the SMCL of 2 mg/l for fluoride but do 
not exceed the MCL violation level of 4 mg/l. As in the current rule, a 
copy of the notice must also be sent to all new billing units and new 
customers at the time service begins and to the State public health 
officer. Community water systems must use the mandatory notice language 
in the rule. The final rule requires that the notice be sent out as 
soon as practical but no later than 12 months from the day the water 
system learns of the exceedance. Repeat notices must be sent out at 
least annually until the exceedance is eliminated. At its option, a 
primacy agency may require an initial notice sooner than 12 months or a 
repeat notice more frequently than annually when warranted by the 
specific situation.
    The final rule under Sec. 141.208 of Subpart Q makes four changes 
to the current public notice requirements for exceedance of the 
fluoride SMCL:
     To require that the form and manner of the special notice 
follow the Tier 3 requirements in Secs. 141.204(c) and 141.204(d) of 
the final rule, including that the notice be sent to persons served by 
the system (rather than just to the billing units);
     To require that the notice be sent out ``as soon as 
practical but no later than 12 months from the day the water system 
learns of the exceedance'' (rather than ``annually'');
     To explicitly authorize the primacy agency to require 
notice sooner and repeat notices more frequently when warranted by the 
specific situation; and
     To revise the mandatory language to reflect recent studies 
of the incidence and potential cosmetic effects of dental fluorosis and 
to make other changes to better communicate the intended message.
    Today's rule also requires that the proposed standard health 
effects language for violations of the fluoride MCL in Appendix B of 
Subpart Q be revised to include the effects of dental fluorosis on 
children under nine years of age. This was added in response to 
comments that the proposed standard language required for a violation 
of the MCL did not adequately address the risks to children from 
fluoride levels above the SMCL.
    EPA believes it is important to retain and strengthen the existing 
fluoride SMCL special notice requirement. Consumers have a right to 
know about the cosmetic effects from dental fluorosis that may occur in 
children resulting from exposure to drinking water exceeding the 
fluoride SMCL. The current notice requirement for exceedance of the 
fluoride SMCL in Sec. 143.5 was put in place when the fluoride national 
primary drinking water regulation (NPDWR) was published in April 2, 
1986 (50 FR 11396). The 1986 fluoride NPDWR replaced the more stringent 
MCL in place as an interim standard since the original SDWA in 1974. 
The interim MCL of 2 mg/l became the SMCL when the final primary 
standard was published on April 2, 1986. Part of the agreement for 
reducing the stringency of the MCL from 2 mg/l to 4 mg/l was that the 
public would continue to be notified of the potential for developing 
dental fluorosis from exposure to their drinking water when the levels 
exceeded 2 mg/l.
    NTNCWS are not currently required to monitor for fluoride under 
EPA's current regulations, and therefore the EPA SMCL notice 
requirement does not apply to them. However, EPA recommends that 
NTNCWS, particularly schools and day-care centers, provide the special 
SMCL notice to persons they serve when they learn they are providing 
drinking water with fluoride levels exceeding 2 mg/l.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA requested comment on whether 
EPA should retain the special public notice for exceedance of the 
fluoride SMCL and, if retained, whether retaining the requirement 
allowing the public notice to be given as soon as practical but no 
later than 12 months after the exceedance is known is sufficient. EPA 
also requested comment on whether the revised mandatory language better 
communicates the purpose of the notice and the cosmetic risks from 
drinking the water. Several commenters supported continuation of the 
special notice requirement but believed that EPA should require it to 
be distributed as a Tier 2 (30-day) notice rather than annually because 
of the risk of dental fluorosis in children from relatively short-term 
exposure. Other commenters requested that EPA either delete the 
requirement outright or somehow merge it with the CCR requirements.
    EPA Response to Comments: The final rule carries forward the 
principal elements of the proposed notice requirement for exceedances 
of the SMCL basically unchanged. In response to comments, however, EPA 
did make significant changes to the proposed mandatory notice language 
to improve the effectiveness of the notice. Also, in response to 
comments, EPA has explicitly authorized the primacy agency to require 
the initial notice sooner than 12 months and any repeat notices more 
frequently than annually. EPA also restored in the final rule the 
language in Sec. 143.5 of the current rule (inadvertently left out of 
the proposal) requiring that the notice be distributed not only to 
persons served, but also to new billing units and new customers and to 
the State health officer.
    In addition, EPA agreed with commenters that the proposed standard 
language required for violations of the fluoride MCL did not adequately 
cover the cosmetic effects from the violation. Accordingly, EPA has 
modified in Appendix B of the final rule the standard health effects 
language for violations of the fluoride MCL, to include more complete 
information on the effects of dental fluorosis. The existing fluoride 
language required in the CCR rule was amended as well. This change will 
ensure that parents of the children most vulnerable to the cosmetic 
effects of fluoride exceedances (i.e., children nine years old and 
under) receive information on both the cosmetic and health effects from 
fluoride MCL violations.
    In response to commenters recommending that the mandatory notice 
for exceedance of the fluoride

[[Page 26009]]

SMCL be deleted or somehow combined with the CCR requirements, EPA has 
decided to retain the current requirement basically unchanged. EPA sees 
no need to question the decision to require this special fluoride 
notice made when EPA first published the primary fluoride standard in 
1986. EPA continues to believe that consumers have a right to know 
about the cosmetic effects from dental fluorosis that may occur in 
children from exposure to drinking water exceeding the fluoride SMCL. 
EPA encourages community water systems to use the CCR to meet this 
special notice requirement, where possible, as long as the CCR is able 
to meet the timing and delivery requirements under the public 
notification regulation.
    In response to comments that the notice be required sooner than 12 
months after the exceedance because of the likely effects from exposure 
as short as three months, EPA has decided to retain the timing of the 
notice as proposed. EPA did, however, add language in the final rule 
that explicitly authorizes the primacy agency to require a more 
frequent notice when warranted by the specific situation. EPA is aware 
of recent studies that indicate possible risk of dental fluorosis from 
short-term exposure to fluoride levels above the SMCL, but it has not 
done a sufficient review of the various studies to consider changing 
the notice timing from what was proposed. Review of the fluoride 
standard falls within the required six year review of the existing 
national primary drinking water standards under Section 1412(b)(9) of 
the SDWA, which is not due to be completed until August 2002. Since 
some recent studies do indicate a possible risk of dental fluorosis 
from short-term exposure in certain circumstances, EPA believes it is 
prudent for a water system with continuous levels of fluoride above the 
SMCL to work with the primacy agency to determine when and how often 
the notice should be given, based on the severity and persistence of 
the fluoride exceedance in the specific situation.
4. Special Notice for Nitrate Exceedances Above the MCL by Non-
Community Water Systems (NCWS), Where Granted Permission by Primacy 
Agency Under Sec. 141.11(d) (Sec. 141.209)
    Today's Rule: The final rule incorporates into Subpart Q the 
current public notification requirement under Sec. 141.11(d) for non-
community water systems (NCWS) that have been granted permission by the 
primacy agency to continue to exceed the nitrate MCL of 10 mg/l 
(although they must not exceed 20 mg/l). The current rule under 
Sec. 141.11(d) sets criteria that primacy agencies must follow in 
considering whether to allow NCWS to exceed the nitrate MCL without 
incurring a violation. The criteria under Sec. 141.11(d) require that 
the water system: (1) Demonstrate that the drinking water will not be 
available to children under 6 months of age; (2) provide continuous 
posting of the fact that nitrate levels are above 10 mg/l and identify 
the potential health effects of exposure; (3) notify local and State 
health authorities annually of nitrate levels that exceed 10 mg/l; and 
(4) ensure that no adverse health effects shall result. The public 
notice provision under Sec. 141.11(d)(2) is revised today to reference 
Sec. 141.209 of Subpart Q, which requires that NCWS granted permission 
to exceed the MCL follow the Tier 1 notice requirements (including the 
deadline, delivery and content) in much the same way as required for 
violations of the nitrate MCL. EPA believes incorporating the public 
notice requirement under Sec. 141.11(d) into the more specific Tier 1 
standard public notification protocol will allow NCWS to more 
systematically meet their public notice obligations when allowed to 
exceed the MCL.
    With today's final rule, EPA is incorporating into Subpart Q all 
the public notification requirements currently in other parts of CFR 
Part 141, including the requirement in Sec. 141.11(d). See Section IV.L 
of this preamble for a summary of these changes. This action does not 
substantively change the existing public notification requirement and 
therefore requires no prior notice and opportunity to comment.
5. Conditions Under Which the Primacy Agency May Give Notice on Behalf 
of Public Water System (Sec. 141.210)
    Today's Rule: The final rule retains the provision in the current 
rule specifying under what conditions the primacy agency may give 
notice on behalf of a public water system. Under this provision, the 
primacy agency may give a public notice for the public water system if 
all public notification requirements are met. The responsibility to 
comply, however, would always remain with the public water system.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA requested comment on the 
proposal to retain this provision. Virtually all the comments received 
on this provision supported the proposal.
    EPA Response to Comments: The final rule is unchanged from what was 
proposed.

K. Reporting to the Primacy Agency and Retention of Records

1. Public Water System Reporting to the Primacy Agency (Sec. 141.31(d))
    Today's Rule: The final rule amends the existing reporting 
requirement under Sec. 141.31(d) by requiring public water systems to 
submit a certification to the primacy agency that all public 
notification requirements have been met. Under the current 
Sec. 141.31(d), public water systems are required to submit copies of 
all public notices to the primacy agency within 10 days of completing 
each public notice. EPA believes that including a simple certification 
of compliance from the public water system with the copies of the 
notices will: Encourage voluntary compliance; save primacy agency 
resources; and allow better targeting of noncompliers. EPA also 
believes that maintaining the existing 10-day reporting deadline allows 
the primacy agency to quickly understand how the system met its public 
notification obligation and to pursue whatever follow-up is necessary 
to ensure the public is effectively informed of the violation. The 
opportunity for immediate feedback to the water system and quick 
resolution will strengthen the public notification program.
    Comments Received on Proposal: EPA requested comment on the timing 
and content of the revised reporting requirement, particularly the new 
certification requirement. A majority of commenters either requested 
clarification on what EPA intended under the new certification 
requirement or recommended that EPA delete the new certification 
requirement from the final rule altogether. Several commenters also 
objected to the 10-day reporting deadline, some wanting a 30-or 60-day 
period and others recommending that it be required immediately after 
the notice is given.
    EPA Response to Comments: The final rule retains the proposed 
requirement that public water systems send a certification of 
compliance, with copies of the public notices, to the primacy agency 
within 10 days after the public notification requirements are completed 
for the initial notice and for each repeat notice cycle. EPA made minor 
changes to the proposed language to respond to requests that EPA 
clarify what the scope of the new certification requirement is and when 
the certification must be submitted. In response to comments 
questioning the need for this new requirement, EPA believes that a 
simple certification sent with copies of the notice will facilitate 
compliance monitoring and follow-up by the

[[Page 26010]]

primacy agency. It may also encourage voluntary compliance. In response 
to comments that EPA extend the proposed ten-day deadline to 30 or 60 
days, EPA believes it is important for primacy agencies to receive the 
notices (and assess their adequacy) as soon as possible after the 
public water system sends the notice to its customers. The primacy 
agency's quick follow-up to an inadequate public notice response to 
violations will ensure public health is protected. In response to a 
commenter's suggestion of a certification ``box,'' EPA agrees that a 
properly worded box that indicates the system complied with all of the 
PN requirements would meet the certification requirement. A sample 
certification statement for PWSs to use will be included in the final 
Public Notification Handbook.
2. Retention of Records by Public Water Systems (Sec. 141.33)
    Today's Rule: The final rule requires that public water systems 
retain public notification records for three years. Today's action also 
amends the Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) regulation to change the 
public water system record retention requirement from five years to 
three years to be consistent with the public notification requirement. 
The current public notification regulation has no provision for 
retention of public notification records. A record retention 
requirement for public notices conforms with the requirements already 
in place for other EPA regulatory requirements (e.g., sampling results, 
variances and exemptions). The record retention period of no more than 
three years is consistent with the limits set in the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) regulations at 5 CFR 1320.5, which 
implement the Paperwork Reduction Act.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA requested comment on the 
reporting and record keeping proposal, including an alternative to the 
proposal to set the retention period for records under the public 
notification regulations to five years. EPA also requested comment on 
whether the record retention periods required under the related CCR 
regulation should be adjusted to three years, if necessary, to be 
consistent with the final public notification retention requirement and 
Paperwork Reduction Act regulations. Commenters were split on whether a 
five- or three-year record retention period should be required, but 
virtually all the comments supported requiring the same period under 
the CCR rule and public notification rule.
    EPA Response to Comments: The final rule setting a three-year 
record retention period for public notice records is unchanged from the 
proposal. In response to comments on the need to keep the required 
record retention period consistent with the CCR rule, EPA is also 
amending the CCR rule today to match the three-year period proposed for 
the public notification rule. EPA decided to require a three-year 
(rather than a five-year) record retention period to be consistent with 
the baseline requirement under OMB's paperwork reduction act 
guidelines. No comments were received that gave compelling reasons to 
deviate from this baseline OMB requirement.

L. Other Changes to the Current Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) To Be 
Consistent With the Final Public Notification Regulations

    Table C is a listing of the changes made in today's rule to various 
provisions in 40 CFR Part 141 to change the public notification 
references to the new Subpart Q and to otherwise modify the language to 
be consistent with the final public notification regulations. The 
amendments do not substantively alter the existing requirements in 
these provisions and therefore require no prior notice and opportunity 
for comment.

    Table C.--Summary of Other Changes to CFR to Be Consistent With Final Public Notification Rule (Part 141,
                                                   Subpart Q)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                    Subpart Q
         CFR Section                       Subject              Reference (where              Change
                                                                   applicable)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sec.  141.6(c), Sec.           ``The regulations set forth in   Sec.  141.201...  Delete all reference to Sec.
 141.6(g) Effective dates.      . . . Sec.  141.32(b)(3) and                       141.32. Effective dates for
                                Sec.  141.32(d) shall take                         new Subpart Q are contained
                                effect immediately upon                            in Sec.  141.201 introductory
                                promulgation. . . The                              paragraph.
                                regulations contained in Sec.
                                141.32(e)(16), (25-27), and
                                (46) . . . are effective
                                January 1, 1993''.
Sec.  141.11(d) Nitrate        ``At the discretion of the       Sec.  141.209...  Change Sec.  141.11(d)(2) to
 levels in non-community        State, nitrate levels not to                       require that systems meet PN
 systems.                       exceed 20 mg/l may be allowed                      requirements under Sec.
                                in a non-community water                           141.209.
                                system if the supplier of                         Add new special notice (Sec.
                                water demonstrates. . . that                       141.209), require Tier 1
                                (1) Such water will not be                         notification and the ten
                                available to children under 6                      elements required for
                                months of age; and (2) There                       violations
                                will be continuous posting of
                                the fact that nitrate levels
                                exceed 10 mg/l and the
                                potential health effects of
                                exposure; and local and State
                                public health authorities will
                                be notified annually of
                                nitrate levels. . . and (4) No
                                adverse health effects shall
                                result.''.
Sec.  141.21(g)(1) Total       ``A public water system which    Sec.  141.203     Change reference to ``Sec.
 coliform MCL.                  has exceeded the MCL for total   (Tier 2) and      141.32'' to ``subpart Q''
                                coliform in Sec.  141.63 must    Sec.  141.204
                                report the violation to the      (Tier 3).
                                State no later than the end of
                                the next business day after it
                                learns of the violation, and
                                notify the public in
                                accordance with Sec.  141.32''.

[[Page 26011]]

 
Sec.  141.21(g)(2) Coliform    ``A public water system which    Sec.  141.204     Change reference to ``Sec.
 monitoring.                    has failed to comply with a      (Tier 3) or       141.32'' to ``subpart Q''
                                coliform monitoring              Sec.  141.202
                                requirement, including the       (Tier 1).
                                sanitary survey requirement,
                                must report the monitoring
                                violation to the State within
                                ten days after the system
                                discovers the violation, and
                                notify the public in
                                accordance with Sec.  141.32''.
Sec.  141.22(b) 0Turbidity     ``If the monthly average of the  Sec.  141.203     Change reference to ``Sec.
 MCL.                           daily samples exceeds the        (Tier 2).         141.32'' to ``subpart Q''
                                maximum allowable limit or if
                                the average of 2 samples taken
                                on consecutive days exceeds 5
                                TU . . . report to the state
                                and notify the public as
                                directed in Sec.  141.31 and
                                Sec.  141.32''.
Sec.  141.23(f)(2)             ``Where nitrate or nitrite       Sec.  141.202     Change reference to ``Sec.
 Confirmation sample for        sampling results indicate an     (Tier 1).         141.32'' to ``Sec.  141.202
 nitrate and nitrate.           exceedance of the maximum                          and meet other requirements
                                contaminant level, the system                      under Subpart Q of this
                                shall take a confirmation                          part''
                                sample within 24 hours. . .
                                Systems unable to comply with
                                the 24-hour sampling
                                requirement must immediately
                                notify consumers served . . .
                                in accordance with Sec.
                                141.32 . . .''.
                                                                                  Change ``consumers'' to
                                                                                   ``persons''
                                                                                  Add this requirement to Sec.
                                                                                   141.202 along with that for
                                                                                   nitrate MCLs (item 2 of Table
                                                                                   1)
Sec.  141.23(I)(4), Sec.       ``If a public water system has   Subpart Q.......  Delete these sections since
 141.24(f)(15)(iii), Sec.       a distribution system                              parallel requirement will be
 141.24(h)(11)(iii) Public      separable from other parts of                      included in Sec.
 notice to the area affected    the distribution system with                       141.201(c)(2)
 for inorganics, VOCs, and      no interconnections, the State
 SOCs.                          may allow the system to give
                                public notice to only the area
                                served by that portion of the
                                system which is out of
                                compliance''.
Sec.  141.23(n) Inorganics     ``When the average of four       Sec.  141.203     Change ``Sec.  141.32'' to
 MCL.                           analyses . . . exceeds the       (Tier 2).         ``Subpart Q''
                                maximum contaminant level, the
                                supplier of water shall notify
                                the State pursuant to Sec.
                                141.31 and give notice to the
                                public pursuant to Sec.
                                141.32''.
Sec.  141.23(o) Nitrate MCL..  ``. . .When a level exceeding    Sec.  141.202     Change ``Sec.  141.32'' to
                                the maximum contaminant level    (Tier 1).         ``Subpart Q''
                                for nitrate is found, a second
                                analysis shall be initiated
                                within 24 hours, and if the
                                mean of the two analyses
                                exceeds the maximum
                                contaminant level, the
                                supplier of water shall report
                                his findings to the State
                                pursuant to Sec.  141.31 and
                                shall notify the public
                                pursuant to Sec.  141.32''.
Sec.  141.26(a)(4) Gross       ``If the average annual maximum  Sec.  141.203     Change ``Sec.  141.32'' to
 alpha or total radium MCL.     contaminant level for gross      (Tier 2).         ``Subpart Q''
                                alpha particle activity or
                                total radium . . . is
                                exceeded, the supplier . . .
                                shall give notice to the State
                                pursuant to Sec.  141.31 and
                                notify the public as required
                                by Sec.  141.32''.
Sec.  141.26(b)(5) Man-made    ``If the average annual maximum  Sec.  141.203     Change ``Sec.  141.32'' to
 radiation MCL.                 contaminant level for man-made   (Tier 2).         ``Subpart Q''
                                radioactivity . . . is
                                exceeded, the supplier . . .
                                shall give notice to the State
                                pursuant to Sec.  141.31 and
                                notify the public as required
                                by Sec.  141.32''.
Sec.  141.30(d) TTHM MCL.....  ``If the average of samples      Sec.  141.203     Change ``Sec.  141.32'' to
                                covering any 12 month period     (Tier 2).         ``Subpart Q''
                                exceeds the Maximum
                                Contaminant Level, the
                                supplier of water shall report
                                to the State pursuant to Sec.
                                141.31 and notify the public
                                pursuant to Sec.  141.32''.
Sec.  141.63(b) Total          ``For purposes of the public     Sec.  141.202     Change ``Sec.  141.32'' to
 coliform MCL (fecal positive   notification requirements in     (Tier 1).         ``Subpart Q''
 repeat sample).                Sec.  141.32, this is a
                                violation that may pose an
                                acute risk to health.''.

[[Page 26012]]

 
Sec.  141.75(a)(5)(ii) SWTR    ``If at any time turbidity       Sec.  141.203(b)  Change Sec.  141.75(a)(5)(ii)
 reporting requirements         exceeds 5 NTU, the system must   (3).              to require consultation with
 (unfiltered systems).          inform the State as soon as                        the primacy agency after
                                possible, but no later than                        turbidity exceedance above 5
                                the end of the next business                       NTU, as soon as practical but
                                day''.                                             no later than 24 hours in
                                                                                   accordance with the public
                                                                                   notification requirements
                                                                                   under Sec.  141.203(b)(3)
Sec.  141.75(b)(3)(ii) SWTR    ``If at any time turbidity       Sec.  141.203(b)  Change Sec.  141.75(b)(3)(ii)
 reporting requirements         exceeds 5 NTU, the system must   (3).              to require consultation with
 (filtered systems).            inform the State as soon as                        the primacy agency after
                                possible, but no later than                        turbidity exceedance above 5
                                the end of the next business                       NTU, as soon as practical but
                                day''.                                             no later than 24 hours in
                                                                                   accordance with the public
                                                                                   notification requirements
                                                                                   under Sec.  141.203(b)(3)
Sec.  141.133(b)(1) TTHMs and  ``If the running annual          Sec.  141.203     Change ``Sec.  141.32'' to
 HAA5 MCLs.                     arithmetic average of            (Tier 2).         ``Subpart Q''
                                quarterly averages covering
                                any consecutive four-quarter
                                period exceeds the MCL, the
                                system is in violation of the
                                MCL and must notify the public
                                pursuant to Sec.  141.32 . .
                                .''.
Sec.  141.133(b)(2) Bromate    ``If the average of samples      Sec.  141.203     Change ``Sec.  141.32'' to
 MCL.                           covering any consecutive four-   (Tier 2).         ``Subpart Q''
                                quarter period exceeds the
                                MCL, the system is in
                                violation of the MCL and must
                                notify the public pursuant to
                                Sec.  141.32 . . .''.
Sec.  141.133(b)(3) Chlorite   ``If the arithmetic average of   Sec.  141.203     Change ``Sec.  141.32'' to
 MCL.                           any three sample set exceeds     (Tier 2).         ``Subpart Q''
                                the MCL, the system is in
                                violation of the MCL and must
                                notify the public pursuant to
                                Sec.  141.32. . .''.
Sec.  141.133(c)(1) Chlorine   ``If the average of quarterly    Sec.  141.203     Change ``Sec.  141.32'' to
 and chloramines MRDL.          averages covering any            (Tier 2).         ``Subpart Q''
                                consecutive four-quarter
                                period exceeds the MRDL, the
                                system is in violation of the
                                MRDL and must notify the
                                public pursuant to Sec.
                                141.32 . . .''.
Sec.  141.133(c)(2)(I)         ``If any daily sample taken at   Sec.  141.202     Change ``Sec.
 Chlorine dioxide MRDL.         the entrance to the              (Tier 1).         141.32(a)(1)(iii)(E)'' to
                                distribution system exceeds                        ``Subpart Q''
                                the MRDL, and on the following
                                day one (or more) of the three
                                samples . . . exceed the MRDL,
                                the system must . . . notify
                                the public pursuant to the
                                procedures for acute health
                                risks in Sec.  141.32(a)(1)
                                (iii)(E). Failure to take
                                samples in the distribution
                                system the day following an
                                exceedance of the chlorine
                                dioxide MRDL. . .will also be
                                considered an MRDL violation
                                and the system must notify . .
                                . in accordance with the
                                provisions for acute
                                violations under Sec.
                                141.32(a)(1)(iii)(E)''.
Sec.  141.133(c)(2)(ii)        ``If any two consecutive daily   Sec.  141.203     Change ``Sec.  141.32(e)(78)''
 Chlorine dioxide MRDL.         samples taken at the entrance    (Tier 2).         to ``Subpart Q''
                                to the distribution system
                                exceed the MRDL and all
                                distribution system samples
                                are below the MRDL, the system
                                . . . will notify the public
                                pursuant to the procedures for
                                non-acute health risks in Sec.
                                 141.32(e)(78). Failure to
                                take samples in the
                                distribution system the day
                                following an exceedance of the
                                chlorine dioxide MRDL at the
                                entrance to the distribution
                                system . . . is also an MRDL
                                violation and the system must
                                notify . . . in accordance
                                with the provisions for non-
                                acute violations under Sec.
                                141.32(e)(78)''.

