EPA Seeks Comments on Reevaluation of Chemical Perchlorate
August 24, 2009 // Published as a news service by IHS
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking comments in an effort to reevaluate the scientific information on perchlorate in drinking water.
According to the Aug. 19, 2009 Federal Register posting, "Drinking Water: Perchlorate Supplemental Request for Comments," the EPA is seeking comments on additional approaches to analyzing data related to the agency's perchlorate regulatory determination.
These additional comments will help the EPA consider options for evaluating whether there is an opportunity for human health risk reduction of perchlorate through a national primary drinking water rule.
The analysis presented in the Federal Register notice addresses children's exposure to perchlorate, taking into account the fact that infants and children consume more water per body weight than do adults.
Section 1412 of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), as amended in 1996, requires the EPA to make a determination whether to regulate at least five contaminants from its contaminant candidate list (CCL) every five years.
Once the EPA decides to regulate a contaminant in drinking water, it must issue a proposed national primary drinking water regulation (NPDWR) and final NPDWR within certain set timeframes, according to the Federal Register notice.
To regulate a contaminant in drinking water, the EPA must determine that it meets three criteria:
- The contaminant may have an adverse effect on human health.
- The contaminant is known to occur or there is a substantial likelihood that the contaminant will occur in public water systems with a frequency and at levels of public health concern.
- Regulation of such contaminant presents a meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction for persons served by public water systems.
To date, the EPA made final regulatory determinations for 20 contaminants from CCL1 and CCL2 and has not found that any of these contaminants meet all three criteria.
The EPA will consider a range of alternatives for interpreting the available data on the level of health concern, the frequency of occurrence of perchlorate in drinking water and the opportunity for health risk reduction through a national primary drinking water standard.
These alternative interpretations may affect the agency's final regulatory determination for perchlorate.
In response to an October 2008 preliminary determination not to regulate perchlorate, the EPA received and reviewed comments from more than 32,000 individuals and organizations.
EPA will consider those comments, as well as additional comments received during the 30-day comment period on the current notice, before making a final decision on whether to regulate perchlorate under the SDWA.
The Federal Register posting is available from the EPA.
Perchlorate is both a naturally occurring and manmade chemical, and is used in the manufacture of fireworks, flares and solid rocket propellant.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).