Type: Law Bulletins
Date: 01/12/2011

EPA's Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Program Update

On December 28, 2010, EPA’s Office of Management and Budget completed its review of proposed draft revisions to EPA’s Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring ("UCM") program.  Through the UCM program, EPA identifies various unregulated contaminants to be monitored and reported by specified categories of drinking water providers.  An initial list of 26 unregulated contaminants was identified for monitoring in 1999, with a second list of an additional 25 contaminants released in 2007.  This third proposed list currently identifies the following 30 additional contaminants for monitoring:

VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
 – 1,1-Dichloroethane
 – 1,2,3-Trichloropropane
 – 1,3-Butadiene
 – Bromochloromethane
 – Chlorodifluoromethane
 – Chloromethane
 – Methyl bromide
 – n-Propylbenzene
 – sec-Butylbenzene

HORMONES
 – 17-a-Ethynylestradiol
 – 17-B-Estradiol
 – Equilin
 – Estriol
 – Estrone
 – Testosterone
 – 4-Androstene-3, 17-dione

METALS
 – Cobalt
 – Molybdenum
 – Strontium
 – Vanadium

PERFLUORINATED CHEMICALS
 – Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS)
 – Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)
 – Perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS)
 – Perfluoroheptanoic acid (PFHpA)
 – Perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA)
 – Perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBA)

MICOBIALS
 – Enterovirus
 – Norovirus

CHLORATE

1,4-DIOXANE

EPA selected these 30 contaminants from among the approximately 140 compounds originally identified on its Contaminant Candidate List No. 3 ("CCL3") released in 2009, after considering available health effects and occurrence information and availability of analytical methods.  The current draft refers to which such analytical methods are available for each of the proposed new contaminants.  Although the draft has not yet been released for public comment, EPA anticipates that the third round of revisions could impact approximately 4800 water utilities across the country.

For more information on EPA’s Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Program, contact Rob Bilott or any member of Taft’s environmental practice group.

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