[[Page 26013]]

 
Sec.  141.175(c)(1) IESWTR     ``If at any time the turbidity   Sec.  141.203(b)  Change Sec.  141.175(c)(1) to
 reporting requirements         exceeds 1 NTU in                 (3).              require consultation with the
 (filtered systems using        representative samples of                          primacy agency after
 conventional or direct         filtered water in a system                         turbidity exceedance above 1
 filtration treatment).         using conventional filtration                      NTU, as soon as practical but
                                treatment or direct                                no later than 24 hours in
                                filtration, the system must                        accordance with the public
                                inform the State as soon as                        notification requirements
                                possible, but no later than                        under Sec.  141.203(b)(3)
                                the end of the next business
                                day''.
Sec.  141.175(c)(2) IESWTR     ``If at any time the turbidity   Sec.  141.203(b)  Change Sec.  141.175(c)(2) to
 reporting requirements         in representative samples of     (3).              require consultation with the
 (filtered systems using        filtered water exceed the                          primacy agency after
 other than conventional or     maximum level set by the State                     turbidity exceedance above
 direct filtration treatment).  under Sec.  142.173(b) for                         the maximum level set by the
                                filtration technologies other                      State, as soon as practical
                                than conventional filtration                       but no later than 24 hours in
                                treatment, direct filtration,                      accordance with the public
                                slow sand filtration, or                           notification requirements
                                diatomaceous earth filtration,                     under Sec.  141.203(b)(3)
                                the system must inform the
                                State as soon as possible, but
                                no later than the end of the
                                next business day''.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

M. Special State/Tribal Primacy Requirements and Rationale (40 CFR Part 
142, Subpart B)

    Today's Rule: The final rule amends Secs. 142.10 and 142.16 of the 
primacy regulations (40 CFR Part 142, Subpart B) to define the 
requirements that States (including eligible Indian Tribes) must follow 
to incorporate the revised public notification regulations into their 
approved primacy program. The final rule also amends Sec. 142.14 to 
require that the State retain, for three years, the certifications and 
public notices received from the public water systems and any 
determinations establishing alternative public notification 
requirements. Finally, the final rule amends Sec. 142.15 to reaffirm 
the requirement that the State report violations of the public 
notification regulations on a quarterly basis to EPA.
    Under the primacy regulations, a State is required to adopt, as a 
condition of primacy, a State rule that is no less stringent than the 
regulation being proposed today. The requirements States must meet to 
receive primary enforcement responsibility (``primacy'') are listed in 
Sec. 142.10 and requirements to revise an approved primacy program are 
in Sec. 142.12. Under Sec. 142.10(b)(6)(v), each State with primary 
enforcement responsibility must adopt and implement adequate procedures 
to require public water systems to give public notice that is no less 
stringent than the EPA public notification requirements. Special 
primacy requirements unique to the public notification regulation are 
in Sec. 142.16(a).
    The final rule amends Sec. 142.10(b)(6)(v) to replace the existing 
citation (Sec. 141.32) with the new public notification citation (40 
CFR Part 141, Subpart Q). The final rule replaces the existing language 
in Sec. 142.16(a) with a new section comprised of two elements.
    First, Sec. 142.16(a)(1) requires primacy States to submit requests 
for approval of a revised primacy program adopting the new public 
notification requirements under 40 CFR Part 141, Subpart Q. At its 
option, a State may establish alternative public notification 
requirements with respect to the form and content of the public notice 
required under Subpart Q of Part 141. The alternative requirements must 
provide the same type and amount of information required under Subpart 
Q and must meet the primacy requirements under Sec. 142.10. States will 
have two years after the final rule is published in the Federal 
Register to submit a complete and final primacy program revision 
package to EPA, unless the State requests and EPA approves an extension 
of up to two additional years.
    Second, Sec. 142.16(a)(2) lists the sections of the final public 
notification regulations (Subpart Q of Part 141) where EPA explicitly 
authorizes primacy States to augment or otherwise change the EPA 
requirements to build a more complete and effective State public 
notification program. In some cases, EPA is counting on the States to 
augment the EPA regulation by providing authority under their own 
regulations for making determinations unique to a specific situation 
that are more appropriate than the regulatory default under the EPA 
rule (e.g., adding supplemental Tier 1 requirements after consultation 
with the public water system; elevating a monitoring violation from a 
Tier 3 to a Tier 2). In other cases, the authority given to the State 
to deviate from the EPA rule is intended to build in flexibility to 
give a ``common sense'' solution to unique situations where the EPA 
rule default requirement just does not work. The regulation in some 
cases enables the State to tailor the EPA baseline requirements to 
increase program flexibility and in other cases recognizes and expects 
the State to exercise its option under primacy to be more stringent 
than the EPA rule. Building in this flexibility allows the program to 
be responsive to different situations. One size does not fit all. Of 
course, States are free to establish requirements that are more 
stringent and broader in scope than the EPA program without including 
them in the approved primacy program. The advantage of including such 
more stringent requirements in the approved primacy program is that it 
enables EPA and the State to jointly implement and enforce the expanded 
program.
    Where the State uses the flexibility built into EPA's rule as part 
of its approved primacy program, Sec. 142.16(a)(2) requires that a 
State establish, as part of its revised primacy program, enforceable 
requirements and procedures. The EPA rule provisions that explicitly 
authorize primacy States to augment the EPA requirements are as 
follows:
     Table 1 to 40 CFR 141.201(a) (Item 3v)--To require public 
water systems to give a public notice for violations or situations 
other than those listed in Appendix A of Subpart Q of Part 141. This 
supports existing State authority under primacy to add notice 
requirements not explicit in the EPA rule, to tailor its program to 
respond to its unique public notification policies and situations.

[[Page 26014]]

     40 CFR 141.201(c)(2)--To permit public water systems, 
under the specific circumstances listed in Sec. 141.201(c)(2), to limit 
the distribution of the public notice to persons served by the portion 
of the distribution system that is out of compliance. This authorizes 
the State to use its discretion to respond to unique situations where 
strict compliance with EPA's baseline requirements may lead to an 
ineffective notice or unnecessary costs.
     Table 1 of 40 CFR 141.202(a) (Items 5, 6, and 8)--To 
require public water systems to give a Tier 1 public notice (rather 
than a Tier 2 or Tier 3 notice) for violations or situations listed in 
Appendix A of Subpart Q of Part 141 of this chapter. This supports 
existing State authority under primacy to elevate specific violations 
to Tier 1 where the EPA default Tier requirement does not meet the 
State's public health objectives. EPA expects States to use this 
authority when needed to respond to situations where there is 
significant potential for adverse health effects from short-term 
exposure. In particular, EPA needs the State to exercise its authority 
to elevate single exceedance turbidity violations to a Tier 1 when 
consultation under Sec. 141.203(b)(3) indicates high potential for 
short-term health risk.
     40 CFR 141.202(b)(3)--To require public water systems to 
comply with additional Tier 1 public notification requirements set by 
the State subsequent to the initial 24-hour Tier 1 notice, as a result 
of their consultation with the State required under Sec. 141.202(b)(2). 
This supports existing State authority under primacy to add 
supplemental Tier 1 requirements as a result of the Tier 1 consultation 
required under Sec. 141.202(b)(2). EPA expects States to use this 
authority to ensure effective, enforceable follow-up to the initial 
Tier 1 notice. The EPA rule does not require any specific follow-up 
action by the water system after the initial Tier 1 notice, deferring 
totally to the primacy agency to define all supplemental requirements.
     40 CFR 141.202(c), 141.203(c) and 141.204(c)--To require a 
different form and manner of delivery for Tier 1, 2 and 3 public 
notices. This supports existing State authority under primacy to use 
its discretion to tailor the public notice delivery to the specific 
situation or specific approach preferred by the State, as long as it 
otherwise meets primacy requirements.
     Table 1 to 40 CFR 141.203(a) (Item 2)--To require the 
public water systems to provide a Tier 2 public notice (rather than 
Tier 3) for monitoring or testing procedure violations specified by the 
State. This supports existing State authority under primacy to elevate 
the notice requirement for a monitoring violation to Tier 2. The 
default tier level for all monitoring violations is Tier 3 unless the 
primacy agency chooses to elevate the requirement to a Tier 2 notice 
when warranted. EPA expects States to build this additional authority 
into their approved programs to ensure that notices for monitoring 
violations posing potential serious adverse health effects are 
delivered within 30 days.
     40 CFR 141.203(b)(1)--To grant public water systems an 
extension of up to three months for distributing the Tier 2 public 
notice, in appropriate circumstances other than those specifically 
prohibited by the rule. This authorizes the State to use its 
discretion, where appropriate, to extend the Tier 2 notice deadline to 
give water systems some relief from EPA's default deadline.
     40 CFR 141.203(b)(2)--To grant a different repeat notice 
frequency for the Tier 2 public notice in appropriate circumstances 
(other than those specifically prohibited by the rule), but no less 
frequently than once per year. This authorizes the State to use its 
discretion, where appropriate, to allow less frequent repeat notice 
frequency for violations to give water systems some relief from EPA's 
default repeat notice requirement.
     40 CFR 141.203(b)(3)--To respond within 24 hours to a 
request for consultation by the public water system to determine 
whether a Tier 1 (rather than a Tier 2) notice is required for a 
turbidity MCL violation under Sec. 141.13(b) or a SWTR/IESWTR TT 
violation due to a single exceedance of the maximum allowable turbidity 
limit. This ensures that the State is prepared to respond to the 
request for consultation from the water system after it learns of a 
violation of the turbidity single exceedance limit. EPA expects States 
to establish a process that would lead to a determination within the 
24-hour window to avoid a ``no action'' default to a Tier 1 notice on 
every turbidity single exceedance violation.
     40 CFR 141.205(c)(2)--To determine the specific 
multilingual requirement for public water systems, including defining 
``large proportion of non-English-speaking consumers.'' This supports 
existing State authority under primacy to augment the EPA rule to 
clarify who must comply with the EPA requirements and how the 
requirements will be met. EPA expects States to provide more specific 
direction to water systems than is provided under the EPA rule, 
particularly by developing criteria for determining which systems serve 
a large proportion of non-English speaking consumers.
    EPA believes that State adoption and implementation of the revised 
public notification rule should, where possible, be coordinated with 
the State implementation of the CCR rule. EPA encourages and will 
support efforts by the State to merge the adoption and implementation 
of the two rules because of the close interrelationship between the two 
programs. Merging implementation of the two programs will make both 
programs more effective and understandable to the water systems and to 
the public.
    Although the final date for adoption of the revised public 
notification rule is two years from the date of today's rule, States 
may adopt the revised public notification requirements earlier. The new 
requirements will then go into effect when the State's revised 
regulations adopting the new requirements go into effect. EPA 
encourages States to take immediate steps to determine how the more 
streamlined and effective public notice requirements can be integrated 
into both the ongoing public notice programs and the emerging CCR 
program. Early adoption of the new rule will enable water systems to 
take early advantage of the efficiencies and flexibility built into the 
revised program.
    EPA expects to issue interim primacy guidance shortly, which will 
outline the new requirements and describe how they can most effectively 
be adopted and implemented by the States. The guidance will include 
recommended steps States can take, at their option, to combine the new 
public notification rule with the CCR rule to better coordinate the 
related primacy and implementation activities.
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA requested comment on the 
proposed requirements States would have to follow to develop the 
approved primacy program revision and on other changes to the State 
record keeping and reporting requirements related to the public 
notification rule. EPA also requested comment on the proposed 
interpretation of the primacy standard to be applied for review of 
State alternative programs. All comments received on the primacy 
proposal were in support of allowing States the full two years to adopt 
the revised public notification regulation. Several commenters saw no 
need to set special primacy requirements for provisions allowing States 
to be more stringent than EPA's rule, since States already have that 
authority. Several other commenters asked EPA to establish criteria in 
the regulation for when EPA expects States to elevate violations to a 
more stringent violation tier. A

[[Page 26015]]

significant minority of commenters asked that EPA set more specific 
requirements in the final rule on State compliance reporting and 
tracking.
    EPA Response to Comments: The final rule retains the requirement, 
as proposed, that States must revise their approved primacy programs, 
including addressing the new special primacy requirements under Section 
142.16(a)(2), to retain primacy. The proposed list of special primacy 
conditions was modified in the final rule to conform to changes made in 
other sections of the rule and to make other edits to improve the 
presentation. The basic primacy requirements, however, were unchanged 
from the proposal.
    In response to commenters who questioned the need for special 
primacy conditions where the State chooses to be more stringent, EPA 
has reaffirmed the requirement that the primacy revision package 
submitted to EPA for approval must address all the program elements 
where EPA explicitly allows the State to set different requirements 
from the EPA rule requirements. The advantage of including all the 
program elements in the approved primacy program where the State is 
explicitly allowed to be different is that it enables EPA and the State 
to jointly implement and enforce the expanded program. EPA recommends 
that primacy States take advantage of this opportunity to work together 
to develop an effective State public notification program. Under the 
final rule, States are of course still free to establish more stringent 
requirements outside the approved primacy program.
    In response to other commenters requesting that the final rule 
include criteria for when EPA expects States to be more stringent, EPA 
has chosen not to specify additional criteria on how the States should 
use the discretion authorized in the EPA rule. The final rule 
provisions, in most cases, do establish boundaries on the use of the 
State discretion. Beyond that, EPA believes the State program should 
work with EPA to address those questions during the primacy revision 
approval process. EPA is acutely interested in how the flexibility is 
used and how EPA and the States can jointly implement and enforce this 
tailored program. EPA wants to work with States individually to fashion 
a flexible program which meets the State's needs.
    In response to comments concerning EPA's specific expectations 
regarding State compliance reporting and tracking, EPA believes that 
these questions are most appropriately addressed in the primacy 
guidance rather than the regulations. The final rule does reaffirm the 
requirement that primacy agencies report public notification violations 
to EPA on a quarterly basis. It also requires public water systems to 
submit a compliance certification, with copies of the public notices, 
to the State within ten days after every public notification event. EPA 
will address compliance and reporting strategies in its guidance to 
primacy agencies on implementing the PN rule.

V. Changes to Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) Regulation To Be 
Consistent With the Final Public Notification Regulation

    Today's Rule: The Consumer Confidence Report rule is updated today 
in several aspects, to be better aligned with the final public 
notification rule being published today. First, the three Appendices to 
Subpart O, which contain various pieces of information about the 
contaminants that EPA regulates, are deleted and the information is 
combined into a new, comprehensive Appendix A to Subpart O. This new 
single Appendix makes the information more accessible. EPA will 
republish the entire table in each final rule that changes the 
information it contains. As a result of this change, a number of 
references to the three appendices are revised to reflect the new 
combined Appendix A. EPA will consider at a later date whether and how 
to further align the CCR and public notification rules by combining the 
Appendices in the two rules, since much of the information is similar.
    Second, the new Appendix A to Subpart O is updated to contain 
regulatory and health effects information on each of the disinfectants 
and disinfection byproducts regulated in the Stage 1 D/DBP rule that 
EPA published in December 1998. The health effects language was 
proposed in the public notification rule on May 13, 1999. The final 
language being published today in Appendix A to Subpart O is identical 
to that which is established through today's public notification 
regulations under Subpart Q. Although systems will not be required to 
include information in their CCRs on these contaminants until after the 
effective date of the new regulations, some systems may choose to do so 
earlier.
    Third, the standard health effects language for fluoride in the 
current CCR regulations is revised to be identical to the health 
effects language required for violation of the fluoride MCL in the 
public notification rule published today. The revised language 
incorporates language on the cosmetic effects (i.e., dental fluorosis) 
that may occur at levels above 2 mg/l (the SMCL). The MCL standard is 4 
mg/l. With this change, the health effects language required for all 
the regulated contaminants in the public notification rule is now 
identical to the language required in the CCR rule.
    Fourth, the Sec. 141.155(h) requirement that systems retain copies 
of their CCRs for at least five years is amended to require retention 
for three years. EPA is making this change to slightly reduce the paper 
storage burden on water suppliers and to make this requirement 
consistent with other drinking water record retention requirements.
    Finally, definitions for Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level (MRDL) 
and Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level Goal (MRDLG), modeled on the 
current definitions for MCL and MCLG, are added to the regulatory terms 
that systems must include in their CCRs under 141.153(c) when reporting 
on contaminants governed by them. EPA considers these changes to be 
straightforward and noncontroversial. Since the new requirements to 
include the definitions for MRDL and MRDLG are consistent with the 
similar requirements to include other definitions, EPA believes no 
prior notice and opportunity to comment are required.
    The final public notification rule is closely related to the 
Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) regulation promulgated in August, 1998 
[63 FR 44511 (August 19, 1998)], as amended today. The final rule uses 
identical language from the CCR rule where there is an overlap, defers 
to the CCR process where the public notification objectives could be 
effectively accomplished through the CCR, and otherwise uses language 
consistent with the CCR when appropriate.
     Health Effects Language (Sec. 141.205(d)(1), Appendix B to 
Subpart Q). Language on potential health effects of violations is 
required both for the CCR and public notification. The final rule 
requires identical health effects standard language for the public 
notice and the CCR rule, as amended today under Appendix A to Subpart 
O).
     Use of CCR for Some Public Notices (Sec. 141.204(d)). The 
CCR requires an annual summary of all violations that have occurred in 
the previous year (Sec. 141.153(f)). The final public notification rule 
allows community water systems, at their option, to use the Consumer 
Confidence Report as the mechanism to notify their customers of any or 
all Tier 3 violations, as long as those violations occurred within the 
last 12 months, the content requirements of Sec. 141.205 are complied 
with, and the delivery requirements under

[[Page 26016]]

Sec. 141.204(c) are met. The final rule also allows public water 
systems that are not required to distribute a CCR to use an annual 
report of all their Tier 3 violations or variances or exemptions, in 
lieu of individual public notices. In all cases, the CCR or other 
annual report would have to follow the requirements of the public 
notice rule to be used for this purpose.
     Notice of the Availability of the Results of Unregulated 
Contaminant Monitoring (Sec. 141.207). The 1996 SDWA amendments for 
both the CCR and public notification contained provisions related to 
giving notice of the results of unregulated contaminant monitoring 
required by EPA. EPA is deferring to the requirement in the CCR rule 
(under Sec. 141.153(d) and (e)) to meet the public notification 
statutory provision. The CCR rule requires that such information be 
included in the annual CCR for community water systems when 
contaminants are detected. The final public notification rule does, 
however, contain a special public notice requirement (under 
Sec. 141.207) to announce the availability of the results of the 
unregulated contaminant monitoring required under the Unregulated 
Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR).
     Certification by PWS That Public Notification Requirements 
Are Met (Sec. 141.31(d)). The final rule adds a new requirement that 
public water systems provide a certification to the primacy agency, 
along with a copy of their public notices, that all requirements have 
been met. This is patterned after (although not identical) to the 
certification requirement in the CCR regulation (Sec. 141.155(c)).
     Use of Multilingual Notices (Sec. 141.205(c)(2)). The CCR 
regulation requires that in communities with a large proportion of non-
English speaking residents, as determined by the primacy agency, the 
report must contain information in the appropriate language(s) 
regarding the importance of the notice or contain a telephone number or 
address where persons served may contact the water system to obtain a 
translated copy of the notice or to request assistance in the 
appropriate language. The final public notification rule uses the exact 
language in the CCR rule to set the multilingual requirements. The 
public notification rule, however, includes a second provision not in 
the CCR rule that requires PWSs to comply with the multilingual 
requirements where appropriate, even when the primacy agency opts not 
to make a determination. (Sec. 141.153(h)(3)).
    Comments Requested on Proposal: EPA requested comment on the 
approach in the proposed rule aligning the public notification 
requirements with the parallel requirements in the CCR rule for the 
five areas and for any other areas that would make compliance with the 
two rules more effective and efficient. Commenters overwhelmingly 
supported EPA's proposed intention to closely coordinate the CCR and 
public notification rule language. A number of commenters, however, 
disagreed or questioned how EPA proposed to do this for certain program 
elements.
    EPA Response to Comments: In the final rule published today, EPA 
continues to support a close regulatory relationship between the CCR 
and the public notification rules and strongly encourages primacy 
agencies and water systems to integrate the two requirements in 
implementation where it makes sense. EPA's response to commenters who 
questioned how EPA planned to coordinate the CCR and public 
notification rules is addressed in the individual preamble sections 
related to each program element.

VI. Cost of Rule

    EPA has estimated the costs both for public water systems, which 
must comply with the requirements of the revised public notification 
rule published today, and the primacy agencies, which must implement 
the new requirements on behalf of EPA.
    For public water systems, the estimated costs of complying with the 
new regulation are divided into three component activities: notice 
preparation costs, notice distribution costs, and costs of repeat 
notices. Only public water systems with a violation or other situation 
requiring a public notice incur costs under this rule.
     Notice preparation costs include those costs that a public 
water system must incur to comply with the requirements regardless of 
how many copies of the notice it must deliver. These costs include the 
labor hour costs associated with becoming familiar with the 
requirements for the notice, collecting data regarding monitoring 
results and the violation, consulting with the primacy agency (when 
necessary), preparing the technical content of the public notification 
in a format suitable for distribution, identifying the recipients of 
the notice, and providing instructions about production of the notice.
     Notice distribution costs are costs that increase or 
decrease along with the number of public notices to be delivered. These 
costs include costs of producing the reports (costs of paper and 
photocopying or printing), postage costs when the notice is mailed, 
costs of posting notices in specified locations, and other labor hour 
costs of producing and delivering the notices.
     Repeat notice costs involve the costs of updating the 
initial notice and delivering a second copy of the notice, if the 
violation is not corrected within the specified time period.
    For primacy agencies, the estimated incremental costs of 
implementing the new requirements are divided into four components:
     Cost of revising primacy packages to incorporate the new 
requirements;
     Costs of consulting with public water systems to clarify 
notice requirements on a case-by-case basis;
     Costs of receiving and reviewing the public water system 
compliance certification and copies of the notices; and
     Costs of filing and maintaining the public notification 
records.
    Table D provides a summary of the estimated average annual cost and 
labor hours to public water systems and to the State primacy agencies. 
The public water system costs are broken out by size of the system. The 
combined total cost per year to both the PWS and the primacy agencies 
is $13,543,277. The combined total burden hours are 748,811.

           Table D.--Average Annual Cost and Labor Hours for Public Water Systems and Primacy Agencies
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                    Total
                                 Total cost per     labor        Number of      Labor hours per  Cost per system
        Summary table             year *  (1)       hours       systems in      system (2)/(3)     (1)/(3)  (5)
                                                     (2)       violation **           (4)
--------------------------------------------------------------------(3)-----------------------------------------
PWS:
    PWS serving 25-500.......      $5,218,727.77    515,656  31,187..........  16.53...........  $167.34
    PWS serving 501-3,300....       1,482.639.78    116,007  3,740...........  31.02...........  396.43

[[Page 26017]]

 
    PWS serving 3,301-10,000.       1,052,496.62     28,799  854.............  33.72...........  1,232.43
    PWS serving 10,001-             2,074,925.70     27,379  632.............  43.32...........  3,283.11
     100,000.
    PWS serving over 100,000.       2,171,777.56      2,550  54..............  47.23...........  40,218.10
      Totals for PWS.........      12,000,567.43    690,390  36,467 PWS......  18.93 hours per   329.08 per PWS
                                                                                PWS.
State Primacy Agencies.......       1,542,709.87     58,420  56 Primacy        1,043.22 hours    27,548.39 per
                                                              agencies.         per primacy       primacy agency
                                                                                agency.
      Totals.................     $13,543,277.30   748,811
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Costs include both labor hour costs and operations and maintenance (O&M) costs.
** Source: FY 1998 inventory and violation data from Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS), January,
  1999.

    The Agency estimates that the average annual cost to all public 
water systems with one or more violations during the year is 
$12,000,567, including the costs for 690,390 labor hours and the costs 
for copying, postage and other related O&M costs. This is an average 
annual cost of $329.08 for each of the 36,467 public water systems 
required to comply with the public notice requirements because they had 
one or more violations during the year. As shown in Table D, the 
average annual per system costs and labor hours vary significantly by 
size of the water system:
     The dollar costs include both labor hour costs and non-
labor costs. The non-labor costs incurred are principally to cover the 
costs of copying and mailing the notice. Because the cost of 
distribution varies directly with the number of persons served, the 
cost per water system for the large and very large water systems is 
many times higher than the cost per water system for small and very 
small systems (e.g., $167.34 per system serving less than 500 people 
vs. $40,218.10 per system serving over 100,000 people).
     The labor hours vary by both the type and size of the 
water system. For example, a non-community water system may post the 
notice, a significantly lower labor hour burden than preparing a 
mailing or hand delivering the notice. System size also makes a 
significant difference in total labor costs. The labor estimated to 
prepare and distribute the notice for a very small system is 16.5 
hours. For very large systems, the labor hour estimate is 47.2 hours, 
almost three times the rate estimated for the very small systems.
    The Agency estimates the annual primacy agency costs and labor 
hours to be $1,542,710 and 58,420 hours. The average annual cost per 
primacy agency is estimated at $27,548 per primacy agency ($1,542,710 
divided by 56) and the annual labor hours per primacy agency are 
estimated at 1,043 hours per primacy agency (58,420 divided by 56). 
This does not include the costs for EPA direct implementation of the 
regulatory program in Wyoming, the District of Columbia, and on Indian 
lands.
    The paperwork burden associated with the current public 
notification requirements, which are being revised by today's action, 
was included in the baseline drinking water ICR (OMB Control No. 2040-
0090, EPA ICR# 270.39). The estimated burden under ICR#270.39 was 
955,191 hours, and the costs were $21,969,393. This included the 
estimated cost to public water systems only. ICR#270.39 did not include 
any incremental costs to the primacy agencies.
    To estimate the change in the burden for public water systems under 
the revised rule, EPA recalculated the burden numbers under ICR#270.39 
to provide a common basis for comparison. The ICR burden estimate under 
ICR#270.39 could not be used as the basis for comparison because it 
used different external cost and workload assumptions. First, the cost 
assumptions in ICR#270.39 used lower postage and labor rates than are 
currently in place. Second, it assumed the violation levels that were 
in place when ICR#270.39 was developed, which are quite different from 
the violation levels assumed for the revised ICR. Third, some 
activities were omitted from ICR#270.39, such as repeat notices.
    The combined changes in the average annual burden and costs to 
primacy agencies and PWSs, based on comparing the estimate under the 
revised rule to the adjusted estimate under the current rule, are shown 
in the table below:

                Changes in Average Annual Burden and Cost Estimates (for PWS and primacy agency)
                      [Rounded to nearest 10,000 for burden and nearest $100,000 for cost]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     Current rule                                                       Percent
                                  (Recalculated) \1\       Revised rule  ICR           Decrease          change
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Burden........................  955,000 hours.........  748,000 hours.........  206,000 hours........       21.6
Cost..........................  $22,100,000...........  $13,500,000...........  $8,600,000...........      38.8
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ To make the current rule estimate and revised rule estimate comparable, the current rule estimate was
  adjusted to be the sum of the costs under the revised rule plus the estimated cost savings that will be
  realized under the revised rule.

    Two programmatic changes associated with the revised rule account 
for the bulk of the reduction in burden and cost estimates from the 
current rule under Sec. 141.32:
     The revised rule changes both the timing and method of 
delivery options for Tier 3 violations--

[[Page 26018]]

--The revised rule would require notice within one year after the 
occurrence of the violation rather than within three months, as 
required by the current rule. Systems with monitoring and testing 
procedure violations occurring several times throughout the year are 
able, under the revised rule, to consolidate their notices into one 
annual notice. The current rule limits the PWS's ability to combine 
multiple violations into a single notice to those occurring within the 
prior three months. For estimating the burden reduction from this 
change, EPA assumes that, under the current rule, systems with 
violations send out a statistical average of 1.5 notices per year.
--The revised rule allows community water systems to meet the public 
notice requirements for Tier 3 through the existing Consumer Confidence 
Report (CCR). Tier 3 violations are primarily monitoring or testing 
procedure violations. Systems that would otherwise incur a large labor 
burden and postage burden for distributing a mail notice and paying for 
a newspaper notice will be able to insert the text of the notice into 
the CCR and incur no additional costs. EPA estimates that half of all 
community water systems serving less than 10,000 and all community 
water systems serving more than 10,000 will use the CCR for Tier 3 
notices.
--The average annual estimated burden reduction associated with the 
changes to the timing and method of delivery for Tier 3 notices is 
approximately 186,000 hours (19.5 percent) and the cost reduction is 
approximately $6,300,000 (28.7 percent).

     The revised rule changes the required methods of delivery 
for Tiers 1 and 2 notices. The current rule requires both newspaper and 
mail delivery for all tiers, although the primacy agency could waive 
the mail requirement if it determines the violation has been resolved 
within a given time. Those systems for whom no newspaper outlet is 
available are allowed to hand deliver or post instead of mailing and 
using the newspaper. Under the current rule, systems with Tier 1 
violations must also issue a notice via television or radio. The 
revised rule requires only one method of delivery for Tier 2--mail or 
hand delivery (or posting for non-community systems). The burden 
reduction for Tier 2 is small, because it eliminates only newspaper 
notices, which are estimated to take only 1 hour of labor. For Tier 1, 
however, systems will have the option of issuing the notice via 
electronic media, hand delivery, or posting. The burden reduction 
resulting from the change in the Tier 1 and Tier 2 method of delivery 
requirements in the revised rule would be approximately 20,000 hours 
(2.1 percent), and the cost reduction would be $2,300,000 (10.2 
percent).
    The estimated total average annual savings resulting from the above 
revisions to the public notification requirements are approximately 
206,000 hours (21.6 percent) and $8,600,000 (38.8 percent).
    In considering the burden and cost reduction for the revised rule 
relative to the current requirements under Sec. 141.32, it is important 
to keep in mind that this comparison is based on assuming full 
compliance with both rules. In fact, as documented in the 1992 GAO 
report on the public notification program (GAO/RCED-92-135, June 1992), 
there has been widespread noncompliance with the public notification 
requirements. EPA expects that by clarifying and streamlining the 
requirements in the revised regulation, the revised rule will result in 
a significantly higher level of compliance with the public notification 
requirements. To the extent that this occurs, there will also be an 
increase in State and water system resources devoted to public 
notification, despite the savings estimated here because of the 
streamlined revised rule. On the other hand, for those systems that 
have been complying with public notice requirements all along, the 
revised rule should result in genuine cost and burden savings.
    For more information about the costs of the rule and how EPA 
developed the estimates, see the Supporting Statement for the EPA 
Information Collection Request (ICR #1898.02) and the Regulatory 
Flexibility Screening Analysis in the EPA docket for this rule.

VII. Other Administrative Requirements

A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Review

    Under Executive Order 12866 [58 FR 51735 (October 4, 1993)], the 
Agency must determine whether the regulatory action is ``significant'' 
and therefore subject to OMB review and the requirements of the 
Executive Order. The Order defines ``significant regulatory action'' as 
one that is likely to result in a rule that may:
    (1) Have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more, 
or adversely affect in a material way the economy, a sector of the 
economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public 
health or safety, or State, local, or tribal governments or 
communities;
    (2) Create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with an 
action taken or planned by another agency;
    (3) Materially alter the budgetary impact of entitlements, grants, 
user fees, or loan programs or the rights and obligations of the 
recipients thereof; or (4) Raise novel legal or policy issues arising 
out of the legal mandates, the President's priorities, or the 
principles set forth in the Executive Order.
    It has been determined that this final rule action is not a 
``significant regulatory action'' under the terms of Executive Order 
12866 and is therefore not subject to OMB review.

B. Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), as amended by the Small Business 
Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (SBREFA), 5 U.S.C. 601 et 
seq.

    The RFA generally requires an agency to prepare a regulatory 
flexibility analysis of any rule subject to notice and comment 
rulemaking requirements under the Administrative Procedure Act or any 
other statute unless the agency certifies that the rule will not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
Small entities include small businesses, small organizations, and small 
governmental jurisdictions.
    The RFA provides default definitions for each type of small entity. 
It also authorizes an agency to use alternative definitions for each 
category of small entity, ``which are appropriate to the activities of 
the agency,'' after proposing the alternative definition(s) in the 
Federal Register and taking comment (5 U.S.C. secs. 601(3)-(5)). In 
addition to the above, to establish an alternative small business 
definition, agencies must consult with Small Business Administration's 
Chief Counsel for Advocacy.
    For purposes of assessing the impacts of today's rule on small 
entities, EPA considered small entities to be public water systems 
serving 10,000 or fewer persons. In accordance with the RFA 
requirements, EPA proposed using this alternative definition in the 
Federal Register notice for the proposed Consumer Confidence Report 
(CCR) regulation (63 FR 7620, February 13, 1998), requested public 
comment, consulted with the Small Business Administration on the 
alternative definition for small businesses, and finalized the 
alternative definition in the final CCR regulation (63 FR 44511, August 
19, 1998). As stated in that Final Rule, the alternative definition 
would be applied to other drinking water regulations as well.

[[Page 26019]]

    After considering the economic impacts of today's final rule on 
small entities, I certify that this action will not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. We have 
determined that all small entities will experience an impact of much 
less than one percent of their annual revenues or expenditures. The 
analyses supporting this certification are contained in the 
``Regulatory Flexibility Screening Analysis'' prepared for this final 
rule. About 64,000 small water systems are impacted by the revised 
public notification rule: 24,000 small governments, 31,000 small 
businesses, and 9,000 small non-profit organizations. We compared for 
each small entity category the ratio of the average annual per system 
compliance costs to the estimated average annual per system revenue and 
expenditures. The ratio for small government entities ranged from 0.19 
percent for systems serving less than 500 people to 0.02 percent for 
systems serving between 3,301 to 10,000 people. The ratio for small 
business entities ranged from 0.01 percent for systems serving less 
than 500 people to 0.03 percent for systems serving between 3,301 to 
10,000 people. The ratio for small non-profit organization entities 
ranged from 0.06 percent for systems serving less than 500 people to 
0.01 percent for systems serving between 3,301 to 10,000 people.
    Although this final rule will not have a significant economic 
impact on a substantial number of small entities, EPA nonetheless has 
tried to reduce the impact of this rule on small entities by providing 
flexibility to public water systems on the method of delivery of the 
public notice and by offering all public water systems the opportunity 
to use an annual report of violations in lieu of individual Tier 3 
notices. In addition, all community water systems are encouraged to use 
the CCR to meet the requirements of the public notice rule wherever 
appropriate. (Note that to use the CCR, many small systems would have 
to distribute their CCR more widely to meet the public notification 
distribution requirements.) In addition, if the primacy agency permits, 
systems may be allowed to provide notice to only the portion of the 
distribution system that is affected by the violation. Finally, small 
community water systems and all non-community water systems may hand 
deliver or post the notice in lieu of mailing, reducing substantially 
their overall cost of compliance with this rule.

C. Paperwork Reduction Act

    The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the 
information collection requirements contained in this rule under the 
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C 3501 et seq. and 
has assigned OMB control number 2040-0209.
    This information is being collected in order to fulfill the 
statutory requirements of section 114 of the Safe Drinking Water Act 
Amendments (SDWA) of 1996 (Public Law 104-182) enacted August 6, 1996. 
Public notice of violations is an integral part of the public health 
protection and consumer right-to-know provisions of the 1996 SDWA 
amendments. The public notification requirement is one of six 
interrelated provisions now included in the SDWA, related to providing 
information to the public. Responses are mandatory. None of the 
information submitted under the revised rule is confidential business 
information.
    The burden to public water systems is based on the cost of the rule 
discussed under Section VI of the Preamble. Burden means the total 
time, effort, or financial resources expended by persons to generate, 
maintain, retain, or disclose or provide information to or for a 
Federal agency. This includes the time needed to review instructions; 
develop, acquire, install, and utilize technology and systems for the 
purposes of collecting, validating, and verifying information, 
processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and providing 
information; adjust the existing way to comply with any previous 
applicable instructions and requirements; train personnel to be able to 
respond to a collection of information; search data sources; complete 
and review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise 
disclose the information.
    The total average annual burden to both public water systems and 
primacy agencies is 748,811 hours at an annual cost of $13,543,277. The 
cost estimate includes both the labor hour costs and the operations and 
maintenance (O&M) costs of implementing the rule.
    The average annual burden to public water systems to meet the 
requirements of the revised public notification rule is 690,390 hours 
at an annual cost of $12,000,567. The burden estimate is the sum of the 
costs of three component activities: notice preparation costs; notice 
distribution costs; and costs of repeat notices. The costs to the 
public water systems include labor and non-labor costs, such as the 
costs to copy and mail the public notices where required. Public water 
systems are required to comply with the public notification rule if 
they have one or more violations of National Primary Drinking Water 
Regulations (NPDWR) or have other situations requiring a public notice. 
The number of public water systems estimated to have violations on an 
annual basis is 36,467. The annual average burden per public water 
system violating one or more drinking water standards is $329.08 and 
18.9 hours.
    The average annual burden to primacy agencies of implementing the 
new public notification regulations is 58,420 hours at an annual cost 
of $1,542,710. The burden estimate is the sum of four component 
activities: cost of revising primacy packages to incorporate the new 
requirements; costs of consulting with public water systems; costs of 
receiving and reviewing the compliance certification and notice copies 
received from the public water system; and the costs of filing and 
maintaining the public water system notification records. The costs to 
the primacy agency include labor costs only. Primacy agencies are 
required to adopt and implement the new public notification regulation 
as a condition of maintaining primacy. Fifty-six States and Territories 
currently have primacy under the Safe Drinking Water Act. EPA directly 
implements the regulatory program in Wyoming, Washington, D.C., and the 
Indian Lands. The average annual burden for each of the 56 States and 
Territories with primacy to implement the revised public notification 
rule is $27,548 and 1,043 hours per primacy agency. For additional 
detail, see Section VI of this preamble.
    An Agency may not conduct, or sponsor, and a person is not required 
to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a 
currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control numbers for EPA's 
regulations are listed in 40 CFR Part 9 and 48 CFR Chapter 15. EPA is 
amending the table in Part 9 of currently approved ICR control numbers 
issued by OMB for various regulations to list the information 
requirements contained in this final rule.

D. Executive Order 13132: Federalism

    Executive Order 13132, entitled ``Federalism'' (64 FR 43255, August 
10, 1999), requires EPA to develop an accountable process to ensure 
``meaningful and timely input by State and local officials in the 
development of regulatory policies that have federalism implications.'' 
``Policies that have federalism implications'' is defined in the 
Executive Order to include regulations that have ``substantial direct 
effects on the States, on the relationship between the national 
government and the States, or on the distribution of

[[Page 26020]]

power and responsibilities among the various levels of government.''
    Under Section 6 of Executive Order 13132, EPA may not issue a 
regulation that has federalism implications, that imposes substantial 
direct compliance costs, and that is not required by statute, unless 
the Federal government provides the funds necessary to pay the direct 
compliance costs incurred by State and local governments, or EPA 
consults with State and local officials early in the process of 
developing the proposed regulation. EPA also may not issue a regulation 
that has federalism implications and that preempts State law unless the 
Agency consults with State and local officials early in the process of 
developing the proposed regulation.
    This final rule does not have federalism implications. It will not 
have substantial direct effects on the States, on the relationship 
between the national government and the States, or on the distribution 
of power and responsibilities among the various levels of government, 
as specified in Executive Order 13132. The rule published today 
replaces an existing rule and represents a significant streamlining of 
requirements from those currently in place. Thus, the requirements of 
section 6 of the Executive Order do not apply to this rule. Although 
section 6 of Executive Order 13132 does not apply to this rule, EPA 
consulted extensively with State and local officials in developing this 
rule. See Section II of this preamble for more detail regarding our 
work with the State and local government representatives.

E. Executive Order 13084: Consultation and Coordination With Indian 
Tribal Governments

    Under Executive Order 13084, EPA may not issue a regulation that is 
not required by statute, that significantly or uniquely affects the 
communities of Indian Tribal governments, and that imposes substantial 
direct compliance costs on those communities, unless the Federal 
government provides the funds necessary to pay the direct compliance 
costs incurred by the Tribal governments, or EPA consults with those 
governments. If EPA complies by consulting, Executive Order 13084 
requires EPA to provide to the Office of Management and Budget, in a 
separately identified section of the preamble to the rule, a 
description of the extent of EPA's prior consultation with 
representatives of affected Tribal governments, a summary of the nature 
of their concerns, and a statement supporting the need to issue the 
regulation. In addition, Executive Order 13084 requires EPA to develop 
an effective process permitting elected officials and other 
representatives of Indian Tribal governments ``to provide meaningful 
and timely input in the development of regulatory policies on matters 
that significantly or uniquely affect their communities.''
    Today's final rule does not significantly or uniquely affect the 
communities of Indian Tribal governments, nor does it impose 
substantial direct compliance costs on such communities. The impact on 
Tribal governments is not unique in that this rule applies equally to 
all public water systems, including those owned and operated by 
Federal, State, and local governments. Public water systems on Indian 
lands incur costs under the public notification rule only if they 
violate a national primary drinking water regulation or have a variance 
or exemption from EPA. The public notification requirements will in 
most cases be met either through hand delivery of a single notice to 
all persons served or by posting the notice in conspicuous locations. 
Costs of meeting these requirements will be minimal. In fact, the 
public notification costs resulting from this rule are less than those 
required for full compliance with the public notification regulations 
currently in effect under Sec. 141.32. Accordingly, the requirements of 
section 3(b) of Executive Order 13084 do not apply to this final rule.

F. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act

    Title II of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA), Public 
Law 104-4, establishes requirements for Federal agencies to assess the 
effects of their regulatory actions on State, local, and Tribal 
governments and the private sector. Under Section 202 of the UMRA, EPA 
generally must prepare a written statement, including a cost-benefit 
analysis, for proposed and final rules with ``Federal Mandates'' that 
may result in expenditures to State, local, and Tribal governments, in 
the aggregate, or to the private sector, of $100 million or more in any 
one year. Before promulgating an EPA rule for which a written statement 
is needed, section 205 of the UMRA generally requires EPA to identify 
and consider a reasonable number of regulatory alternatives and adopt 
the least costly, most cost-effective or least burdensome alternative 
that achieves the objectives of the rule. The provisions of section 205 
do not apply when they are inconsistent with applicable law. Moreover, 
section 205 allows EPA to adopt an alternative other than the least 
costly, most cost-effective or least burdensome alternative if the 
Administrator publishes with the final rule an explanation why that 
alternative was not adopted. Before EPA establishes any regulatory 
requirements that may significantly or uniquely affect small 
governments, including Tribal governments, it must have developed under 
section 203 of the UMRA a small government agency plan. The plan must 
provide for notifying potentially affected small governments, enabling 
officials of affected small governments to have meaningful and timely 
input in the development of EPA regulatory proposals with significant 
Federal intergovernmental mandates and informing, educating, and 
advising small governments on compliance with the regulatory 
requirements.
    EPA has determined that this rule does not contain a Federal 
mandate that may result in expenditures of $100 million or more for 
State, local, and Tribal governments, in the aggregate, or the private 
sector in any one year. The estimated total annual average cost of the 
final rule is $13,543,277. (See Section VI of the Supplementary 
Information.) Thus, today's rule is not subject to the requirements of 
sections 202 and 205 of the UMRA. This rule will establish requirements 
that affect small community water systems. However, EPA has determined 
that this rule contains no regulatory requirements that might 
significantly or uniquely affect small governments because the 
regulation reduces the burden associated with the public notification 
regulations currently in effect under Sec. 141.32 and requires a 
minimal expenditure of resources. Thus, today's rule is not subject to 
the requirements of section 203 of UMRA.

G. Executive Order 12898: Environmental Justice

    Pursuant to Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994), 
the Agency has considered environmental justice related issues with 
regard to the potential impacts of this action on the environmental and 
health conditions in low-income and minority communities. The Agency 
believes that several of today's requirements will be particularly 
beneficial to these communities:
     Public water systems would be required to distribute the 
notice to all persons served, both through the use of required delivery 
methods and through the use of additional measures reasonably 
calculated to reach other persons served, if they would not normally be 
reached by the required method. In addition, the notice to bill-

[[Page 26021]]

paying customers must include standard language encouraging those 
receiving the public notice to make the notice available to other 
consumers who are not bill-paying customers (e.g., renters, transients, 
students).
     Public notices would include information on what the 
consumers should do to minimize the health risk from drinking water in 
violation of EPA standards and when to seek further medical advice. All 
notices would be required to include the name, address, and phone 
number of the water system official who can provide further 
information.
     Public water systems, where appropriate, must include 
information on the importance of the notice and other information in 
languages other than English. Primacy States may, at their option, 
augment these multilingual requirements. For example, a primacy State 
could define when a system is serving a population with a large 
proportion of non-English speaking consumers. Thus, the State could 
specify which water systems must comply with the augmented State 
requirements.

H. Executive Order 13045: Protection of Children From Environmental 
Health Risks and Safety Risks

    Executive Order 13045, ``Protection of Children from Environmental 
Health Risks and Safety Risks'' (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997), applies 
to any rule that: (1) is determined to be ``economically significant'' 
as defined under E.O. 12866, and (2) concerns an environmental health 
or safety risk that EPA has reason to believe may have a 
disproportionate effect on children. If the regulatory action meets 
both criteria, the Agency must evaluate the environmental health or 
safety effects of the planned rule on children, and explain why the 
planned regulation is preferable to other potentially effective and 
reasonably feasible alternatives considered by the Agency.
    The final rule is not subject to the Executive Order because it is 
not economically significant as defined in E.O. 12866 and because the 
Agency does not have reason to believe the environmental health or 
safety risks addressed by this action present a disproportionate risk 
to children. The purpose of the public notification rule is to provide 
a public notice to persons served when a violation of EPA drinking 
water standards occurs, to enable consumers to avoid health and safety 
risks from potential exposure to harmful contaminants in the drinking 
water. The regulation addresses the particular risks that certain 
contaminants may pose by considering such risks in assigning 
contaminants to the appropriate tier and by identifying such risks in 
the required health effects language, with specific reference to risks 
to children, where appropriate. The public notice requirements, 
however, apply to potential health and safety risks to all consumers 
and all vulnerable populations, and are not targeted specifically to 
address a disproportionate risk to children.

I. National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act

    As noted in the proposed rule, Section 12(d) of the National 
Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (NTTAA), Public Law No. 
104-113, Section 12(d) (15 U.S.C. 272 note) directs EPA to use 
voluntary consensus standards in its regulatory activities unless to do 
so would be inconsistent with applicable law or otherwise impractical. 
Voluntary consensus standards are technical standards (e.g., materials 
specifications, test methods, sampling procedures, and business 
practices) that are developed or adopted by voluntary consensus 
standards bodies. The NTTAA directs EPA to provide Congress, through 
OMB, explanations when the Agency decides not to use available and 
applicable voluntary consensus standards. This action does not involve 
technical standards. Therefore, EPA did not consider the use of any 
voluntary consensus standards.

J. Congressional Review Act

    The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801 et seq., as added by the 
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, generally 
provides that before a rule may take effect, the agency promulgating 
the rule must submit a rule report, which includes a copy of the rule, 
to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of the 
United States. EPA will submit a report containing this rule and other 
required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of 
Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the United States prior 
to publication of the rule in the Federal Register. A major rule cannot 
take effect until 60 days after it is published in the Federal 
Register. This action is not a ``major rule'' as defined by U.S.C. 
804(2). This rule will be effective June 5, 2000.

List of Subjects

40 CFR Part 9

    Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

40 CFR Part 141

    Environmental protection, Chemicals, Indians-lands, 
Intergovernmental relations, Radiation protection, Reporting and 
record-keeping requirements, Water supply.

40 CFR Part 142

    Environmental protection, Administrative practice and procedure, 
Chemicals, Indians-lands, Radiation protection, Reporting and record-
keeping requirements, Water supply.

40 CFR Part 143

    Chemicals, Indians-lands, Water supply.

    Dated: April 7, 2000.
Carol M. Browner,
Administrator.


    For the reasons set out in the preamble, 40 CFR Parts 9, 141, 142, 
and 143 are amended as follows:

PART 9--[AMENDED]

    1. The authority citation for part 9 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 7 U.S.C. 135 et seq., 136-136y; 15 U.S.C. 2001, 2003, 
2005, 2006, 2601-2671; 21 U.S.C. 331j, 345a, 348; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 33 
U.S.C. 1251 et seq., 1311, 1313d, 1314, 1318, 1321, 1326 1330, 1324, 
1344, 1345 (d) and (e), 1361; E.O. 11735, 38 FR 21243, 3 CFR, 1971-
1975 Comp. p. 973; 42 U.S.C. 241, 242b, 243, 246, 300f, 300g, 300g-
1, 300g-2, 300g-3, 300g-4, 300g-5, 300g-6, 300j-1, 300j-2, 300j-3, 
300j-4, 300j-9, 1857 et seq., 69016992k, 7401-7671q, 7542, 9501-
9657, 11023, 11048.

    2. In Sec. 9.1 the table is amended by removing the entries 
``Sec. 141.31-141.32'', ``Sec. 141.33-141.35'', ``Sec. 142.10-142.15'', 
and ``142.16'' and adding in numerical order new entires under the 
indicated heading to read as follows:


Sec. 9.1  OMB approvals under the Paperwork Reduction Act.

* * * * *

 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
              40 CFR citation                      OMB Control No.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
                  *        *        *        *        *
------------------------------------------------------------------------
               National Primary Drinking Water Regulaitons
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  *        *        *        *        *
141.31(a)-(c).............................  2040-0090
141.31(d).................................  2040-0209
141.31(e).................................  2040-0090
141.32(a)-(g).............................  2040-0090
141.33(a)-(d).............................  2040-0090
141.33(e).................................  2040-0209
 
                  *        *        *        *        *
141.201-141.210...........................  2040-0209
 

[[Page 26022]]

 
                  *        *        *        *        *
------------------------------------------------------------------------
       National Primary Drinking Water Regulations Implementation
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  *        *        *        *        *
142.10-142.13.............................  2040-0090
142.14(a)-(e).............................  2040-0090
142.14(f).................................  2040-0209
142.14(g).................................  2040-0090
142.15(a).................................  2040-0090, 2040-0209
142.15(b)-(d).............................  2040-0090
142.16(a).................................  2040-0209
142.16(b)-(e).............................  2040-0090
------------------------------------------------------------------------

* * * * *

PART 141--NATIONAL PRIMARY DRINKING WATER REGULATIONS

    1. The authority citation for Part 141 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 300f, 300g-1, 300g-2, 300g-3, 300g-4, 300g-
5, 300g-6, 300j-4, 300j-9, and 300j-11.


    2. Section 141.11 is amended by revising paragraph (d)(2) to read 
as follows:


Sec. 141.11  Maximum contaminant levels for inorganic chemicals

* * * * *
    (d) * * *
    (2) The non-community water system is meeting the public 
notification requirements under Sec. 141.209, including continuous 
posting of the fact that nitrate levels exceed 10 mg/l and the 
potential health effects of exposure; and
* * * * *

    3. Sections 141.21(g)(1) and (g)(2), 141.22(b), 141.23(n) and (o), 
141.26(a)(4), (b)(5), 141.30(d), 141.63(b), 141.133(b)(1)(i), (b)(2), 
(b)(3) and (c)(1)(i) are amended by revising ``Sec. 141.32'' to read 
``subpart Q'' and in Sec. 141.133(c)(2)(i) by revising 
``Sec. 141.32(a)(1)(iii)(E) (which appears twice) to ``subpart Q'' and 
in Sec. 141.33(c)(2)(ii) by revising ``Sec. 141.133(e)(78)'' to read 
``subpart Q.''


Secs. 141.21, 141.22, 141.23, 141.26, 141.30, 141.63, and 
141.133,  [Amended]

    4. Section 141.23 is amended by removing paragraph (i)(4) and 
revising paragraph (f)(2), to read as follows:


Sec. 141.23  Inorganic chemical sampling and analytical requirements.

* * * * *
    (f) * * *
    (2) Where nitrate or nitrite sampling results indicate an 
exceedance of the maximum contaminant level, the system shall take a 
confirmation sample within 24 hours of the system's receipt of 
notification of the analytical results of the first sample. Systems 
unable to comply with the 24-hour sampling requirement must immediately 
notify persons served by the public water system in accordance with 
Sec. 141.202 and meet other Tier 1 public notification requirements 
under Subpart Q of this part. Systems exercising this option must take 
and analyze a confirmation sample within two weeks of notification of 
the analytical results of the first sample.
* * * * *


Sec. 141.24  [ Amended]

    5. Part 141 is amended by removing Secs. 141.24(f)(15)(iii) and 
141.24(h)(11)(iii).

    6. In Part 141, the heading for Subpart D is revised to read as 
follows:

Subpart D--Reporting and Record Keeping

    7. Section 141.31 is amended by revising paragraph (d), to read as 
follows:


Sec. 141.31  Reporting requirements.

* * * * *
    (d) The public water system, within 10 days of completing the 
public notification requirements under Subpart Q of this part for the 
initial public notice and any repeat notices, must submit to the 
primacy agency a certification that it has fully complied with the 
public notification regulations. The public water system must include 
with this certification a representative copy of each type of notice 
distributed, published, posted, and made available to the persons 
served by the system and to the media.
* * * * *

    8. Section 141.32 is amended by revising the introductory 
paragraph, to read as follows:


Sec. 141.32  Public notification.

    The requirements in this section apply until the requirements of 
Subpart Q of this part are applicable. Public water systems where EPA 
directly implements the public water system supervision program must 
comply with the requirements in Subpart Q of this part on October 31, 
2000. All other public water systems must comply with the requirements 
in Subpart Q of this part on May 6, 2002 or on the date the State-
adopted rule becomes effective, whichever comes first.
* * * * *

    9. Section 141.33 is amended by adding paragraph (e), to read as 
follows:


Sec. 141.33  Record maintenance.

* * * * *
    (e) Copies of public notices issued pursuant to Subpart Q of this 
part and certifications made to the primacy agency pursuant to 
Sec. 141.31 must be kept for three years after issuance.

    10. Section 141.75 is amended by revising paragraphs (a)(5)(ii) and 
(b)(3)(ii) to read as follows:


Sec. 141.75  Reporting and record keeping requirements.

    (a) * * *
    (5) * * *
    (ii) If at any time the turbidity exceeds 5 NTU, the system must 
consult with the primacy agency as soon as practical, but no later than 
24 hours after the exceedance is known, in accordance with the public 
notification requirements under Sec. 141.203(b)(3).
* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    (3) * * *
    (ii) If at any time the turbidity exceeds 5 NTU, the system must 
consult with the primacy agency as soon as practical, but no later than 
24 hours after the exceedance is known, in accordance with the public 
notification requirements under Sec. 141.203(b)(3).
* * * * *

    11. Section 141.153 is amended by:
    a. Revising (c)(3) introductory text.
    b. Adding paragraphs (c)(3)(iii) and (c)(3)(iv).
    c. Revising paragraphs (d)(1)(i), (d)(4)(ix) and (d)(6).
    d. Revising paragraphs (f)(3) and (f)(4).
    The additions and revisions are as follows:


Sec. 141.153  Content of the reports.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *
    (3) A report that contains data on contaminants that EPA regulates 
using any of the following terms must include the applicable 
definitions:
* * * * *
    (iii) Maximum residual disinfectant level goal or MRDLG: The level 
of a drinking water disinfectant below which there is no known or 
expected risk to health. MRDLGs do not reflect the benefits of the use 
of disinfectants to control microbial contaminants.
    (iv) Maximum residual disinfectant level or MRDL: The highest level 
of a disinfectant allowed in drinking water. There is convincing 
evidence that addition of a disinfectant is necessary for control of 
microbial contaminants.
    (d) * * *
    (1) * * *
    (i) Contaminants subject to a MCL, action level, maximum residual

[[Page 26023]]

disinfectant level, or treatment technique (regulated contaminants).
* * * * *
    (4) * * *
    (ix) The likely source(s) of detected contaminants to the best of 
the operator's knowledge. Specific information regarding contaminants 
may be available in sanitary surveys and source water assessments, and 
should be used when available to the operator. If the operator lacks 
specific information on the likely source, the report must include one 
or more of the typical sources for that contaminant listed in appendix 
A to this subpart that is most applicable to the system.
* * * * *
    (6) The table(s) must clearly identify any data indicating 
violations of MCLs, MRDLs, or treatment techniques, and the report must 
contain a clear and readily understandable explanation of the violation 
including: the length of the violation, the potential adverse health 
effects, and actions taken by the system to address the violation. To 
describe the potential health effects, the system must use the relevant 
language of appendix A to this subpart.
* * * * *
    (f) * * *
    (3) Lead and copper control requirements prescribed by subpart I of 
this part. For systems that fail to take one or more actions prescribed 
by Secs. 141.80(d), 141.81, 141.82, 141.83 or 141.84, the report must 
include the applicable language of appendix A to this subpart for lead, 
copper, or both.
    (4) Treatment techniques for Acrylamide and Epichlorohydrin 
prescribed by subpart K of this part. For systems that violate the 
requirements of subpart K of this part, the report must include the 
relevant language from appendix A to this subpart.
* * * * *

    12. Section 141.154 is amended by revising paragraph (e) to read as 
follows:


Sec. 141.154  Required additional health information.

* * * * *
    (e) Community water systems that detect TTHM above 0.080 mg/l, but 
below the MCL in Sec. 141.12, as an annual average, monitored and 
calculated under the provisions of Sec. 141.30, must include health 
effects language for TTHMs prescribed by appendix A.

    13. Section 141.155 is amended by revising paragraph (h) to read as 
follows:


Sec. 141.155  Report delivery and record keeping.

* * * * *
    (h) Any system subject to this subpart must retain copies of its 
Consumer Confidence Report for no less than 3 years.

    14. Appendix A to Subpart O is revised to read as follows:

[[Page 26024]]



                                                    Appendix A to Subpart O.--Regulated Contaminants
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 Traditional MCL     To convert for                                            Major sources in        Health effects
      Contaminant (units)            in mg/L        CCR, multiply by   MCL in CCR units         MCLG            drinking water            language
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Microbiological contaminants:
    Total Coliform Bacteria...  MCL: (systems      .................  MCL: (systems      0................  Naturally present in   Coliforms are
                                 that collect 40                             thn-eq>40                                                    naturally present in
                                 samples/month)                        samples/month)                                               the environment and
                                 5% of monthly                         5% of monthly                                                are used as an
                                 samples are                           samples are                                                  indicator that
                                 positive;                             positive;                                                    other, potentially-
                                 (systems that                         (systems that                                                harmful, bacteria
                                 collect 40                            collect 40                                                   may be present.
                                 samples/month) 1                      samples/month) 1                                             Coliforms were found
                                 positive monthly                      positive monthly                                             in more samples than
                                 sample.                               sample.                                                      allowed and this was
                                                                                                                                    a warning of
                                                                                                                                    potential problems.
    Fecal coliform and E. coli  0................  .................  0................  0................  Human and animal       Fecal coliforms and
                                                                                                             fecal waste.           E. coli are bacteria
                                                                                                                                    whose presence
                                                                                                                                    indicates that the
                                                                                                                                    water may be
                                                                                                                                    contaminated with
                                                                                                                                    human or animal
                                                                                                                                    wastes. Microbes in
                                                                                                                                    these wastes can
                                                                                                                                    cause short-term
                                                                                                                                    effects, such as
                                                                                                                                    diarrhea, cramps,
                                                                                                                                    nausea, headaches,
                                                                                                                                    or other symptoms.
                                                                                                                                    They may pose a
                                                                                                                                    special health risk
                                                                                                                                    for infants, young
                                                                                                                                    children, some of
                                                                                                                                    the elderly, and
                                                                                                                                    people with severely-
                                                                                                                                    compromised immune
                                                                                                                                    systems.
    Total organic carbon (ppm)  TT...............  .................  TT...............  N/A..............  Naturally present in   Total organic carbon
                                                                                                             the environment.       (TOC) has no health
                                                                                                                                    effects. However,
                                                                                                                                    total organic carbon
                                                                                                                                    provides a medium
                                                                                                                                    for the formation of
                                                                                                                                    disinfection by
                                                                                                                                    products. These
                                                                                                                                    byproducts include
                                                                                                                                    trihalomethanes
                                                                                                                                    (THMs) and
                                                                                                                                    haloacetic acids
                                                                                                                                    (HAAs). Drinking
                                                                                                                                    water containing
                                                                                                                                    these byproducts in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    may lead to adverse
                                                                                                                                    health effects,
                                                                                                                                    liver or kidney
                                                                                                                                    problems, or nervous
                                                                                                                                    system effects, and
                                                                                                                                    may lead to an
                                                                                                                                    increased risk of
                                                                                                                                    getting cancer.
    Turbidity (NTU)...........  TT...............  .................  TT...............  N/A..............  Soil runoff..........  Turbidity has no
                                                                                                                                    health effects.
                                                                                                                                    However, turbidity
                                                                                                                                    can interfere with
                                                                                                                                    disinfection and
                                                                                                                                    provide a medium for
                                                                                                                                    microbial growth.
                                                                                                                                    Turbidity may
                                                                                                                                    indicate the
                                                                                                                                    presence of disease-
                                                                                                                                    causing organisms.
                                                                                                                                    These organisms
                                                                                                                                    include bacteria,
                                                                                                                                    viruses, and
                                                                                                                                    parasites that can
                                                                                                                                    cause symptoms such
                                                                                                                                    as nausea, cramps,
                                                                                                                                    diarrhea and
                                                                                                                                    associated
                                                                                                                                    headaches.

[[Page 26025]]

 
Radioactive contaminants:
    Beta/photon emitters (mrem/ 4 mrem/yr........  .................  4................  N/A..............  Decay of natural and   Certain minerals are
     yr).                                                                                                    man-made deposits.     radioactive and may
                                                                                                                                    emit forms of
                                                                                                                                    radiation known as
                                                                                                                                    photons and beta
                                                                                                                                    radiation. Some
                                                                                                                                    people who drink
                                                                                                                                    water containing
                                                                                                                                    beta and photon
                                                                                                                                    emitters in excess
                                                                                                                                    of the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years may have an
                                                                                                                                    increased risk of
                                                                                                                                    getting cancer.
    Alpha emitters (pCi/l)....  15 pCi/l.........  .................  15...............  N/A..............  Erosion of natural     Certain minerals are
                                                                                                             deposits.              radioactive and may
                                                                                                                                    emit a form of
                                                                                                                                    radiation known as
                                                                                                                                    alpha radiation.
                                                                                                                                    Some people who
                                                                                                                                    drink water
                                                                                                                                    containing alpha
                                                                                                                                    emitters in excess
                                                                                                                                    of the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years may have an
                                                                                                                                    increased risk of
                                                                                                                                    getting cancer.
    Combined radium (pCi/l)...  5 pCi/l..........  --...............  5................  N/A..............  Erosion of natural     Some people who drink
                                                                                                             deposits.              water containing
                                                                                                                                    radium 226 or 228 in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years may
                                                                                                                                    have an increased
                                                                                                                                    risk of getting
                                                                                                                                    cancer
Inorganic contaminants:
    Antimony (ppb)............  .006.............  1000.............  6................  6................  Discharge from         Some people who drink
                                                                                                             petroleum              water containing
                                                                                                             refineries; fire       antimony well in
                                                                                                             retardants;            excess of the MCL
                                                                                                             ceramics;              over many years
                                                                                                             electronics; solder.   could experience
                                                                                                                                    increases in blood
                                                                                                                                    cholesterol and
                                                                                                                                    decreases in blood
                                                                                                                                    sugar.
    Arsenic (ppb).............  .05..............  1000.............  50...............  N/A..............  Erosion of natural     Some people who drink
                                                                                                             deposits; Runoff       water containing
                                                                                                             from orchards;         arsenic in excess of
                                                                                                             Runoff from glass      the MCL over many
                                                                                                             and electronics        years could
                                                                                                             production wastes.     experience skin
                                                                                                                                    damage or problems
                                                                                                                                    with their
                                                                                                                                    circulatory system,
                                                                                                                                    and may have an
                                                                                                                                    increased risk of
                                                                                                                                    getting cancer.
    Asbestos (MFL)............  7 MFL............  .................  7................  7................  Decay of asbestos      Some people who drink
                                                                                                             cement water mains;    water containing
                                                                                                             Erosion of natural     asbestos in excess
                                                                                                             deposits.              of the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years may have an
                                                                                                                                    increased risk of
                                                                                                                                    developing benign
                                                                                                                                    intestinal polyps.
    Barium (ppm)..............  2................  .................  2................  2................  Discharge of drilling  Some people who drink
                                                                                                             wastes; Discharge      water containing
                                                                                                             from metal             barium in excess of
                                                                                                             refineries; Erosion    the MCL over many
                                                                                                             of natural deposits.   years could
                                                                                                                                    experience an
                                                                                                                                    increase in their
                                                                                                                                    blood pressure.
    Beryllium (ppb)...........  .004.............  1000.............  4................  4................  Discharge from metal   Some people who drink
                                                                                                             refineries and coal-   water containing
                                                                                                             burning factories;     beryllium well in
                                                                                                             Discharge from         excess of the MCL
                                                                                                             electrical,            over many years
                                                                                                             aerospace, and         could develop
                                                                                                             defense industries.    intestinal lesions
    Cadmium (ppb).............  .005.............  1000.............  5................  5................  Corrosion of           Some people who drink
                                                                                                             galvanized pipes;      water containing
                                                                                                             Erosion of natural     cadmium in excess of
                                                                                                             deposits; Discharge    the MCL over many
                                                                                                             from metal             years could
                                                                                                             refineries; Runoff     experience kidney
                                                                                                             from waste batteries   damage.
                                                                                                             and paints.

[[Page 26026]]

 
    Chromium (ppb)............  .1...............  1000.............  100..............  100..............  Discharge from steel   Some people who use
                                                                                                             and pulp mills;        water containing
                                                                                                             Erosion of natural     chromium well in
                                                                                                             deposits.              excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    allergic dermatitis.
    Copper (ppm)..............  AL=1.3...........  .................  AL=1.3...........  1.3..............  Corrosion of           Copper is an
                                                                                                             household plumbing     essential nutrient,
                                                                                                             systems; Erosion of    but some people who
                                                                                                             natural deposits;      drink water
                                                                                                             Leaching from wood     containing copper in
                                                                                                             preservatives.         excess of the action
                                                                                                                                    level over a
                                                                                                                                    relatively short
                                                                                                                                    amount of time could
                                                                                                                                    experience
                                                                                                                                    gastrointestinal
                                                                                                                                    distress. Some
                                                                                                                                    people who drink
                                                                                                                                    water containing
                                                                                                                                    copper in excess of
                                                                                                                                    the action level
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could suffer liver
                                                                                                                                    or kidney damage.
                                                                                                                                    People with Wilson's
                                                                                                                                    Disease should
                                                                                                                                    consult their
                                                                                                                                    personal doctor.
    Cyanide (ppb).............  .2...............  1000.............  200..............  200..............  Discharge from steel/  Some people who drink
                                                                                                             metal factories;       water containing
                                                                                                             Discharge from         cyanide well in
                                                                                                             plastic and            excess of the MCL
                                                                                                             fertilizer factories.  over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    nerve damage or
                                                                                                                                    problems with their
                                                                                                                                    thyroid.
    Fluoride (ppm)............  4................  .................  4................  4................  Erosion of natural     Some people who drink
                                                                                                             deposits; Water        water containing
                                                                                                             additive which         fluoride in excess
                                                                                                             promotes strong        of the MCL over many
                                                                                                             teeth; Discharge       years could get bone
                                                                                                             from fertilizer and    disease, including
                                                                                                             aluminum factories.    pain and tenderness
                                                                                                                                    of the bones.
                                                                                                                                    Fluoride in drinking
                                                                                                                                    water at half the
                                                                                                                                    MCL or more may
                                                                                                                                    cause mottling of
                                                                                                                                    children's teeth,
                                                                                                                                    usually in children
                                                                                                                                    less than nine years
                                                                                                                                    old. Mottling, also
                                                                                                                                    known as dental
                                                                                                                                    fluorosis, may
                                                                                                                                    include brown
                                                                                                                                    staining and/or
                                                                                                                                    pitting of the
                                                                                                                                    teeth, and occurs
                                                                                                                                    only in developing
                                                                                                                                    teeth before they
                                                                                                                                    erupt from the gums.
    Lead (ppb)................  AL=.015..........  1000.............  AL=15............  0................  Corrosion of           Infants and children
                                                                                                             household plumbing     who drink water
                                                                                                             systems; Erosion of    containing lead in
                                                                                                             natural deposits.      excess of the action
                                                                                                                                    level could
                                                                                                                                    experience delays in
                                                                                                                                    their physical or
                                                                                                                                    mental development.
                                                                                                                                    Children could show
                                                                                                                                    slight deficits in
                                                                                                                                    attention span and
                                                                                                                                    learning abilities.
                                                                                                                                    Adults who drink
                                                                                                                                    this water over many
                                                                                                                                    years could develop
                                                                                                                                    kidney problems or
                                                                                                                                    high blood pressure.

[[Page 26027]]

 
    Mercury [inorganic] (ppb).  .002.............  1000.............  2................  2................  Erosion of natural     Some people who drink
                                                                                                             deposits; Dis charge   water containing
                                                                                                             from refineries and    inorganic mercury
                                                                                                             factories; Runoff      well in excess of
                                                                                                             from landfills;        the MCL over many
                                                                                                             Runoff from cropland.  years could
                                                                                                                                    experience kidney
                                                                                                                                    damage.
    Nitrate (ppm).............  10...............  .................  10...............  10...............  Runoff from            Infants below the age
                                                                                                             fertilizer use;        of six months who
                                                                                                             Leaching from septic   drink water
                                                                                                             tanks, sew age;        containing nitrate
                                                                                                             Erosion of natural     in excess of the MCL
                                                                                                             deposits.              could become
                                                                                                                                    seriously ill and,
                                                                                                                                    if untreated, may
                                                                                                                                    die. Symptoms
                                                                                                                                    include shortness of
                                                                                                                                    breath and blue baby
                                                                                                                                    syndrome.
    Nitrite (ppm).............  1................  .................  1................  1................  Runoff from            Infants below the age
                                                                                                             fertilizer use;        of six months who
                                                                                                             Leaching from septic   drink water
                                                                                                             tanks, sew age;        containing nitrite
                                                                                                             Erosion of natural     in excess of the MCL
                                                                                                             deposits.              could become
                                                                                                                                    seriously ill and,
                                                                                                                                    if untreated, may
                                                                                                                                    die. Symptoms
                                                                                                                                    include shortness of
                                                                                                                                    breath and blue baby
                                                                                                                                    syndrome.
    Selenium (ppb)............  .05..............  1000.............  50...............  50...............  Discharge from         Selenium is an
                                                                                                             petroleum and metal    essential nutrient.
                                                                                                             refineries; Erosion    However, some people
                                                                                                             of natural deposits;   who drink water
                                                                                                             Discharge from mines.  containing selenium
                                                                                                                                    in excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    hair or fingernail
                                                                                                                                    losses, numbness in
                                                                                                                                    fingers or toes, or
                                                                                                                                    problems with their
                                                                                                                                    circulation.
    Thallium (ppb)............  .002.............  1000.............  2................  0.5..............  Leaching from ore-     Some people who drink
                                                                                                             processing sites;      water containing
                                                                                                             Discharge from         thallium in excess
                                                                                                             electronics, glass,    of the MCL over many
                                                                                                             and drug factories.    years could
                                                                                                                                    experience hair
                                                                                                                                    loss, changes in
                                                                                                                                    their blood, or
                                                                                                                                    problems with their
                                                                                                                                    kidneys, intestines,
                                                                                                                                    or liver.
Synthetic organic contaminants
 including pesticides and
 herbicides:
    2,4-D (ppb)...............  .07..............  1000.............  70...............  70...............  Runoff from herbicide  Some people who drink
                                                                                                             used on row crops.     water containing the
                                                                                                                                    weed killer 2,4-D
                                                                                                                                    well in excess of
                                                                                                                                    the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could
                                                                                                                                    experience problems
                                                                                                                                    with their kidneys,
                                                                                                                                    liver, or adrenal
                                                                                                                                    glands.
    2,4,5-TP [Silvex](ppb)....  .05..............  1000.............  50...............  50...............  Residue of banned      Some people who drink
                                                                                                             herbicide.             water containing
                                                                                                                                    silvex in excess of
                                                                                                                                    the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could
                                                                                                                                    experience liver
                                                                                                                                    problems.
    Acrylamide................  TT...............  .................  TT...............  0................  Added to water during  Some people who drink
                                                                                                             sewage/wastewater      water containing
                                                                                                             treatment.             high levels of
                                                                                                                                    acrylamide over a
                                                                                                                                    long period of time
                                                                                                                                    could have problems
                                                                                                                                    with their nervous
                                                                                                                                    system or blood, and
                                                                                                                                    may have an
                                                                                                                                    increased risk of
                                                                                                                                    getting cancer.

[[Page 26028]]

 
    Alachlor (ppb)............  .002.............  1000.............  2................  0................  Runoff from herbicide  Some people who drink
                                                                                                             used on row crops.     water containing
                                                                                                                                    alachlor in excess
                                                                                                                                    of the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could have
                                                                                                                                    problems with their
                                                                                                                                    eyes, liver,
                                                                                                                                    kidneys, or spleen,
                                                                                                                                    or experience
                                                                                                                                    anemia, and may have
                                                                                                                                    an increased risk of
                                                                                                                                    getting cancer.
    Atrazine (ppb)............  .003.............  1000.............  3................  3................  Runoff from herbicide  Some people who drink
                                                                                                             used on row crops.     water containing
                                                                                                                                    atrazine well in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    problems with their
                                                                                                                                    cardiovascular
                                                                                                                                    system or
                                                                                                                                    reproductive
                                                                                                                                    difficulties.
    Benzo(a)pyrene [PAH]        .0002............  1,000,000........  200..............  0................  Leaching from linings  Some people who drink
     (nanograms/l).                                                                                          of water storage       water containing
                                                                                                             tanks and              benzo(a)pyrene in
                                                                                                             distribution lines.    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years may
                                                                                                                                    experience
                                                                                                                                    reproductive
                                                                                                                                    difficulties and may
                                                                                                                                    have an increased
                                                                                                                                    risk of getting
                                                                                                                                    cancer.
    Carbofuran (ppb)..........  .04..............  1000.............  40...............  40...............  Leaching of soil       Some people who drink
                                                                                                             fumigant used on       water containing
                                                                                                             rice and alfalfa.      carbofuran in excess
                                                                                                                                    of the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could
                                                                                                                                    experience problems
                                                                                                                                    with their blood, or
                                                                                                                                    nervous or
                                                                                                                                    reproductive
                                                                                                                                    systems.
    Chlordane (ppb)...........  .002.............  1000.............  2................  0................  Residue of banned      Some people who drink
                                                                                                             termiticide.           water containing
                                                                                                                                    chlordane in excess
                                                                                                                                    of the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could
                                                                                                                                    experience problems
                                                                                                                                    with their liver or
                                                                                                                                    nervous system, and
                                                                                                                                    may have an
                                                                                                                                    increased risk of
                                                                                                                                    getting cancer.
    Dalapon (ppb).............  .2...............  1000.............  200..............  200..............  Runoff from herbicide  Some people who drink
                                                                                                             used on rights of      water containing
                                                                                                             way.                   dalapon well in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    minor kidney
                                                                                                                                    changes.
    Di(2-ethylhexyl) adipate    .4...............  1000.............  400..............  400..............  Discharge from         Some people who drink
     (ppb).                                                                                                  chemical factories.    water containing di
                                                                                                                                    (2-ethylhexyl)
                                                                                                                                    adipate well in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    general toxic
                                                                                                                                    effects or
                                                                                                                                    reproductive
                                                                                                                                    difficulties.
    Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate  .006.............  1000.............  6................  0................  Discharge from rubber  Some people who drink
     (ppb).                                                                                                  and chemical           water containing di
                                                                                                             factories.             (2-ethylhexyl)
                                                                                                                                    phthalate in excess
                                                                                                                                    of the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years may have
                                                                                                                                    problems with their
                                                                                                                                    liver, or experience
                                                                                                                                    reproductive
                                                                                                                                    difficulties, and
                                                                                                                                    may have an
                                                                                                                                    increased risk of
                                                                                                                                    getting cancer.

[[Page 26029]]

 
    Dibromochloropropane (ppt)  .0002............  1,000,000........  200..............  0................  Runoff/leaching from   Some people who drink
                                                                                                             soil fumigant used     water containing
                                                                                                             on soybeans, cotton,   DBCP in excess of
                                                                                                             pineapples, and        the MCL over many
                                                                                                             orchards.              years could
                                                                                                                                    experience
                                                                                                                                    reproductive
                                                                                                                                    problems and may
                                                                                                                                    have an increased
                                                                                                                                    risk of getting
                                                                                                                                    cancer.
    Dinoseb (ppb).............  .007.............  1000.............  7................  7................  Runoff from herbicide  Some people who drink
                                                                                                             used on soybeans and   water containing
                                                                                                             vegetables.            dinoseb well in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    reproductive
                                                                                                                                    difficulties.
    Diquat (ppb)..............  .02..............  1000.............  20...............  20...............  Runoff from herbicide  Some people who drink
                                                                                                             use.                   water containing
                                                                                                                                    diquat in excess of
                                                                                                                                    the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could get
                                                                                                                                    cataracts.
    Dioxin [2,3,7,8-TCDD]       .00000003........  1,000,000, 000...  30...............  0................  Emissions from waste   Some people who drink
     (ppq).                                                                                                  incineration and       water containing
                                                                                                             other combustion;      dioxin in excess of
                                                                                                             Discharge from         the MCL over many
                                                                                                             chemical factories.    years could
                                                                                                                                    experience
                                                                                                                                    reproductive
                                                                                                                                    difficulties and may
                                                                                                                                    have an increased
                                                                                                                                    risk of getting
                                                                                                                                    cancer.
    Endothall (ppb)...........  .1...............  1000.............  100..............  100..............  Runoff from herbicide  Some people who drink
                                                                                                             use.                   water containing
                                                                                                                                    endothall in excess
                                                                                                                                    of the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could
                                                                                                                                    experience problems
                                                                                                                                    with their stomach
                                                                                                                                    or intestines.
    Endrin (ppb)..............  .002.............  1000.............  2................  2................  Residue of banned      Some people who drink
                                                                                                             insecticide.           water containing
                                                                                                                                    endrin in excess of
                                                                                                                                    the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could
                                                                                                                                    experience liver
                                                                                                                                    problems.
    Epichlorohydrin...........  TT...............  .................  TT...............  0................  Discharge from         Some people who drink
                                                                                                             industrial chemical    water containing
                                                                                                             factories; An          high levels of
                                                                                                             impurity of some       epichlorohydrin over
                                                                                                             water treatment        a long period of
                                                                                                             chemicals.             time could
                                                                                                                                    experience stomach
                                                                                                                                    problems, and may
                                                                                                                                    have an increased
                                                                                                                                    risk of getting
                                                                                                                                    cancer.
    Ethylene dibromide (ppt)..  .00005...........  1,000,000........  50...............  0................  Discharge from         Some people who drink
                                                                                                             petroleum refineries.  water containing
                                                                                                                                    ethylene dibromide
                                                                                                                                    in excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    problems with their
                                                                                                                                    liver, stomach,
                                                                                                                                    reproductive system,
                                                                                                                                    or kidneys, and may
                                                                                                                                    have an increased
                                                                                                                                    risk of getting
                                                                                                                                    cancer.
    Glyphosate (ppb)..........  .7...............  1000.............  700..............  700..............  Runoff from herbicide  Some people who drink
                                                                                                             use.                   water containing
                                                                                                                                    glyphosate in excess
                                                                                                                                    of the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could
                                                                                                                                    experience problems
                                                                                                                                    with their kidneys
                                                                                                                                    or reproductive
                                                                                                                                    difficulties.
    Heptachlor (ppt)..........  .0004............  1,000,000........  400..............  0................  Residue of banned      Some people who drink
                                                                                                             pesticide.             water containing
                                                                                                                                    heptachlor in excess
                                                                                                                                    of the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could
                                                                                                                                    experience liver
                                                                                                                                    damage and may have
                                                                                                                                    an increased risk of
                                                                                                                                    getting cancer.

[[Page 26030]]

 
    Heptachlor epoxide (ppt)..  .0002............  1,000,000........  200..............  0................  Breakdown of           Some people who drink
                                                                                                             heptachlor.            water containing
                                                                                                                                    heptachlor epoxide
                                                                                                                                    in excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    liver damage, and
                                                                                                                                    may have an
                                                                                                                                    increased risk of
                                                                                                                                    getting cancer.
    Hexachlorobenzene (ppb)...  .001.............  1000.............  1................  0................  Discharge from metal   Some people who drink
                                                                                                             refineries and         water containing
                                                                                                             agricultural           hexachlorobenzene in
                                                                                                             chemical factories.    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    problems with their
                                                                                                                                    liver or kidneys, or
                                                                                                                                    adverse reproductive
                                                                                                                                    effects, and may
                                                                                                                                    have an increased
                                                                                                                                    risk of getting
                                                                                                                                    cancer.
    Hexachlorocyclopentadiene   .05..............  1000.............  50...............  50...............  Discharge from         Some people who drink
     (ppb).                                                                                                  chemical factories.    water containing
                                                                                                                                    hexachlorocyclopenta
                                                                                                                                    diene well in excess
                                                                                                                                    of the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could
                                                                                                                                    experience problems
                                                                                                                                    with their kidneys
                                                                                                                                    or stomach.
    Lindane (ppt).............  .0002............  1,000,000........  200..............  200..............  Runoff/leaching from   Some people who drink
                                                                                                             insecticide used on    water containing
                                                                                                             cattle, lumber,        lindane in excess of
                                                                                                             gardens.               the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could
                                                                                                                                    experience problems
                                                                                                                                    with their kidneys
                                                                                                                                    or liver.
    Methoxychlor (ppb)........  .04..............  1000.............  40...............  40...............  Runoff/leaching from   Some people who drink
                                                                                                             insecticide used on    water containing
                                                                                                             fruits, vegetables,    methoxychlor in
                                                                                                             alfalfa, livestock.    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    reproductive
                                                                                                                                    difficulties.
    Oxamyl [Vydate] (ppb).....  .2...............  1000.............  200..............  200..............  Runoff/leaching from   Some people who drink
                                                                                                             insecticide used on    water containing
                                                                                                             apples, potatoes and   oxamyl in excess of
                                                                                                             tomatoes.              the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could
                                                                                                                                    experience slight
                                                                                                                                    nervous system
                                                                                                                                    effects.
    PCBs [Polychlorinated       .0005............  1,000,000........  500..............  0................  Runoff from            Some people who drink
     biphenyls] (ppt).                                                                                       landfills; Discharge   water containing
                                                                                                             of waste chemicals.    PCBs in excess of
                                                                                                                                    the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could
                                                                                                                                    experience changes
                                                                                                                                    in their skin,
                                                                                                                                    problems with their
                                                                                                                                    thymus gland, immune
                                                                                                                                    deficiencies, or
                                                                                                                                    reproductive or
                                                                                                                                    nervous system
                                                                                                                                    difficulties, and
                                                                                                                                    may have an
                                                                                                                                    increased risk of
                                                                                                                                    getting cancer.
    Pentachlorophenol (ppb)...  .001.............  1000.............  1................  0................  Discharge from wood    Some people who drink
                                                                                                             preserving factories.  water containing
                                                                                                                                    pentachlorophenol in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    problems with their
                                                                                                                                    liver or kidneys,
                                                                                                                                    and may have an
                                                                                                                                    increased risk of
                                                                                                                                    getting cancer.

[[Page 26031]]

 
    Picloram (ppb)............  .5...............  1000.............  500..............  500..............  Herbicide runoff.....  Some people who drink
                                                                                                                                    water containing
                                                                                                                                    picloram in excess
                                                                                                                                    of the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could
                                                                                                                                    experience problems
                                                                                                                                    with their liver.
    Simazine (ppb)............  .004.............  1000.............  4................  4................  Herbicide runoff.....  Some people who drink
                                                                                                                                    water containing
                                                                                                                                    simazine in excess
                                                                                                                                    of the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could
                                                                                                                                    experience problems
                                                                                                                                    with their blood.
    Toxaphene (ppb)...........  .003.............  1000.............  3................  0................  Runoff/leaching from   Some people who drink
                                                                                                             insecticide used on    water containing
                                                                                                             cotton and cattle.     toxaphene in excess
                                                                                                                                    of the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could have
                                                                                                                                    problems with their
                                                                                                                                    kidneys, liver, or
                                                                                                                                    thyroid, and may
                                                                                                                                    have an increased
                                                                                                                                    risk of getting
                                                                                                                                    cancer.
Volatile organic contaminants:
    Benzene (ppb).............  .005.............  1000.............  5................  0................  Discharge from         Some people who drink
                                                                                                             factories; Leaching    water containing
                                                                                                             from gas storage       benzene in excess of
                                                                                                             tanks and landfills.   the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could
                                                                                                                                    experience anemia or
                                                                                                                                    a decrease in blood
                                                                                                                                    platelets, and may
                                                                                                                                    have an increased
                                                                                                                                    risk of getting
                                                                                                                                    cancer.
    Bromate (ppb).............  .010.............  1000.............  10...............  0................  By-product of          Some people who drink
                                                                                                             drinking water         water containing
                                                                                                             chlorination.          bromate in excess of
                                                                                                                                    the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years may have an
                                                                                                                                    increased risk of
                                                                                                                                    getting cancer.
    Carbon tetrachloride (ppb)  .005.............  1000.............  5................  0................  Discharge from         Some people who drink
                                                                                                             chemical plants and    water containing
                                                                                                             other industrial       carbon tetrachloride
                                                                                                             activities.            in excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    problems with their
                                                                                                                                    liver and may have
                                                                                                                                    an increased risk of
                                                                                                                                    getting cancer.
    Chloramines (ppm).........  MRDL = 4.........  .................  MRDL = 4.........  MRDLG = 4........  Water additive used    Some people who use
                                                                                                             to control microbes.   water containing
                                                                                                                                    chloramines well in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MRDL
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    irritating effects
                                                                                                                                    to their eyes and
                                                                                                                                    nose. Some people
                                                                                                                                    who drink water
                                                                                                                                    containing
                                                                                                                                    chloramines well in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MRDL
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    stomach discomfort
                                                                                                                                    or anemia.
    Chlorine (ppm)............  MRDL = 4.........  .................  MRDL = 4.........  MRDLG = 4........  Water additive used    Some people who use
                                                                                                             to control microbes.   water containing
                                                                                                                                    chlorine well in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MRDL
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    irritating effects
                                                                                                                                    to their eyes and
                                                                                                                                    nose. Some people
                                                                                                                                    who drink water
                                                                                                                                    containing chlorine
                                                                                                                                    well in excess of
                                                                                                                                    the MRDL could
                                                                                                                                    experience stomach
                                                                                                                                    discomfort.

[[Page 26032]]

 
    Chlorite (ppm)............  1................  .................  1................  0.8..............  By-product of          Some infants and
                                                                                                             drinking water         young children who
                                                                                                             chlorination.          drink water
                                                                                                                                    containing chlorite
                                                                                                                                    in excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    nervous system
                                                                                                                                    effects. Similar
                                                                                                                                    effects may occur in
                                                                                                                                    fetuses of pregnant
                                                                                                                                    women who drink
                                                                                                                                    water containing
                                                                                                                                    chlorite in excess
                                                                                                                                    of the MCL. Some
                                                                                                                                    people may
                                                                                                                                    experience anemia.
    Chloride dioxide (ppb)....  MRDL = .8........  1000.............  MRDL = 800.......  MRDLG = 800......  Water additive used    Some infants and
                                                                                                             to control microbes.   young children who
                                                                                                                                    drink water
                                                                                                                                    containing chlorine
                                                                                                                                    dioxide in excess of
                                                                                                                                    the MRDL could
                                                                                                                                    experience nervous
                                                                                                                                    system effects.
                                                                                                                                    Similar effects may
                                                                                                                                    occur in fetuses of
                                                                                                                                    pregnant women who
                                                                                                                                    drink water
                                                                                                                                    containing chlorine
                                                                                                                                    dioxide in excess of
                                                                                                                                    the MRDL. Some
                                                                                                                                    people may
                                                                                                                                    experience anemia.
    Chlorobenzene (ppb).......  .1...............  1000.............  100..............  100..............  Discharge from         Some people who drink
                                                                                                             chemical and           water containing
                                                                                                             agricultural           chlorobenzene in
                                                                                                             chemical factories.    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    problems with their
                                                                                                                                    liver or kidneys.
    o-Dichlorobenzene (ppb)...  .6...............  1000.............  600..............  600..............  Discharge from         Some people who drink
                                                                                                             industrial chemical    water containing o-
                                                                                                             factories.             dichlorobenzene well
                                                                                                                                    in excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    problems with their
                                                                                                                                    liver, kidneys, or
                                                                                                                                    circulatory systems.
    p-Dichlorobenzene (ppb)...  .075.............  1000.............  75...............  75...............  Discharge from         Some people who drink
                                                                                                             industrial chemical    water containing p-
                                                                                                             factories.             dichlorobenzene in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    anemia, damage to
                                                                                                                                    their liver,
                                                                                                                                    kidneys, or spleen,
                                                                                                                                    or changes in their
                                                                                                                                    blood.
    1,2-Dichloroethane (ppb)..  .005.............  1000.............  5................  0................  Discharge from         Some people who drink
                                                                                                             industrial chemical    water containing 1,2-
                                                                                                             factories.             dichloroethane in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years may
                                                                                                                                    have an increased
                                                                                                                                    risk of getting
                                                                                                                                    cancer.
    1,1-Dichloroethylene (ppb)  .007.............  1000.............  7................  7................  Discharge from         Some people who drink
                                                                                                             industrial chemical    water containing 1,1-
                                                                                                             factories.             dichloroethylene in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    problems with their
                                                                                                                                    liver.
    cis-1,2-Dichloroethylene    .07..............  1000.............  70...............  70...............  Discharge from         Some people who drink
     (ppb).                                                                                                  industrial chemical    water containing cis-
                                                                                                             factories.             1,2-dichloroethylene
                                                                                                                                    in excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    problems with their
                                                                                                                                    liver.

[[Page 26033]]

 
    trans-1,2-Dichloroethylene  .1...............  1000.............  100..............  100..............  Discharge from         Some people who drink
     (ppb).                                                                                                  industrial chemical    water containing
                                                                                                             factories.             trans-1,2-
                                                                                                                                    dichloroethylene
                                                                                                                                    well in excess of
                                                                                                                                    the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could
                                                                                                                                    experience problems
                                                                                                                                    with their liver.
    Dichloromethane (ppb).....  .005.............  1000.............  5................  0................  Discharge from         Some people who drink
                                                                                                             pharmaceutical and     water containing
                                                                                                             chemical factories.    dichloromethane in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could have liver
                                                                                                                                    problems and may
                                                                                                                                    have an increased
                                                                                                                                    risk of getting
                                                                                                                                    cancer.
    1,2-Dichloropropane (ppb).  .005.............  1000.............  5................  0................  Discharge from         Some people who drink
                                                                                                             industrial chemical    water containing 1,2-
                                                                                                             factories.             dichloropropane in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years may
                                                                                                                                    have an increased
                                                                                                                                    risk of getting
                                                                                                                                    cancer.
    Ethylbenzene (ppb)........  .7...............  1000.............  700..............  700..............  Discharge from         Some people who drink
                                                                                                             petroleum refineries.  water containing
                                                                                                                                    ethylbenzene well in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    problems with their
                                                                                                                                    liver or kidneys.
    Haloacetic Acids (HAA)      .060.............  1000.............  60...............  N/A..............  By-product of          Some people who drink
     (ppb).                                                                                                  drinking water         water containing
                                                                                                             disinfection.          haloacetic acids in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years may
                                                                                                                                    have an increased
                                                                                                                                    risk of getting
                                                                                                                                    cancer.
    Styrene (ppb).............  .1...............  1000.............  100..............  100..............  Discharge from rubber  Some people who drink
                                                                                                             and plastic            water containing
                                                                                                             factories; Leaching    styrene well in
                                                                                                             from landfills.        excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could have problems
                                                                                                                                    with their liver,
                                                                                                                                    kidneys, or
                                                                                                                                    circulatory system.
    Tetrachloroethylene (ppb).  .005.............  1000.............  5................  0................  Discharge from         Some people who drink
                                                                                                             factories and dry      water containing
                                                                                                             cleaners.              tetrachloroethylene
                                                                                                                                    in excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could have problems
                                                                                                                                    with their liver,
                                                                                                                                    and may have an
                                                                                                                                    increased risk of
                                                                                                                                    getting cancer.
    1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene      .07..............  1000.............  70...............  70...............  Discharge from         Some people who drink
     (ppb).                                                                                                  textile-finishing      water containing
                                                                                                             factories.             1,2,4-
                                                                                                                                    trichlorobenzene
                                                                                                                                    well in excess of
                                                                                                                                    the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could
                                                                                                                                    experience changes
                                                                                                                                    in their adrenal
                                                                                                                                    glands.
    1,1,1-Trichloroethane       .2...............  1000.............  200..............  200..............  Discharge from metal   Some people who drink
     (ppb).                                                                                                  degreasing sites and   water containing
                                                                                                             other factories.       1,1,1-
                                                                                                                                    trichloroethane in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    problems with their
                                                                                                                                    liver, nervous
                                                                                                                                    system, or
                                                                                                                                    circulatory system.
    1,1,2-Trichloroethane       .005.............  1000.............  5................  3................  Discharge from         Some people who drink
     (ppb).                                                                                                  industrial chemical    water containing
                                                                                                             factories.             1,1,2-
                                                                                                                                    trichloroethane well
                                                                                                                                    in excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could have problems
                                                                                                                                    with their liver,
                                                                                                                                    kidneys, or immune
                                                                                                                                    systems.

[[Page 26034]]

 
    Trichloroethylene (ppb)...  .005.............  1000.............  5................  0................  Discharge from metal   Some people who drink
                                                                                                             degreasing sites and   water containing
                                                                                                             other factories.       trichloroethylene in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could experience
                                                                                                                                    problems with their
                                                                                                                                    liver and may have
                                                                                                                                    an increased risk of
                                                                                                                                    getting cancer.
    TTHMs [Total                0.10/.080........  1000.............  100/80...........  N/A..............  By-product of          Some people who drink
     trihalomethanes] (ppb).                                                                                 drinking water         water containing
                                                                                                             chlorination.          trihalomethanes in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years may
                                                                                                                                    experience problems
                                                                                                                                    with their liver,
                                                                                                                                    kidneys, or central
                                                                                                                                    nervous systems, and
                                                                                                                                    may have an
                                                                                                                                    increased risk of
                                                                                                                                    getting cancer.
    Toluene (ppm).............  1................  .................  1................  1................  Discharge from         Some people who drink
                                                                                                             petroleum factories.   water containing
                                                                                                                                    toluene well in
                                                                                                                                    excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years
                                                                                                                                    could have problems
                                                                                                                                    with their nervous
                                                                                                                                    system, kidneys, or
                                                                                                                                    liver.
    Vinyl Chloride (ppb)......  .002.............  1000.............  2................  0................  Leaching from PVC      Some people who drink
                                                                                                             piping; Discharge      water containing
                                                                                                             from plastics          vinyl chloride in
                                                                                                             factories.             excess of the MCL
                                                                                                                                    over many years may
                                                                                                                                    have an increased
                                                                                                                                    risk of getting
                                                                                                                                    cancer.
    Xylenes (ppm).............  10...............  .................  10...............  10...............  Discharge from         Some people who drink
                                                                                                             petroleum factories;   water containing
                                                                                                             Discharge from         xylenes in excess of
                                                                                                             chemical factories.    the MCL over many
                                                                                                                                    years could
                                                                                                                                    experience damage to
                                                                                                                                    their nervous
                                                                                                                                    system.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Key:
AL=Action Level
MCL=Maximum Contaminant Level
MCLG=Maximum Contaminant Level Goal
MFL=million fibers per liter
MRDL=Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level
MRDLG=Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level Goal
mrem/year=millirems per year (a measure of radiation absorbed by the body)
N/A=Not Applicable
NTU=Nephelometric Turbidity Units (a measure of water clarity)
pCi/l=picocuries per liter (a measure of radioactivity)
ppm=parts per million, or milligrams per liter (mg/l)
ppb=parts per billion, or micrograms per liter (g/l)
ppt=parts per trillion, or nanograms per liter
ppq=parts per quadrillion, or picograms per liter
TT=Treatment Technique


[[Page 26035]]

Appendices B and C to Subpart O  [Removed]

    15. Appendices B and C to Subpart O are removed.

    16. Section 141.175 is amended by revising paragraphs (c)(1) and 
(c)(2) to read as follows:


Sec. 141.175  Reporting and record keeping requirements.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *
    (1) If at any time the turbidity exceeds 1 NTU in representative 
samples of filtered water in a system using conventional filtration 
treatment or direct filtration, the system must consult with the 
primacy agency as soon as practical, but no later than 24 hours after 
the exceedance is known, in accordance with the public notification 
requirements under Sec. 141.203(b)(3).
    (2) If at any time the turbidity in representative samples of 
filtered water exceed the maximum level set by the State under 
Sec. 142.173(b) for filtration technologies other than conventional 
filtration treatment, direct filtration, slow sand filtration, or 
diatomaceous earth filtration, the system must consult with the primacy 
agency as soon as practical, but no later than 24 hours after the 
exceedance is known, in accordance with the public notification 
requirements under Sec. 141.203(b)(3).

    17. Part 141 is amended by adding Subpart Q, to read as follows:

Subpart Q--Public Notification of Drinking Water Violations

Sec.
141.201   General public notification requirements.
141.202   Tier 1 Public Notice--Form, manner, and frequency of 
notice.
141.203   Tier 2 Public Notice--Form, manner, and frequency of 
notice.
141.204   Tier 3 Public Notice--Form, manner, and frequency of 
notice.
141.205   Content of the public notice.
141.206   Notice to new billing units or new customers.
141.207   Special notice of the availability of unregulated 
contaminant monitoring results.
141.208   Special notice for exceedance of the SMCL for fluoride.
141.209   Special notice for nitrate exceedances above MCL by non-
community water systems (NCWS), where granted permission by the 
primacy agency under Sec. 141.11(d).
141.210   Notice by primacy agency on behalf of the public water 
system.
Appendix A to Subpart Q of Part 141--NPDWR Violations and Situations 
Requiring Public Notice
Appendix B to Subpart Q of Part 141--Standard Health Effects 
Language for Public Notification
Appendix C to Subpart Q of Part 141--List of Acronyms Used in Public 
Notification Regulation

Subpart Q--Public Notification of Drinking Water Violations


Sec. 141.201  General public notification requirements.

    Public water systems in States with primacy for the public water 
system supervision (PWSS) program must comply with the requirements in 
this subpart no later than May 6, 2002 or on the date the State-adopted 
rule becomes effective, whichever comes first. Public water systems in 
jurisdictions where EPA directly implements the PWSS program must 
comply with the requirements in this subpart on October 31, 2000. Prior 
to these dates, public water systems must continue to comply with the 
public notice requirements in Sec. 141.32 of this part. The term 
``primacy agency'' is used in this subpart to refer to either EPA or 
the State or the Tribe in cases where EPA, the State, or the Tribe 
exercises primary enforcement responsibility for this subpart.
    (a) Who must give public notice? Each owner or operator of a public 
water system (community water systems, non-transient non-community 
water systems, and transient non-community water systems) must give 
notice for all violations of national primary drinking water 
regulations (NPDWR) and for other situations, as listed in Table 1. The 
term ``NPDWR violations'' is used in this subpart to include violations 
of the maximum contaminant level (MCL), maximum residual disinfection 
level (MRDL), treatment technique (TT), monitoring requirements, and 
testing procedures in this part 141. Appendix A to this subpart 
identifies the tier assignment for each specific violation or situation 
requiring a public notice.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

  Table 1 to Sec.  141.201.--Violation Categories and Other Situations
                        Requiring a Public Notice
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) NPDWR violations:
  (i) Failure to comply with an applicable maximum contaminant level
   (MCL) or maximum residual disinfectant level (MRDL).
  (ii) Failure to comply with a prescribed treatment technique (TT).
  (iii) Failure to perform water quality monitoring, as required by the
   drinking water regulations.
  (iv) Failure to comply with testing procedures as prescribed by a
   drinking water regulation.
(2) Variance and exemptions under sections 1415 and 1416 of SDWA:
  (i) Operation under a variance or an exemption.
  (ii) Failure to comply with the requirements of any schedule that has
   been set under a variance or exemption.
(3) Special public notices:
  (i) Occurrence of a waterborne disease outbreak or other waterborne
   emergency.
  (ii) Exceedance of the nitrate MCL by non-community water systems
   (NCWS), where granted permission by the primacy agency under
   141.11(d) of this part.
  (iii) Exceedance of the secondary maximum contaminant level (SMCL) for
   fluoride.
  (iv) Availability of unregulated contaminant monitoring data.
  (v) Other violations and situations determined by the primacy agency
   to require a public notice under this subpart, not already listed in
   Appendix A.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (b) What type of public notice is required for each violation or 
situation? Public notice requirements are divided into three tiers, to 
take into account the seriousness of the violation or situation and of 
any potential adverse health effects that may be involved. The public 
notice requirements for each violation or situation listed in Table 1 
of this section are determined by the tier to which it is assigned. 
Table 2 of this section provides the definition of each tier. Appendix 
A of this part identifies the tier assignment for each specific 
violation or situation.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

      Table 2 to Sec.  141.201.--Definition of Public Notice Tiers
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Tier 1 public notice--required for NPDWR violations and situations
 with significant potential to have serious adverse effects on human
 health as a result of short-term exposure.
(2) Tier 2 public notice--required for all other NPDWR violations and
 situations with potential to have serious adverse effects on human
 health.
(3) Tier 3 public notice--required for all other NPDWR violations and
 situations not included in Tier 1 and Tier 2.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (c) Who must be notified?
    (1) Each public water system must provide public notice to persons 
served by the water system, in accordance with this subpart. Public 
water systems that sell or otherwise provide drinking water to other 
public water systems (i.e., to consecutive systems) are required to 
give public notice to the owner or operator of the consecutive system; 
the consecutive system is responsible for

[[Page 26036]]

providing public notice to the persons it serves.
    (2) If a public water system has a violation in a portion of the 
distribution system that is physically or hydraulically isolated from 
other parts of the distribution system, the primacy agency may allow 
the system to limit distribution of the public notice to only persons 
served by that portion of the system which is out of compliance. 
Permission by the primacy agency for limiting distribution of the 
notice must be granted in writing.
    (3) A copy of the notice must also be sent to the primacy agency, 
in accordance with the requirements under Sec. 141.31(d).


Sec. 141.202  Tier 1 Public Notice--Form, manner, and frequency of 
notice.

    (a) Which violations or situations require a Tier 1 public notice? 
Table 1 of this section lists the violation categories and other 
situations requiring a Tier 1 public notice. Appendix A to this subpart 
identifies the tier assignment for each specific violation or 
situation.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

  Table 1 to Sec.  141.202.--Violation Categories and Other Situations
                    Requiring a Tier 1 Public Notice
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Violation of the MCL for total coliforms when fecal coliform or E.
 coli are present in the water distribution system (as specified in Sec.
  141.63(b)), or when the water system fails to test for fecal coliforms
 or E. coli when any repeat sample tests positive for coliform (as
 specified in Sec.  141.21(e));
(2) Violation of the MCL for nitrate, nitrite, or total nitrate and
 nitrite, as defined in Sec.  141.62, or when the water system fails to
 take a confirmation sample within 24 hours of the system's receipt of
 the first sample showing an exceedance of the nitrate or nitrite MCL,
 as specified in Sec.  141.23(f)(2);
(3) Exceedance of the nitrate MCL by non-community water systems, where
 permitted to exceed the MCL by the primacy agency under Sec.
 141.11(d), as required under Sec.  141.209;
(4) Violation of the MRDL for chlorine dioxide, as defined in Sec.
 141.65(a), when one or more samples taken in the distribution system
 the day following an exceedance of the MRDL at the entrance of the
 distribution system exceed the MRDL, or when the water system does not
 take the required samples in the distribution system, as specified in
 Sec.  141.133(c)(2)(i);
(5) Violation of the turbidity MCL under Sec.  141.13(b), where the
 primacy agency determines after consultation that a Tier 1 notice is
 required or where consultation does not take place within 24 hours
 after the system learns of the violation;
(6) Violation of the Surface Water Treatment Rule (SWTR) or Interim
 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment rule (IESWTR) treatment technique
 requirement resulting from a single exceedance of the maximum allowable
 turbidity limit (as identified in Appendix A), where the primacy agency
 determines after consultation that a Tier 1 notice is required or where
 consultation does not take place within 24 hours after the system
 learns of the violation;
(7) Occurrence of a waterborne disease outbreak, as defined in Sec.
 141.2, or other waterborne emergency (such as a failure or significant
 interruption in key water treatment processes, a natural disaster that
 disrupts the water supply or distribution system, or a chemical spill
 or unexpected loading of possible pathogens into the source water that
 significantly increases the potential for drinking water
 contamination);
(8) Other violations or situations with significant potential to have
 serious adverse effects on human health as a result of short-term
 exposure, as determined by the primacy agency either in its regulations
 or on a case-by-case basis.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (b) When is the Tier 1 public notice to be provided? What 
additional steps are required? Public water systems must:
    (1) Provide a public notice as soon as practical but no later than 
24 hours after the system learns of the violation;
    (2) Initiate consultation with the primacy agency as soon as 
practical, but no later than 24 hours after the public water system 
learns of the violation or situation, to determine additional public 
notice requirements; and
    (3) Comply with any additional public notification requirements 
(including any repeat notices or direction on the duration of the 
posted notices) that are established as a result of the consultation 
with the primacy agency. Such requirements may include the timing, 
form, manner, frequency, and content of repeat notices (if any) and 
other actions designed to reach all persons served.
    (c) What is the form and manner of the public notice? Public water 
systems must provide the notice within 24 hours in a form and manner 
reasonably calculated to reach all persons served. The form and manner 
used by the public water system are to fit the specific situation, but 
must be designed to reach residential, transient, and non-transient 
users of the water system. In order to reach all persons served, water 
systems are to use, at a minimum, one or more of the following forms of 
delivery:
    (1) Appropriate broadcast media (such as radio and television);
    (2) Posting of the notice in conspicuous locations throughout the 
area served by the water system;
    (3) Hand delivery of the notice to persons served by the water 
system; or
    (4) Another delivery method approved in writing by the primacy 
agency.


Sec. 141.203  Tier 2 Public Notice--Form, manner, and frequency of 
notice.

    (a) Which violations or situations require a Tier 2 public notice? 
Table 1 of this section lists the violation categories and other 
situations requiring a Tier 2 public notice. Appendix A to this subpart 
identifies the tier assignment for each specific violation or 
situation.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

  Table 1 to Sec.  141.203.--Violation Categories and Other Situations
                    Requiring a Tier 2 Public Notice
(1) All violations of the MCL, MRDL, and treatment technique
 requirements, except where a Tier 1 notice is required under Sec.
 141.202(a) or where the primacy agency determines that a Tier 1 notice
 is required;
(2) Violations of the monitoring and testing procedure requirements,
 where the primacy agency determines that a Tier 2 rather than a Tier 3
 public notice is required, taking into account potential health impacts
 and persistence of the violation; and
(3) Failure to comply with the terms and conditions of any variance or
 exemption in place.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (b) When is the Tier 2 public notice to be provided?
    (1) Public water systems must provide the public notice as soon as 
practical, but no later than 30 days after the system learns of the 
violation. If the public notice is posted, the notice must remain in 
place for as long as the violation or situation persists, but in no 
case for less than seven days, even if the violation or situation is 
resolved. The primacy agency may, in appropriate circumstances, allow 
additional time for the initial notice of up to three months from the 
date the system learns of the violation. It is not appropriate for the 
primacy agency to grant an extension to the 30-day deadline for any 
unresolved violation or to allow across-the-board extensions by rule or 
policy for other violations or situations requiring a Tier 2 public 
notice. Extensions granted by the primacy agency must be in writing.
    (2) The public water system must repeat the notice every three 
months as

[[Page 26037]]

long as the violation or situation persists, unless the primacy agency 
determines that appropriate circumstances warrant a different repeat 
notice frequency. In no circumstance may the repeat notice be given 
less frequently than once per year. It is not appropriate for the 
primacy agency to allow less frequent repeat notice for an MCL 
violation under the Total Coliform Rule or a treatment technique 
violation under the Surface Water Treatment Rule or Interim Enhanced 
Surface Water Treatment Rule. It is also not appropriate for the 
primacy agency to allow through its rules or policies across-the-board 
reductions in the repeat notice frequency for other ongoing violations 
requiring a Tier 2 repeat notice. Primacy agency determinations 
allowing repeat notices to be given less frequently than once every 
three months must be in writing.
    (3) For the turbidity violations specified in this paragraph, 
public water systems must consult with the primacy agency as soon as 
practical but no later than 24 hours after the public water system 
learns of the violation, to determine whether a Tier 1 public notice 
under Sec. 141.202(a) is required to protect public health. When 
consultation does not take place within the 24-hour period, the water 
system must distribute a Tier 1 notice of the violation within the next 
24 hours (i.e., no later than 48 hours after the system learns of the 
violation), following the requirements under Sec. 141.202(b) and (c). 
Consultation with the primacy agency is required for:
    (i) Violation of the turbidity MCL under Sec. 141.13(b); or
    (ii) Violation of the SWTR or IESWTR treatment technique 
requirement resulting from a single exceedance of the maximum allowable 
turbidity limit.
    (c) What is the form and manner of the Tier 2 public notice? Public 
water systems must provide the initial public notice and any repeat 
notices in a form and manner that is reasonably calculated to reach 
persons served in the required time period. The form and manner of the 
public notice may vary based on the specific situation and type of 
water system, but it must at a minimum meet the following requirements:
    (1) Unless directed otherwise by the primacy agency in writing, 
community water systems must provide notice by:
    (i) Mail or other direct delivery to each customer receiving a bill 
and to other service connections to which water is delivered by the 
public water system; and
    (ii) Any other method reasonably calculated to reach other persons 
regularly served by the system, if they would not normally be reached 
by the notice required in paragraph (c)(1)(i) of this section. Such 
persons may include those who do not pay water bills or do not have 
service connection addresses (e.g., house renters, apartment dwellers, 
university students, nursing home patients, prison inmates, etc.). 
Other methods may include: Publication in a local newspaper; delivery 
of multiple copies for distribution by customers that provide their 
drinking water to others (e.g., apartment building owners or large 
private employers); posting in public places served by the system or on 
the Internet; or delivery to community organizations.
    (2) Unless directed otherwise by the primacy agency in writing, 
non-community water systems must provide notice by:
    (i) Posting the notice in conspicuous locations throughout the 
distribution system frequented by persons served by the system, or by 
mail or direct delivery to each customer and service connection (where 
known); and
    (ii) Any other method reasonably calculated to reach other persons 
served by the system if they would not normally be reached by the 
notice required in paragraph (c)(2)(i) of this section. Such persons 
may include those served who may not see a posted notice because the 
posted notice is not in a location they routinely pass by. Other 
methods may include: Publication in a local newspaper or newsletter 
distributed to customers; use of E-mail to notify employees or 
students; or, delivery of multiple copies in central locations (e.g., 
community centers).


Sec. 141.204  Tier 3 Public Notice--Form, manner, and frequency of 
notice.

    (a) Which violations or situations require a Tier 3 public notice? 
Table 1 of this section lists the violation categories and other 
situations requiring a Tier 3 public notice. Appendix A to this subpart 
identifies the tier assignment for each specific violation or 
situation.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

  Table 1 To Sec.  141.204.--Violation Categories and Other Situations
                    Requiring a Tier 3 Public Notice
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) Monitoring violations under 40 CFR part 141, except where a Tier 1
 notice is required under Sec.  141.202(a) or where the primacy agency
 determines that a Tier 2 notice is required;
(2) Failure to comply with a testing procedure established in 40 CFR
 part 141, except where a Tier 1 notice is required under Sec.
 141.202(a)) or where the primacy agency determines that a Tier 2 notice
 is required;
(3) Operation under a variance granted under Section 1415 or an
 exemption granted under Section 1416 of the Safe Drinking Water Act;
(4) Availability of unregulated contaminant monitoring results, as
 required under Sec.  141.207; and
(5) Exceedance of the fluoride secondary maximum contaminant level
 (SMCL), as required under Sec.  141.208.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (b) When is the Tier 3 public notice to be provided?
    (1) Public water systems must provide the public notice not later 
than one year after the public water system learns of the violation or 
situation or begins operating under a variance or exemption. Following 
the initial notice, the public water system must repeat the notice 
annually for as long as the violation, variance, exemption, or other 
situation persists. If the public notice is posted, the notice must 
remain in place for as long as the violation, variance, exemption, or 
other situation persists, but in no case less than seven days (even if 
the violation or situation is resolved).
    (2) (2) Instead of individual Tier 3 public notices, a public water 
system may use an annual report detailing all violations and situations 
that occurred during the previous twelve months, as long as the timing 
requirements of paragraph (b)(1) of this section are met.
    (c) What is the form and manner of the Tier 3 public notice? Public 
water systems must provide the initial notice and any repeat notices in 
a form and manner that is reasonably calculated to reach persons served 
in the required time period. The form and manner of the public notice 
may vary based on the specific situation and type of water system, but 
it must at a minimum meet the following requirements:
    (1) Unless directed otherwise by the primacy agency in writing, 
community water systems must provide notice by:
    (i) Mail or other direct delivery to each customer receiving a bill 
and to other service connections to which water is delivered by the 
public water system; and
    (ii) Any other method reasonably calculated to reach other persons 
regularly served by the system, if they would not normally be reached 
by the notice required in paragraph (c)(1)(i) of

[[Page 26038]]

this section. Such persons may include those who do not pay water bills 
or do not have service connection addresses (e.g., house renters, 
apartment dwellers, university students, nursing home patients, prison 
inmates, etc.). Other methods may include: Publication in a local 
newspaper; delivery of multiple copies for distribution by customers 
that provide their drinking water to others (e.g., apartment building 
owners or large private employers); posting in public places or on the 
Internet; or delivery to community organizations.
    (2) Unless directed otherwise by the primacy agency in writing, 
non-community water systems must provide notice by:
    (i) Posting the notice in conspicuous locations throughout the 
distribution system frequented by persons served by the system, or by 
mail or direct delivery to each customer and service connection (where 
known); and
    (ii) Any other method reasonably calculated to reach other persons 
served by the system, if they would not normally be reached by the 
notice required in paragraph (c)(2)(i) of this section. Such persons 
may include those who may not see a posted notice because the notice is 
not in a location they routinely pass by. Other methods may include: 
Publication in a local newspaper or newsletter distributed to 
customers; use of E-mail to notify employees or students; or, delivery 
of multiple copies in central locations (e.g., community centers).
    (d) In what situations may the Consumer Confidence Report be used 
to meet the Tier 3 public notice requirements? For community water 
systems, the Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) required under Subpart O 
of this part may be used as a vehicle for the initial Tier 3 public 
notice and all required repeat notices, as long as:
    (1) The CCR is provided to persons served no later than 12 months 
after the system learns of the violation or situation as required under 
Sec. 141.204(b);
    (2) The Tier 3 notice contained in the CCR follows the content 
requirements under Sec. 141.205; and
    (3) The CCR is distributed following the delivery requirements 
under Sec. 141.204(c).


Sec. 141.205  Content of the public notice.

    (a) What elements must be included in the public notice for 
violations of National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWR) or 
other situations requiring a public notice? When a public water system 
violates a NPDWR or has a situation requiring public notification, each 
public notice must include the following elements:
    (1) A description of the violation or situation, including the 
contaminant(s) of concern, and (as applicable) the contaminant 
level(s);
    (2) When the violation or situation occurred;
    (3) Any potential adverse health effects from the violation or 
situation, including the standard language under paragraph (d)(1) or 
(d)(2) of this section, whichever is applicable;
    (4) The population at risk, including subpopulations particularly 
vulnerable if exposed to the contaminant in their drinking water;
    (5) Whether alternative water supplies should be used;
    (6) What actions consumers should take, including when they should 
seek medical help, if known;
    (7) What the system is doing to correct the violation or situation;
    (8) When the water system expects to return to compliance or 
resolve the situation;
    (9) The name, business address, and phone number of the water 
system owner, operator, or designee of the public water system as a 
source of additional information concerning the notice; and
    (10) A statement to encourage the notice recipient to distribute 
the public notice to other persons served, using the standard language 
under paragraph (d)(3) of this section, where applicable.
    (b) What elements must be included in the public notice for public 
water systems operating under a variance or exemption?
    (1) If a public water system has been granted a variance or an 
exemption, the public notice must contain:
    (i) An explanation of the reasons for the variance or exemption;
    (ii) The date on which the variance or exemption was issued;
    (iii) A brief status report on the steps the system is taking to 
install treatment, find alternative sources of water, or otherwise 
comply with the terms and schedules of the variance or exemption; and
    (iv) A notice of any opportunity for public input in the review of 
the variance or exemption.
    (2) If a public water system violates the conditions of a variance 
or exemption, the public notice must contain the ten elements listed in 
paragraph (a) of this section.
    (c) How is the public notice to be presented?
    (1) Each public notice required by this section:
    (i) Must be displayed in a conspicuous way when printed or posted;
    (ii) Must not contain overly technical language or very small 
print;
    (iii) Must not be formatted in a way that defeats the purpose of 
the notice;
    (iv) Must not contain language which nullifies the purpose of the 
notice.
    (2) Each public notice required by this section must comply with 
multilingual requirements, as follows:
    (i) For public water systems serving a large proportion of non-
English speaking consumers, as determined by the primacy agency, the 
public notice must contain information in the appropriate language(s) 
regarding the importance of the notice or contain a telephone number or 
address where persons served may contact the water system to obtain a 
translated copy of the notice or to request assistance in the 
appropriate language.
    (ii) In cases where the primacy agency has not determined what 
constitutes a large proportion of non-English speaking consumers, the 
public water system must include in the public notice the same 
information as in paragraph (c)(2)(i) of this section, where 
appropriate to reach a large proportion of non-English speaking persons 
served by the water system.
    (d) What standard language must public water systems include in 
their public notice? Public water systems are required to include the 
following standard language in their public notice:
    (1) Standard health effects language for MCL or MRDL violations, 
treatment technique violations, and violations of the condition of a 
variance or exemption. Public water systems must include in each public 
notice the health effects language specified in Appendix B to this 
subpart corresponding to each MCL, MRDL, and treatment technique 
violation listed in Appendix A to this subpart, and for each violation 
of a condition of a variance or exemption.
    (2) Standard language for monitoring and testing procedure 
violations. Public water systems must include the following language in 
their notice, including the language necessary to fill in the blanks, 
for all monitoring and testing procedure violations listed in Appendix 
A to this subpart:

    We are required to monitor your drinking water for specific 
contaminants on a regular basis. Results of regular monitoring are 
an indicator of whether or not your drinking water meets health 
standards. During [compliance period], we ``did not monitor or 
test'' or ``did not complete all monitoring or testing'' for 
[contaminant(s)], and therefore cannot be sure of the quality of 
your drinking water during that time.

    (3) Standard language to encourage the distribution of the public 
notice to all persons served. Public water systems must include in 
their notice the following language (where applicable):


[[Page 26039]]


    Please share this information with all the other people who 
drink this water, especially those who may not have received this 
notice directly (for example, people in apartments, nursing homes, 
schools, and businesses). You can do this by posting this notice in 
a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.


Sec. 141.206  Notice to new billing units or new customers.

    (a) What is the requirement for community water systems? Community 
water systems must give a copy of the most recent public notice for any 
continuing violation, the existence of a variance or exemption, or 
other ongoing situations requiring a public notice to all new billing 
units or new customers prior to or at the time service begins.
    (b) What is the requirement for non-community water systems? Non-
community water systems must continuously post the public notice in 
conspicuous locations in order to inform new consumers of any 
continuing violation, variance or exemption, or other situation 
requiring a public notice for as long as the violation, variance, 
exemption, or other situation persists.


Sec. 141.207  Special notice of the availability of unregulated 
contaminant monitoring results.

    (a) When is the special notice to be given? The owner or operator 
of a community water system or non-transient, non-community water 
system required to monitor under Sec. 141.40 must notify persons served 
by the system of the availability of the results of such sampling no 
later than 12 months after the monitoring results are known.
    (b) What is the form and manner of the special notice? The form and 
manner of the public notice must follow the requirements for a Tier 3 
public notice prescribed in Secs. 141.204(c), (d)(1), and (d)(3). The 
notice must also identify a person and provide the telephone number to 
contact for information on the monitoring results.


Sec. 141.208  Special notice for exceedance of the SMCL for fluoride.

    (a) When is the special notice to be given? Community water systems 
that exceed the fluoride secondary maximum contaminant level (SMCL) of 
2 mg/l as specified in Sec. 143.3 (determined by the last single sample 
taken in accordance with Sec. 141.23), but do not exceed the maximum 
contaminant level (MCL) of 4 mg/l for fluoride (as specified in 
Sec. 141.62), must provide the public notice in paragraph (c) of this 
section to persons served. Public notice must be provided as soon as 
practical but no later than 12 months from the day the water system 
learns of the exceedance. A copy of the notice must also be sent to all 
new billing units and new customers at the time service begins and to 
the State public health officer. The public water system must repeat 
the notice at least annually for as long as the SMCL is exceeded. If 
the public notice is posted, the notice must remain in place for as 
long as the SMCL is exceeded, but in no case less than seven days (even 
if the exceedance is eliminated). On a case-by-case basis, the primacy 
agency may require an initial notice sooner than 12 months and repeat 
notices more frequently than annually.
    (b) What is the form and manner of the special notice? The form and 
manner of the public notice (including repeat notices) must follow the 
requirements for a Tier 3 public notice in Sec. 141.204(c) and (d)(1) 
and (d)(3).
    (c) What mandatory language must be contained in the special 
notice? The notice must contain the following language, including the 
language necessary to fill in the blanks:

    This is an alert about your drinking water and a cosmetic dental 
problem that might affect children under nine years of age. At low 
levels, fluoride can help prevent cavities, but children drinking 
water containing more than 2 milligrams per liter (mg/l) of fluoride 
may develop cosmetic discoloration of their permanent teeth (dental 
fluorosis). The drinking water provided by your community water 
system [name] has a fluoride concentration of [insert value] mg/l.
    Dental fluorosis, in its moderate or severe forms, may result in 
a brown staining and/or pitting of the permanent teeth. This problem 
occurs only in developing teeth, before they erupt from the gums. 
Children under nine should be provided with alternative sources of 
drinking water or water that has been treated to remove the fluoride 
to avoid the possibility of staining and pitting of their permanent 
teeth. You may also want to contact your dentist about proper use by 
young children of fluoride-containing products. Older children and 
adults may safely drink the water.
    Drinking water containing more than 4 mg/L of fluoride (the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency's drinking water standard) can 
increase your risk of developing bone disease. Your drinking water 
does not contain more than 4 mg/l of fluoride, but we're required to 
notify you when we discover that the fluoride levels in your 
drinking water exceed 2 mg/l because of this cosmetic dental 
problem.
    For more information, please call [name of water system contact] 
of [name of community water system] at [phone number]. Some home 
water treatment units are also available to remove fluoride from 
drinking water. To learn more about available home water treatment 
units, you may call NSF International at 1-877-8-NSF-HELP.''


Sec. 141.209  Special notice for nitrate exceedances above MCL by non-
community water systems (NCWS), where granted permission by the primacy 
agency under Sec. 141.11(d)

    (a) When is the special notice to be given? The owner or operator 
of a non-community water system granted permission by the primacy 
agency under Sec. 141.11(d) to exceed the nitrate MCL must provide 
notice to persons served according to the requirements for a Tier 1 
notice under Sec. 141.202(a) and (b).
    (b) What is the form and manner of the special notice? Non-
community water systems granted permission by the primacy agency to 
exceed the nitrate MCL under Sec. 141.11(d) must provide continuous 
posting of the fact that nitrate levels exceed 10 mg/l and the 
potential health effects of exposure, according to the requirements for 
Tier 1 notice delivery under Sec. 141.202(c) and the content 
requirements under Sec. 141.205.


Sec. 141.210  Notice by primacy agency on behalf of the public water 
system.

    (a) May the primacy agency give the notice on behalf of the public 
water system? The primacy agency may give the notice required by this 
subpart on behalf of the owner and operator of the public water system 
if the primacy agency complies with the requirements of this subpart.
    (b) What is the responsibility of the public water system when 
notice is given by the primacy agency? The owner or operator of the 
public water system remains responsible for ensuring that the 
requirements of this subpart are met.

[[Page 26040]]



      Appendix A to Subpart Q of Part 141.--NPDWR Violations and Other Situations Requiring Public Notice 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                            MCL/MRDL/TT violations 2           Monitoring & testing procedure
                                     --------------------------------------              violations
             Contaminant                                                   -------------------------------------
                                        Tier of public        Citation        Tier of public
                                       notice required                       notice required        Citation
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. Violations of National Primary
 Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWR):
 3
A. Microbiological Contaminants
    1. Total coliform...............                  2          141.63(a)                  3      141.21(a)-(e)
    2. Fecal coliform/E. coli.......                  1          141.63(b)             4 1, 3          141.21(e)
    3. Turbidity MCL................                  2          141.13(a)                  3             141.22
    4. Turbidity MCL (average of 2               5 2, 1          141.13(b)                  3             141.22
     days' samples >5 NTU)..........
    5. Turbidity (for TT violations              6 2, 1      141.71(a)(2),                  3      141.74(a)(1),
     resulting from a single                              141.71(c)(2)(i),                         141.74(b)(2),
     exceedance of maximum allowable                         141.73(a)(2),                         141.74(c)(1),
     turbidity level)...............                         141.73(b)(2),                               141.174
                                                             141.73(c)(2),
                                                                141.73(d),
                                                            141.173(a)(2),
                                                                141.173(b)
    6. Surface Water Treatment Rule                   2      141.70-141.73                  3             141.74
     violations, other than
     violations resulting from
     single exceedance of max.
     allowable turbidity level (TT).
    7. Interim Enhanced Surface                       2  7 141.170-141.173                  3   141.172, 141.174
     Water Treatment Rule
     violations, other than
     violations resulting from
     single exceedance of max.
     turbidity level (TT)...........
B. Inorganic Chemicals (IOCs)
    1. Antimony.....................                  2          141.62(b)                  3     141.23(a), (c)
    2. Arsenic......................                  2         141.11(b),                  3    141.23(a), (l),
                                                                 141.23(n)                                   (m)
    3. Asbestos (fibers >10 m)...........................
    4. Barium.......................                  2          141.62(b)                  3     141.23(a), (c)
    5. Beryllium....................                  2          141.62(b)                  3     141.23(a), (c)
    6. Cadmium......................                  2          141.62(b)                  3     141.23(a), (c)
    7. Chromium (total).............                  2          141.62(b)                  3     141.23(a), (c)
    8. Cyanide......................                  2          141.62(b)                  3     141.23(a), (c)
    9. Fluoride.....................                  2          141.62(b)                  3     141.23(a), (c)
    10. Mercury (inorganic).........                  2          141.62(b)                  3     141.23(a), (c)
    11. Nitrate.....................                  1          141.62(b)             8 1, 3    141.23(a), (d),
                                                                                                    141.23(f)(2)
    12. Nitrite.....................                  1          141.62(b)             8 1, 3    141.23(a), (e),
                                                                                                    141.23(f)(2)
    13. Total Nitrate and Nitrite...                  1          141.62(b)                  3          141.23(a)
    14. Selenium....................                  2          141.62(b)                  3     141.23(a), (c)
    15. Thallium....................                  2          141.62(b)                  3     141.23(a), (c)
C. Lead and Copper Rule (Action
 Level for lead is 0.015 mg/L, for
 copper is 1.3 mg/L)
    1. Lead and Copper Rule (TT)....                  2      141.80-141.85                  3      141.86-141.89
D. Synthetic Organic Chemicals
 (SOCs)
    1. 2,4-D........................                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    2. 2,4,5-TP (Silvex)............                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    3. Alachlor.....................                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    4. Atrazine.....................                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    5. Benzo(a)pyrene (PAHs)........                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    6. Carbofuran...................                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    7. Chlordane....................                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    8. Dalapon......................                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    9. Di (2-ethylhexyl) adipate....                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    10. Di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate.                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    11. Dibromochloropropane........                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    12. Dinoseb.....................                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    13. Dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD).......                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    14. Diquat......................                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    15. Endothall...................                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    16. Endrin......................                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    17. Ethylene dibromide..........                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    18. Glyphosate..................                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    19. Heptachlor..................                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    20. Heptachlor epoxide..........                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    21. Hexachlorobenzene...........                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    22. Hexachlorocyclo-pentadiene..                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    23. Lindane.....................                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)

[[Page 26041]]

 
    24. Methoxychlor................                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    25. Oxamyl (Vydate).............                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    26. Pentachlorophenol...........                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    27. Picloram....................                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    28. Polychlorinated biphenyls                     2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
     (PCBs).........................
    29. Simazine....................                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
    30. Toxaphene...................                  2          141.61(c)                  3          141.24(h)
E. Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs)
    1. Benzene......................                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
    2. Carbon tetrachloride.........                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
    3. Chlorobenzene                                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
     (monochlorobenzene)............
    4. o-Dichlorobenzene............                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
    5. p-Dichlorobenzene............                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
    6. 1,2-Dichloroethane...........                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
    7. 1,1-Dichloroethylene.........                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
    8. cis-1,2-Dichloroethylene.....                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
    9. trans-1,2-Dichloroethylene...                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
    10. Dichloromethane.............                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
    11. 1,2-Dichloropropane.........                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
    12. Ethylbenzene................                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
    13. Styrene.....................                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
    14. Tetrachloroethylene.........                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
    15. Toluene.....................                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
    16. 1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene......                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
    17. 1,1,1-Trichloroethane.......                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
    18. 1,1,2-Trichloroethane.......                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
    19. Trichloroethylene...........                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
    20. Vinyl chloride..............                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
    21. Xylenes (total).............                  2          141.61(a)                  3          141.24(f)
F. Radioactive Contaminants
    1. Beta/photon emitters.........                  2             141.16                  3         141.25(a),
                                                                                                       141.26(b)
    2. Alpha emitters...............                  2          141.15(b)                  3         141.25(a),
                                                                                                       141.26(a)
    3. Combined radium (226 & 228)..                  2          141.15(a)                  3         141.25(a),
                                                                                                       141.26(a)
G. Disinfection Byproducts (DBPs),
 Byproduct Precursors, Disinfectant
 Residuals. Where disinfection is
 used in the treatment of drinking
 water, disinfectants combine with
 organic and inorganic matter
 present in water to form chemicals
 called disinfection byproducts
 (DBPs). EPA sets standards for
 controlling the levels of
 disinfectants and DBPs in drinking
 water, including trihalomethanes
 (THMs) and haloacetic acids
 (HAAs).9
    1. Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs)                  2         10 141.12,                  3            141.30,
                                                                 141.64(a)                        141.132(a)-(b)
    2. Haloacetic Acids (HAA5)......                  2          141.64(a)                  3     141.132(a)-(b)
    3. Bromate......................                  2          141.64(a)                  3     141.132(a)-(b)
    4. Chlorite.....................                  2          141.64(a)                  3     141.132(a)-(b)
    5. Chlorine (MRDL)..............                  2          141.65(a)                  3    141.132(a), (c)
    6. Chloramine (MRDL)............                  2          141.65(a)                  3    141.132(a), (c)
    7. Chlorine dioxide (MRDL),                       2         141.65(a),            2 11, 3   141.132(a), (c),
     where any 2 consecutive daily                           141.133(c)(3)                         141.133(c)(2)
     samples at entrance to
     distribution system only are
     above MRDL.....................
    8. Chlorine dioxide (MRDL),                    12 1         141.65(a),                  1   141.132(a), (c),
     where sample(s) in distribution                         141.133(c)(3)                         141.133(c)(2)
     system the next day are also
     above MRDL.....................
    9. Control of DBP precursors--                    2     141.135(a)-(b)                  3    141.132(a), (d)
     TOC (TT).......................
    10. Bench marking and                           N/A                N/A                  3            141.172
     disinfection profiling.........
    11. Development of monitoring                   N/A                N/A                  3         141.132(f)
     plan...........................
H. Other Treatment Techniques
    1. Acrylamide (TT)..............                  2            141.111                N/A                N/A
    2. Epichlorohydrin (TT).........                  2            141.111                N/A                N/A
II. Unregulated Contaminant
 Monitoring: 13
A. Unregulated contaminants.........                N/A                N/A                  3             141.40
B. Nickel...........................                N/A                N/A                  3     141.23(c), (k)

[[Page 26042]]

 
III. Public Notification for
 Variances and Exemptions:
A. Operation under a variance or                      3     14 1415, 1416,                N/A                N/A
 exemption..........................
B. Violation of conditions of a                       2     1415, 1416, 15                N/A                N/A
 variance or exemption..............                               142.307
IV. Other Situations Requiring
 Public Notification:
A. Fluoride secondary maximum                         3              143.3                N/A                N/A
 contaminant level (SMCL) exceedance
B. Exceedance of nitrate MCL for non-                 1          141.11(d)                N/A                N/A
 community systems, as allowed by
 primacy agency.....................
C. Availability of unregulated                        3             141.40                N/A                N/A
 contaminant monitoring data........
D. Waterborne disease outbreak......                  1             141.2,                N/A                N/A
                                                          141.71(c)(2)(ii)
E. Other waterborne emergency 16....                  1                N/A                N/A                N/A
F. Other situations as determined by         17 1, 2, 3                N/A                N/A                N/A
 primacy agency.....................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Appendix A--Endnotes

    1. Violations and other situations not listed in this table 
(e.g., reporting violations and failure to prepare Consumer 
Confidence Reports), do not require notice, unless otherwise 
determined by the primary agency. Primacy agencies may, at their 
option, also require a more stringent public notice tier (e.g., Tier 
1 instead of Tier 2 or Tier 2 instead of Tier 3) for specific 
violations and situations listed in this Appendix, as authorized 
under Sec. 141.202(a) and Sec. 141.203(a).
    2. MCL--Maximum contaminant level, MRDL--Maximum residual 
disinfectant level, TT--Treatment technique
    3. The term Violations of National Primary Drinking Water 
Regulations (NPDWR) is used here to include violations of MCL, MRDL, 
treatment technique, monitoring, and testing procedure requirements.
    4. Failure to test for fecal coliform or E. coli is a Tier 1 
violation if testing is not done after any repeat sample tests 
positive for coliform. All other total coliform monitoring and 
testing procedure violations are Tier 3.
    5. Systems that violate the turbidity MCL of 5 NTU based on an 
average of measurements over two consecutive days must consult with 
the primacy agency within 24 hours after learning of the violation. 
Based on this consultation, the primacy agency may subsequently 
decide to elevate the violation to Tier 1. If a system is unable to 
make contact with the primacy agency in the 24-hour period, the 
violation is automatically elevated to Tier 1.
    6. Systems with treatment technique violations involving a 
single exceedance of a maximum turbidity limit under the Surface 
Water Treatment Rule (SWTR) or the Interim Enhanced Surface Water 
Treatment Rule (IESWTR) are required to consult with the primacy 
agency within 24 hours after learning of the violation. Based on 
this consultation, the primacy agency may subsequently decide to 
elevate the violation to Tier 1. If a system is unable to make 
contact with the primacy agency in the 24-hour period, the violation 
is automatically elevated to Tier 1.
    7. Most of the requirements of the Interim Enhanced Surface 
Water Treatment Rule (63 FR 69477) (Secs. 141.170-141.171, 141.173-
141.174) become effective January 1, 2002 for Subpart H systems 
(surface water systems and ground water systems under the direct 
influence of surface water) serving at least 10,000 persons. 
However, Sec. 141.172 has some requirements that become effective as 
early as April 16, 1999. The Surface Water Treatment Rule remains in 
effect for systems serving at least 10,000 persons even after 2002; 
the Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule adds additional 
requirements and does not in many cases supercede the SWTR.
    8. Failure to take a confirmation sample within 24 hours for 
nitrate or nitrite after an initial sample exceeds the MCL is a Tier 
1 violation. Other monitoring violations for nitrate are Tier 3.
    9. Subpart H community and non-transient non-community systems 
serving 10,000 must comply with new DBP MCLs, 
disinfectant MRDLs, and related monitoring requirements beginning 
January 1, 2002. All other community and non-transient non-community 
systems must meet the MCLs and MRDLs beginning January 1, 2004. 
Subpart H transient non-community systems serving 10,000 or more 
persons and using chlorine dioxide as a disinfectant or oxidant must 
comply with the chlorine dioxide MRDL beginning January 1, 2002. 
Subpart H transient non-community systems serving fewer than 10,000 
persons and using only ground water not under the direct influence 
of surface water and using chlorine dioxide as a disinfectant or 
oxidant must comply with the chlorine dioxide MRDL beginning January 
1, 2004.
    10. Sec. 141.12 will no longer apply after January 1, 2004.
    11. Failure to monitor for chlorine dioxide at the entrance to 
the distribution system the day after exceeding the MRDL at the 
entrance to the distribution system is a Tier 2 violation.
    12. If any daily sample taken at the entrance to the 
distribution system exceeds the MRDL for chlorine dioxide and one or 
more samples taken in the distribution system the next day exceed 
the MRDL, Tier 1 notification is required. Failure to take the 
required samples in the distribution system after the MRDL is 
exceeded at the entry point also triggers Tier 1 notification.
    13. Some water systems must monitor for certain unregulated 
contaminants listed in Sec. 141.40.
    14. This citation refers to Secs. 1415 and 1416 of the Safe 
Drinking Water Act. Secs. 1415 and 1416 require that ``a schedule 
prescribed . . . for a public water system granted a variance [or 
exemption] shall require compliance by the system . . .''
    15. In addition to Secs. 1415 and 1416 of the Safe Drinking 
Water Act, 40 CFR 142.307 specifies the items and schedule 
milestones that must be included in a variance for small systems.
    16. Other waterborne emergencies require a Tier 1 public notice 
under Sec. 141.202(a) for situations that do not meet the definition 
of a waterborne disease outbreak given in 40 CFR 141.2 but that 
still have the potential to have serious adverse effects on health 
as a result of short-term exposure. These could include outbreaks 
not related to treatment deficiencies, as well as situations that 
have the potential to cause outbreaks, such as failures or 
significant interruption in water treatment processes, natural 
disasters that disrupt the water supply or distribution system, 
chemical spills, or unexpected loading of possible pathogens into 
the source water.
    17. Primacy agencies may place other situations in any tier they 
believe appropriate, based on threat to public health.

[[Page 26043]]



         Appendix B to Subpart Q of Part 141.--Standard Health Effects Language for Public Notification
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                          Standard health effects language for
          Contaminant              MCLG \1\ mg/L       MCL \2\ mg/L               public notification
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
National Primary Drinking
 Water Regulations (NPDWR):
A. Microbiological
 Contaminants:
    1a. Total coliform........  Zero                See footnote \3\   Coliforms are bacteria that are naturally
                                                                        present in the environment and are used
                                                                        as an indicator that other, potentially-
                                                                        harmful, bacteria may be present.
                                                                        Coliforms were found in more samples
                                                                        than allowed and this was a warning of
                                                                        potential problems.
    1b. Fecal coliform/E. coli  Zero                Zero               Fecal coliforms and E. coli are bacteria
                                                                        whose presence indicates that the water
                                                                        may be contaminated with human or animal
                                                                        wastes. Microbes in these wastes can
                                                                        cause short-term effects, such as
                                                                        diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches, or
                                                                        other symptoms. They may pose a special
                                                                        health risk for infants, young children,
                                                                        some of the elderly, and people with
                                                                        severely compromised immune systems.
    2a. Turbidity (MCL) \4\...  None                1 NTU \5\/5 NTU    Turbidity has no health effects. However,
                                                                        turbidity can interfere with
                                                                        disinfection and provide a medium for
                                                                        microbial growth. Turbidity may indicate
                                                                        the presence of disease-causing
                                                                        organisms. These organisms include
                                                                        bacteria, viruses, and parasites that
                                                                        can cause symptoms such as nausea,
                                                                        cramps, diarrhea and associated
                                                                        headaches.
    2b. Turbidity (SWTR TT)     None                TT \7\             Turbidity has no health effects. However,
     \6\.                                                               turbidity can interfere with
                                                                        disinfection and provide a medium for
                                                                        microbial growth. Turbidity may indicate
                                                                        the presence of disease-causing
                                                                        organisms. These organisms include
                                                                        bacteria, viruses, and parasites that
                                                                        can cause symptoms such as nausea,
                                                                        cramps, diarrhea and associated
                                                                        headaches.
    2c. Turbidity (IESWTR TT)   None                TT                 Turbidity has no health effects. However,
     \8\.                                                               turbidity can interfere with
                                                                        disinfection and provide a medium for
                                                                        microbial growth. Turbidity may indicate
                                                                        the presence of disease-causing
                                                                        organisms. These organisms include
                                                                        bacteria, viruses, and parasites that
                                                                        can cause symptoms such as nausea,
                                                                        cramps, diarrhea and associated
                                                                        headaches.
B. Surface Water Treatment
 Rule (SWTR) and Interim
 Enhanced Surface Water
 Treatment Rule (IESWTR)
 violations:
    3. Giardia lamblia (SWTR/   Zero                TT \10\            Inadequately treated water may contain
     IESWTR).                                                           disease-causing organisms. These
                                                                        organisms include bacteria, viruses, and
                                                                        parasites which can cause symptoms such
                                                                        as nausea, cramps, diarrhea, and
                                                                        associated headaches.
    4. Viruses (SWTR/IESWTR)..
    5. Heterotrophic plate
     count (HPC) bacteria \9\
     (SWTR/IESWTR).
    6. Legionella (SWTR/
     IESWTR).
    7. Cryptosporidium
     (IESWTR).
    8. Antimony...............  0.006               0.006              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        antimony well in excess of the MCL over
                                                                        many years could experience increases in
                                                                        blood cholesterol and decreases in blood
                                                                        sugar.
    9. Arsenic................  None                0.05               Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        arsenic in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could experience skin damage or
                                                                        problems with their circulatory system,
                                                                        and may have an increased risk of
                                                                        getting cancer.
    10. Asbestos (10 m).                                                              asbestos in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years may have an increased risk of
                                                                        developing benign intestinal polyps.
    11. Barium................  2                   2                  Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        barium in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could experience an increase in
                                                                        their blood pressure.
    12. Beryllium.............  0.004               0.004              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        beryllium well in excess of the MCL over
                                                                        many years could develop intestinal
                                                                        lesions.
    13. Cadmium...............  0.005               0.005              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        cadmium in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could experience kidney damage.
    14. Chromium (total)......  0.1                 0.1                Some people who use water containing
                                                                        chromium well in excess of the MCL over
                                                                        many years could experience allergic
                                                                        dermatitis.
    15. Cyanide...............  0.2                 0.2                Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        cyanide well in excess of the MCL over
                                                                        many years could experience nerve damage
                                                                        or problems with their thyroid.
    16. Fluoride..............  4.0                 4.0                Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        fluoride in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could get bone disease, including
                                                                        pain and tenderness of the bones.
                                                                        Fluoride in drinking water at half the
                                                                        MCL or more may cause mottling of
                                                                        children's teeth, usually in children
                                                                        less than nine years old. Mottling, also
                                                                        known as dental fluorosis, may include
                                                                        brown staining and/or pitting of the
                                                                        teeth, and occurs only in developing
                                                                        teeth before they erupt from the gums.
    17. Mercury (inorganic)...  0.002               0.002              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        inorganic mercury well in excess of the
                                                                        MCL over many years could experience
                                                                        kidney damage.

[[Page 26044]]

 
    18. Nitrate...............  10                  10                 Infants below the age of six months who
                                                                        drink water containing nitrate in excess
                                                                        of the MCL could become seriously ill
                                                                        and, if untreated, may die. Symptoms
                                                                        include shortness of breath and blue
                                                                        baby syndrome.
    19. Nitrite...............  1                   1                  Infants below the age of six months who
                                                                        drink water containing nitrite in excess
                                                                        of the MCL could become seriously ill
                                                                        and, if untreated, may die. Symptoms
                                                                        include shortness of breath and blue
                                                                        baby syndrome.
    20. Total Nitrate and       10                  10                 Infants below the age of six months who
     Nitrite.                                                           drink water containing nitrate and
                                                                        nitrite in excess of the MCL could
                                                                        become seriously ill and, if untreated,
                                                                        may die. Symptoms include shortness of
                                                                        breath and blue baby syndrome.
    21. Selenium..............  0.05                0.05               Selenium is an essential nutrient.
                                                                        However, some people who drink water
                                                                        containing selenium in excess of the MCL
                                                                        over many years could experience hair or
                                                                        fingernail losses, numbness in fingers
                                                                        or toes, or problems with their
                                                                        circulation.
    22. Thallium..............  0.0005              0.002              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        thallium in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could experience hair loss,
                                                                        changes in their blood, or problems with
                                                                        their kidneys, intestines, or liver.
C. Lead and Copper Rule:
    23. Lead..................  Zero                TT \12\            Infants and children who drink water
                                                                        containing lead in excess of the action
                                                                        level could experience delays in their
                                                                        physical or mental development. Children
                                                                        could show slight deficits in attention
                                                                        span and learning abilities. Adults who
                                                                        drink this water over many years could
                                                                        develop kidney problems or high blood
                                                                        pressure.
    24. Copper................  1.3                 TT \13\            Copper is an essential nutrient, but some
                                                                        people who drink water containing copper
                                                                        in excess of the action level over a
                                                                        relatively short amount of time could
                                                                        experience gastrointestinal distress.
                                                                        Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        copper in excess of the action level
                                                                        over many years could suffer liver or
                                                                        kidney damage. People with Wilson's
                                                                        Disease should consult their personal
                                                                        doctor. 11D. Synthetic Organic Chemicals
                                                                        (SOCs):
    25. 2,4-D.................  0.07                0.07               Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        the weed killer 2,4-D well in excess of
                                                                        the MCL over many years could experience
                                                                        problems with their kidneys, liver, or
                                                                        adrenal glands.
    26. 2,4,5-TP (Silvex).....  0.05                0.05               Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        silvex in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could experience liver problems.
    27. Alachlor..............  Zero                0.002              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        alachlor in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could have problems with their
                                                                        eyes, liver, kidneys, or spleen, or
                                                                        experience anemia, and may have an
                                                                        increased risk of getting cancer.
    28. Atrazine..............  0.003               0.003              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        atrazine well in excess of the MCL over
                                                                        many years could experience problems
                                                                        with their cardiovascular system or
                                                                        reproductive difficulties.
    29. Benzo(a)pyrene (PAHs).  Zero                0.0002             Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        benzo(a)pyrene in excess of the MCL over
                                                                        many years may experience reproductive
                                                                        difficulties and may have an increased
                                                                        risk of getting cancer.
    30. Carbofuran............  0.04                0.04               Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        carbofuran in excess of the MCL over
                                                                        many years could experience problems
                                                                        with their blood, or nervous or
                                                                        reproductive systems.
    31. Chlordane.............  Zero                0.002              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        chlordane in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could experience problems with
                                                                        their liver or nervous system, and may
                                                                        have an increased risk of getting
                                                                        cancer.
    32. Dalapon...............  0.2                 0.2                Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        dalapon well in excess of the MCL over
                                                                        many years could experience minor kidney
                                                                        changes.
    33. Di (2-ethylhexyl)       0.4                 0.4                Some people who drink water containing di
     adipate.                                                           (2-ethylhexyl) adipate well in excess of
                                                                        the MCL over many years could experience
                                                                        general toxic effects or reproductive
                                                                        difficulties.
    34. Di (2-ethylhexyl)       Zero                0.006              Some people who drink water containing di
     phthalate.                                                         (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate in excess of
                                                                        the MCL over many years may have
                                                                        problems with their liver, or experience
                                                                        reproductive difficulties, and may have
                                                                        an increased risk of getting cancer.
    35. Dibromochloropropane    Zero                0.0002             Some people who drink water containing
     (DBCP).                                                            DBCP in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could experience reproductive
                                                                        difficulties and may have an increased
                                                                        risk of getting cancer.
    36. Dinoseb...............  0.007               0.007              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        dinoseb well in excess of the MCL over
                                                                        many years could experience reproductive
                                                                        difficulties.
    37. Dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD).  Zero                3 x 10 -8          Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        dioxin in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could experience reproductive
                                                                        difficulties and may have an increased
                                                                        risk of getting cancer.
    38. Diquat................  0.02                0.02               Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        diquat in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could get cataracts.

[[Page 26045]]

 
    39. Endothall.............  0.1                 0.1                Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        endothall in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could experience problems with
                                                                        their stomach or intestines.
    40. Endrin................  0.002               0.002              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        endrin in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could experience liver problems.
    41. Ethylene dibromide....  Zero                0.00005            Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        ethylene dibromide in excess of the MCL
                                                                        over many years could experience
                                                                        problems with their liver, stomach,
                                                                        reproductive system, or kidneys, and may
                                                                        have an increased risk of getting
                                                                        cancer.
    42. Glyphosate............  0.7                 0.7                Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        glyphosate in excess of the MCL over
                                                                        many years could experience problems
                                                                        with their kidneys or reproductive
                                                                        difficulties.
    43. Heptachlor............  Zero                0.0004             Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        heptachlor in excess of the MCL over
                                                                        many years could experience liver damage
                                                                        and may have an increased risk of
                                                                        getting cancer.
    44. Heptachlor epoxide....  Zero                0.0002             Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        heptachlor epoxide in excess of the MCL
                                                                        over many years could experience liver
                                                                        damage, and may have an increased risk
                                                                        of getting cancer.
    45. Hexachlorobenzene.....  Zero                0.001              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        hexachlorobenzene in excess of the MCL
                                                                        over many years could experience
                                                                        problems with their liver or kidneys, or
                                                                        adverse reproductive effects, and may
                                                                        have an increased risk of getting
                                                                        cancer.
    46. Hexachlorocyclo-        0.05                0.05               Some people who drink water containing
     pentadiene.                                                        hexachlorocyclopentadiene well in excess
                                                                        of the MCL over many years could
                                                                        experience problems with their kidneys
                                                                        or stomach.
    47. Lindane...............  0.0002              0.0002             Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        lindane in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could experience problems with
                                                                        their kidneys or liver.
    48. Methoxychlor..........  0.04                0.04               Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        methoxychlor in excess of the MCL over
                                                                        many years could experience reproductive
                                                                        difficulties.
    49. Oxamyl (Vydate).......  0.2                 0.2                Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        oxamyl in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could experience slight nervous
                                                                        system effects.
    50. Pentachlorophenol.....  Zero                0.001              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        pentachlorophenol in excess of the MCL
                                                                        over many years could experience
                                                                        problems with their liver or kidneys,
                                                                        and may have an increased risk of
                                                                        getting cancer.
    51. Picloram..............  0.5                 0.5                Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        picloram in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could experience problems with
                                                                        their liver.
    52. Polychlorinated         Zero                0.0005             Some people who drink water containing
     biphenyls (PCBs).                                                  PCBs in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could experience changes in their
                                                                        skin, problems with their thymus gland,
                                                                        immune deficiencies, or reproductive or
                                                                        nervous system difficulties, and may
                                                                        have an increased risk of getting
                                                                        cancer.
    53. Simazine..............  0.004               0.004              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        simazine in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could experience problems with
                                                                        their blood.
    54. Toxaphene.............  Zero                0.003              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        toxaphene in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could have problems with their
                                                                        kidneys, liver, or thyroid, and may have
                                                                        an increased risk of getting cancer.
                                                                        11E. Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOCs):
    55. Benzene...............  Zero                0.005              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        benzene in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could experience anemia or a
                                                                        decrease in blood platelets, and may
                                                                        have an increased risk of getting
                                                                        cancer.
    56. Carbon tetrachloride..  Zero                0.005              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        carbon tetrachloride in excess of the
                                                                        MCL over many years could experience
                                                                        problems with their liver and may have
                                                                        an increased risk of getting cancer.
    57. Chlorobenzene           0.1                 0.1                Some people who drink water containing
     (monochloro- benzene).                                             chlorobenzene in excess of the MCL over
                                                                        many years could experience problems
                                                                        with their liver or kidneys.
    58. o-Dichlorobenzene.....  0.6                 0.6                Some people who drink water containing o-
                                                                        dichlorobenzene well in excess of the
                                                                        MCL over many years could experience
                                                                        problems with their liver, kidneys, or
                                                                        circulatory systems.
    59. p-Dichlorobenzene.....  0.075               0.075              Some people who drink water containing p-
                                                                        dichlorobenzene in excess of the MCL
                                                                        over many years could experience anemia,
                                                                        damage to their liver, kidneys, or
                                                                        spleen, or changes in their blood.
    60. 1,2-Dichloroethane....  Zero                0.005              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        1,2-dichloroethane in excess of the MCL
                                                                        over many years may have an increased
                                                                        risk of getting cancer.
    61. 1,1-Dichloroethylene..  0.007               0.007              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        1,1-dichloroethylene in excess of the
                                                                        MCL over many years could experience
                                                                        problems with their liver.

[[Page 26046]]

 
    62. cis-1,2-                0.07                0.07               Some people who drink water containing
     Dichloroethylene.                                                  cis-1,2-dichloroethylene in excess of
                                                                        the MCL over many years could experience
                                                                        problems with their liver.
    63. trans-1,2-              0.1                 0.1                Some people who drink water containing
     Dichloroethylene.                                                  trans-1,2-dichloroethylene well in
                                                                        excess of the MCL over many years could
                                                                        experience problems with their liver.
    64. Dichloromethane.......  Zero                0.005              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        dichloromethane in excess of the MCL
                                                                        over many years could have liver
                                                                        problems and may have an increased risk
                                                                        of getting cancer.
    65. 1,2-Dichloropropane...  Zero                0.005              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        1,2-dichloropropane in excess of the MCL
                                                                        over many years may have an increased
                                                                        risk of getting cancer.
    66. Ethylbenzene..........  0.7                 0.7                Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        ethylbenzene well in excess of the MCL
                                                                        over many years could experience
                                                                        problems with their liver or kidneys.
    67. Styrene...............  0.1                 0.1                Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        styrene well in excess of the MCL over
                                                                        many years could have problems with
                                                                        their liver, kidneys, or circulatory
                                                                        system.
    68. Tetrachloroethylene...  Zero                0.005              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        tetrachloroethylene in excess of the MCL
                                                                        over many years could have problems with
                                                                        their liver, and may have an increased
                                                                        risk of getting cancer.
    69. Toluene...............  1                   1                  Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        toluene well in excess of the MCL over
                                                                        many years could have problems with
                                                                        their nervous system, kidneys, or liver.
    70. 1,2,4-Trichlorobenzene  0.07                0.07               Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        1,2,4-trichlorobenzene well in excess of
                                                                        the MCL over many years could experience
                                                                        changes in their adrenal glands.
    71. 1,1,1-Trichloroethane.  0.2                 0.2                Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        1,1,1-trichloroethane in excess of the
                                                                        MCL over many years could experience
                                                                        problems with their liver, nervous
                                                                        system, or circulatory system.
    72. 1,1,2-Trichloroethane.  0.003               0.005              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        1,1,2-trichloroethane well in excess of
                                                                        the MCL over many years could have
                                                                        problems with their liver, kidneys, or
                                                                        immune systems.
    73. Trichloroethylene.....  Zero                0.005              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        trichloroethylene in excess of the MCL
                                                                        over many years could experience
                                                                        problems with their liver and may have
                                                                        an increased risk of getting cancer.
    74. Vinyl chloride........  Zero                0.002              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        vinyl chloride in excess of the MCL over
                                                                        many years may have an increased risk of
                                                                        getting cancer.
    75. Xylenes (total).......  10                  10                 Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        xylenes in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years could experience damage to their
                                                                        nervous system. 11F. Radioactive
                                                                        Contaminants:
    76. Beta/photon emitters..  Zero                4 mrem/yr \14\     Certain minerals are radioactive and may
                                                                        emit forms of radiation known as photons
                                                                        and beta radiation. Some people who
                                                                        drink water containing beta and photon
                                                                        emitters in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years may have an increased risk of
                                                                        getting cancer.
    77. Alpha emitters........  Zero                15 pCi/L \15\      Certain minerals are radioactive and may
                                                                        emit a form of radiation known as alpha
                                                                        radiation. Some people who drink water
                                                                        containing alpha emitters in excess of
                                                                        the MCL over many years may have an
                                                                        increased risk of getting cancer.
    78. Combined radium (226 &  Zero                5 pCi/L            Some people who drink water containing
     228).                                                              radium 226 or 228 in excess of the MCL
                                                                        over many years may have an increased
                                                                        risk of getting cancer.
G. Disinfection Byproducts
 (DBPs), Byproduct Precursors,
 and Disinfectant Residuals:
 Where disinfection is used in
 the treatment of drinking
 water, disinfectants combine
 with organic and inorganic
 matter present in water to
 form chemicals called
 disinfection byproducts
 (DBPs). EPA sets standards
 for controlling the levels of
 disinfectants and DBPs in
 drinking water, including
 trihalomethanes (THMs) and
 haloacetic acids (HAAs): \16\
    79. Total trihalomethanes   N/A                 0.10/0.08017 18    Some people who drink water containing
     (TTHMs).                                                           trihalomethanes in excess of the MCL
                                                                        over many years may experience problems
                                                                        with their liver, kidneys, or central
                                                                        nervous system, and may have an
                                                                        increased risk of getting cancer.

[[Page 26047]]

 
    80. Haloacetic Acids (HAA)  N/A                 0.060 \19\         Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        haloacetic acids in excess of the MCL
                                                                        over many years may have an increased
                                                                        risk of getting cancer.
    81. Bromate...............  Zero                0.010              Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        bromate in excess of the MCL over many
                                                                        years may have an increased risk of
                                                                        getting cancer.
    82. Chlorite..............  0.08                1.0                Some infants and young children who drink
                                                                        water containing chlorite in excess of
                                                                        the MCL could experience nervous system
                                                                        effects. Similar effects may occur in
                                                                        fetuses of pregnant women who drink
                                                                        water containing chlorite in excess of
                                                                        the MCL. Some people may experience
                                                                        anemia.
    83. Chlorine..............  4 (MRDLG) \20\      4.0 (MRDL) \21\    Some people who use water containing
                                                                        chlorine well in excess of the MRDL
                                                                        could experience irritating effects to
                                                                        their eyes and nose. Some people who
                                                                        drink water containing chlorine well in
                                                                        excess of the MRDL could experience
                                                                        stomach discomfort.
    84. Chloramines...........  4 (MRDLG)           4.0 (MRDL)         Some people who use water containing
                                                                        chloramines well in excess of the MRDL
                                                                        could experience irritating effects to
                                                                        their eyes and nose. Some people who
                                                                        drink water containing chloramines well
                                                                        in excess of the MRDL could experience
                                                                        stomach discomfort or anemia.
    85a. Chlorine dioxide,      0.8 (MRDLG)         0.8 (MRDL)         Some infants and young children who drink
     where any 2 consecutive                                            water containing chlorine dioxide in
     daily samples taken at                                             excess of the MRDL could experience
     the entrance to the                                                nervous system effects. Similar effects
     distribution system are                                            may occur in fetuses of pregnant women
     above the MRDL.                                                    who drink water containing chlorine
                                                                        dioxide in excess of the MRDL. Some
                                                                        people may experience anemia.
                                                                       Add for public notification only: The
                                                                        chlorine dioxide violations reported
                                                                        today are the result of exceedances at
                                                                        the treatment facility only, not within
                                                                        the distribution system which delivers
                                                                        water to consumers. Continued compliance
                                                                        with chlorine dioxide levels within the
                                                                        distribution system minimizes the
                                                                        potential risk of these violations to
                                                                        consumers.
    85b. Chlorine dioxide,      0.8 (MRDLG)         0.8 (MRDL)         Some infants and young children who drink
     where one or more                                                  water containing chlorine dioxide in
     distribution system                                                excess of the MRDL could experience
     samples are above the                                              nervous system effects. Similar effects
     MRDL.                                                              may occur in fetuses of pregnant women
                                                                        who drink water containing chlorine
                                                                        dioxide in excess of the MRDL. Some
                                                                        people may experience anemia.
                                                                       Add for public notification only: The
                                                                        chlorine dioxide violations reported
                                                                        today include exceedances of the EPA
                                                                        standard within the distribution system
                                                                        which delivers water to consumers.
                                                                        Violations of the chlorine dioxide
                                                                        standard within the distribution system
                                                                        may harm human health based on short-
                                                                        term exposures. Certain groups,
                                                                        including fetuses, infants, and young
                                                                        children, may be especially susceptible
                                                                        to nervous system effects from excessive
                                                                        chlorine dioxide exposure.
    86. Control of DBP          None                TT                 Total organic carbon (TOC) has no health
     precursors (TOC).                                                  effects. However, total organic carbon
                                                                        provides a medium for the formation of
                                                                        disinfection byproducts. These
                                                                        byproducts include trihalomethanes
                                                                        (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs).
                                                                        Drinking water containing these
                                                                        byproducts in excess of the MCL may lead
                                                                        to adverse health effects, liver or
                                                                        kidney problems, or nervous system
                                                                        effects, and may lead to an increased
                                                                        risk of getting cancer.
H. Other Treatment Techniques:
    87. Acrylamide............  Zero                TT                 Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        high levels of acrylamide over a long
                                                                        period of time could have problems with
                                                                        their nervous system or blood, and may
                                                                        have an increased risk of getting
                                                                        cancer.
    88. Epichlorohydrin.......  Zero                TT                 Some people who drink water containing
                                                                        high levels of epichlorohydrin over a
                                                                        long period of time could experience
                                                                        stomach problems, and may have an
                                                                        increased risk of getting cancer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Appendix B--Endnotes

    1. MCLG--Maximum contaminant level goal
    2. MCL--Maximum contaminant level
    3. For water systems analyzing at least 40 samples per month, no 
more than 5.0 percent of the monthly samples may be positive for 
total coliforms. For systems analyzing fewer than 40 samples per 
month, no more than one sample per month may be positive for total 
coliforms.
    4. There are various regulations that set turbidity standards 
for different types of systems, including 40 CFR 141.13, the 1989 
Surface Water Treatment Rule, and the 1998 Interim Enhanced Surface 
Water Treatment Rule. The MCL for the monthly turbidity average is 1 
NTU; the MCL for the 2-day average is 5 NTU for systems that are 
required to filter but have not yet installed filtration (40 CFR 
141.13).
    5. NTU--Nephelometric turbidity unit
    6. There are various regulations that set turbidity standards 
for different types of systems, including 40 CFR 141.13, the 1989 
Surface Water Treatment Rule (SWTR), and the 1998 Interim Enhanced 
Surface Water Treatment Rule (IESWTR). Systems subject to the 
Surface Water Treatment Rule (both filtered and unfiltered) may not 
exceed 5 NTU. In addition, in filtered systems, 95 percent of 
samples each month must not exceed 0.5 NTU in systems using 
conventional or direct filtration and must not exceed 1 NTU in 
systems using slow sand or diatomaceous earth filtration or other 
filtration technologies approved by the primacy agency.
    7. TT--Treatment technique
    8. There are various regulations that set turbidity standards 
for different types of

[[Page 26048]]

systems, including 40 CFR 141.13, the 1989 Surface Water Treatment 
Rule (SWTR), and the 1998 Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment 
Rule (IESWTR). For systems subject to the IESWTR (systems serving at 
least 10,000 people, using surface water or ground water under the 
direct influence of surface water), that use conventional filtration 
or direct filtration, after January 1, 2002, the turbidity level of 
a system's combined filter effluent may not exceed 0.3 NTU in at 
least 95 percent of monthly measurements, and the turbidity level of 
a system's combined filter effluent must not exceed 1 NTU at any 
time. Systems subject to the IESWTR using technologies other than 
conventional, direct, slow sand, or diatomaceous earth filtration 
must meet turbidity limits set by the primacy agency.
    9. The bacteria detected by heterotrophic plate count (HPC) are 
not necessarily harmful. HPC is simply an alternative method of 
determining disinfectant residual levels. The number of such 
bacteria is an indicator of whether there is enough disinfectant in 
the distribution system.
    10. SWTR and IESWTR treatment technique violations that involve 
turbidity exceedances may use the health effects language for 
turbidity instead.
    11. The bacteria detected by heterotrophic plate count (HPC) are 
not necessarily harmful. HPC is simply an alternative method of 
determining disinfectant residual levels. The number of such 
bacteria is an indicator of whether there is enough disinfectant in 
the distribution system.
    12. Millions fibers per liter.
    13. Action Level = 0.015 mg/L
    14. Action Level = 1.3 mg/L
    15. Millirems per years
    16. Picocuries per liter
    17. Surface water systems and ground water systems under the 
direct influence of surface water are regulated under Subpart H of 
40 CFR 141. Supbart H community and non-transient non-community 
systems serving  10,000 must comply with DBP MCLs and 
disinfectant maximum residual disinfectant levels (MRDLs) beginning 
January 1, 2002. All other community and non-transient noncommunity 
systems must meet the MCLs and MRDLs beginning January 1, 2004. 
Subpart H transient non-community systems serving 10,000 or more 
persons and using chlorine dioxide as a disinfectant or oxidant must 
comply with the chlorine dioxide MRDL beginning January 1, 2002. 
Subpart H transient non-community systems serving fewer than 10,000 
persons and systems using only ground water not under the direct 
influence of surface water and using chlorine dioxide as a 
disinfectant or oxidant must comply with the chlorine dioxide MRDL 
beginning January 1, 2004.
    18. The MCL of 0.10 mg/l for TTHMs is in effect until January 1, 
2002 for Subpart H community water systems serving 10,000 or more. 
This MCL is in effect until January 1, 2004 for community water 
systems with a population of 10,000 or more using only ground water 
not under the direct influence of surface water. After these 
deadlines, the MCL will be 0.080 mg/l. On January 1, 2004, all 
systems serving less than 10,000 will have to comply with the new 
MCL as well.
    19. The MCL for total trihalomethanes is the sum of the 
concentrations of the individual trihalomethanes.
    20. The MCL for haloacetic acids is the sum of the 
concentrations of the individual haloacetic acids.
    21. MRDLG--Maximum residual disinfectant level goal.
    22. MRDL--Maximum residual disinfectant level.

Appendix C to Subpart Q of Part 141--List of Acronyms Used in Public 
Notification Regulation

CCR  Consumer Confidence Report
CWS  Community Water System
DBP  Disinfection Byproduct
EPA  Environmental Protection Agency
HPC  Heterotrophic Plate Count
IESWTR  Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule
IOC  Inorganic Chemical
LCR  Lead and Copper Rule
MCL  Maximum Contaminant Level
MCLG  Maximum Contaminant Level Goal
MRDL  Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level
MRDLG  Maximum Residual Disinfectant Level Goal
NCWS  Non-Community Water System
NPDWR  National Primary Drinking Water Regulation
NTNCWS  Non-Transient Non-Community Water System
NTU  Nephelometric Turbidity Unit
OGWDW  Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water
OW  Office of Water
PN  Public Notification
PWS  Public Water System
SDWA  Safe Drinking Water Act
SMCL  Secondary Maximum Contaminant Level
SOC  Synthetic Organic Chemical
SWTR  Surface Water Treatment Rule
TCR  Total Coliform Rule
TT  Treatment Technique
TWS  Transient Non-Community Water System
VOC  Volatile Organic Chemical

PART 142--[AMENDED]

    1. The authority citation for Part 142 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 300f, 300g-1, 300g-2, 300 g-3, 300g-4, 300 
g-5, 300 g-6, 300 j-4, 300 j-9, and 300 j-11.


    2. Section 142.10 is amended by revising paragraph (b)(6)(v) to 
read as follows:


Sec. 142.10  Requirements for a determination of primary enforcement 
responsibility.

    (b) * * *
    (6) * * *
    (v) Authority to require public water systems to give public notice 
that is no less stringent than the EPA requirements in Subpart Q of 
Part 141 of this chapter and Sec. 142.16(a).
    3. Section 142.14 is amended by redesignating paragraph (f) as (g) 
and adding a new (f), to read as follows:


Sec. 142.14  Records kept by States.

* * * * *
    (f) Public notification records under Subpart Q of Part 141 of this 
chapter received from public water systems (including certifications of 
compliance and copies of public notices) and any state determinations 
establishing alternative public notification requirements for the water 
systems must be retained for three years.
* * * * *

    4. Section 142.15 is amended by revising paragraph (a)(1), to read 
as follows:


Sec. 142.15  Reports by States.

* * * * *
    (a) * * *
    (1) New violations by public water systems in the State during the 
previous quarter of State regulations adopted to incorporate the 
requirements of national primary drinking water regulations, including 
violations of the public notification requirements under Subpart Q of 
Part 141 of this chapter;
* * * * *

    5. Section 142.16 is amended by revising paragraph (a), to read as 
follows:


Sec. 142.16  Special primacy requirements.

    (a) State public notification requirements.
    (1) Each State that has primary enforcement authority under this 
part must submit complete and final requests for approval of program 
revisions to adopt the requirements of Subpart Q of Part 141 of this 
chapter, using the procedures in Sec. 142.12(b) through (d). At its 
option, a State may, by rule, and after notice and comment, establish 
alternative public notification requirements with respect to the form 
and content of the public notice required under Subpart Q of Part 141 
of this chapter. The alternative requirements must provide the same 
type and amount of information required under Subpart Q and must meet 
the primacy requirements under Sec. 142.10.
    (2) As part of the revised primacy program, a State must also 
establish enforceable requirements and procedures when the State adds 
to or changes the requirements under:
    (i) Table 1 to 40 CFR 141.201(a)(Item (3)(v))--To require public 
water systems to give a public notice for violations or situations 
other than those listed in Appendix A of Subpart Q of Part 141 of this 
chapter;
    (ii) 40 CFR 141.201(c)(2)--To allow public water systems, under the 
specific circumstances listed in Sec. 141.201(c)(2),

[[Page 26049]]

to limit the distribution of the public notice to persons served by the 
portion of the distribution system that is out of compliance;
    (iii) Table 1 of 40 CFR 141.202(a) (Items (5), (6), and (8))--To 
require public water systems to give a Tier 1 public notice (rather 
than a Tier 2 or Tier 3 notice) for violations or situations listed in 
Appendix A of Subpart Q of Part 141 of this chapter;
    (iv) 40 CFR 141.202(b)(3)--To require public water systems to 
comply with additional Tier 1 public notification requirements set by 
the State subsequent to the initial 24-hour Tier 1 notice, as a result 
of their consultation with the State required under 
Secs. 141.202(b)(2);
    (v) 40 CFR 141.202(c), 141.203(c) and 141.204(c)--To require a 
different form and manner of delivery for Tier 1, 2 and 3 public 
notices.
    (vi) Table 1 to 40 CFR 141.203(a) (Item (2))--To require the public 
water systems to provide a Tier 2 public notice (rather than Tier (3)) 
for monitoring or testing procedure violations specified by the State;
    (vii) 40 CFR 141.203(b)(1)--To grant public water systems an 
extension up to three months for distributing the Tier 2 public notice 
in appropriate circumstances (other than those specifically excluded in 
the rule);
    (viii) 40 CFR 141.203(b)(2)--To grant a different repeat notice 
frequency for the Tier 2 public notice in appropriate circumstances 
(other than those specifically excluded in the rule), but no less 
frequently than once per year;
    (ix) 40 CFR 141.203(b)(3)--To respond within 24 hours to a request 
for consultation by the public water system to determine whether a Tier 
1 (rather than a Tier 2) notice is required for a turbidity MCL 
violation under Sec. 141.13(b) or a SWTR/IESWTR TT violation due to a 
single exceedance of the maximum allowable turbidity limit;
    (x) 40 CFR 141.205(c)--To determine the specific multilingual 
requirement for a public water system, including defining ``large 
proportion of non-English-speaking consumers.''
* * * * *


Sec. 142.16  [Amended]

    6. Section 142.16(e) introductory text is amended by removing 
``Sec. 141.32''.

PART 143--[AMENDED]

    1. The authority citation for Part 143 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 300f et seq.


Sec. 143.5  [Removed]

    2. Part 143 is amended by removing Sec. 143.5.

[FR Doc. 00-9534 Filed 5-3-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P