Introduction to Drinking Water Violations

1. Introduction to Drinking Water Violations Cindy Christian Compliance & Monitoring Manager DEC Drinking Water Program Sustained Compliance Workshop September 23-24, 2010

2. Presentation Outline • What is a Public Water System • CWS and NCWS • Regulated Contaminants • Health Effects • Safe Drinking Water Act & Rules • State Primacy Requirements • Implementation and Enforcement of Rules • Violation Types • Violation Distribution

3. What is a Public Water System • A public water system is defined in the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) as “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.”

4. Regulatory Distinctions Among Water Systems

5. Water System Distribution in Alaska

6. Regulated Contaminants • A water contaminant is any physical, chemical, biological or radiological substance or matter in water • There are legal limits on the levels of certain contaminants in drinking water

7. Types of Contaminants • Acute Contaminants • Cause adverse health effects within a matter of days or hours • Microbiological • Bacteria • Viruses • Protozoa • Nitrate is only chemical with acute health effects • Chronic Contaminants • A long term effect that is possible due to exposure over many years • Chemical • Inorganics • Organics • Radionuclides • Disinfection By-Products • Lead and Copper • Arsenic

8. Secondary Contaminants • Not associated with health effects • Affect the taste, odor, color and hardness • Examples are iron, manganese, sodium and TDS • Affect the treatment processes • Secondary MCL’s

9. How Do We Get Our Regulations?

10. How Does EPA Decide Which Contaminants to Regulate? • EPA periodically publishes the Candidate Contaminant List (CCL) • The CCL is used to prioritize research and data collection to determine if the contaminant should be regulated • Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring • Regulatory Determination • Rulemaking process to develop a national primary drinking water regulation

11. Regulatory Determination • When making a determination to regulate, the SDWA requires consideration of three criteria: • the potential adverse effects of the contaminant on human health • the frequency and level of contaminant occurrence in public drinking water systems • whether regulation of the contaminant presents a meaningful opportunity for reducing public health risks

12. Developing National Primary Drinking Water Regulations Health Risks Contaminant Selected MCLG Human Exposure MCL or Treatment Technique

13. Primacy • Section 1413 of SDWA allows EPA to award primary enforcement responsibility or “primacy” to states • Most states seek primacy because it gives them flexibility to address State-specific needs and problems • All states currently have primacy, except Wyoming and District of Columbia • Primacy must be maintained – it is not permanent

14. Primacy Requirements • States must promulgate regulations at least as stringent as EPA • States have up to 4 years to develop regulations and apply for primacy • States must have procedures in place for implementing and enforcing regulations: • Inventory • Sanitary Surveys • State Certified Laboratory • Plan Review • Enforcement Authority

15. Additional Primacy Requirements • Recordkeeping and Reporting • Variances and Exemptions • Emergency Plan • Consistent Definition of Public Water System

16. Alaska Primacy • Chemical Rules (Phase I, II, IIb, and V) • Total Coliform Rule • Total Trihalomethanes (TTHM’s) • Surface Water Treatment Rules (SWTR, IESWTR, LT1) • Lead and Copper Rule and Minor Revisions • Stage 1 Disinfection/Disinfectant By-Products (D/DBP’s) • Radionuclides • Consumer Confidence Report Rule (CCR) • Arsenic Rule • Filter Backwash Recycling Rule • In process of obtaining primacy for LT2, Stage 2 and Ground Water Rule (GWR)

17. Implement Standards • Adopt New Regulations • Apply to Maintain Primacy • Implement and Enforce under Interim Primacy • Receive Primacy for New Regulations

18. Monitoring • Ensure that systems are meeting drinking water standards • Monitoring is based on: • Contaminant Type • System Size • Previous detections or exceedances

19. Reporting Requirements

20. SDWIS Data publically available through DEC and EPA Websites • DEC • Drinking Water Watch http://map.dec.state.ak.us:8080/dww/ • EPA • Annual Public Water System Statistics http://water.epa.gov/scitech/datait/databases/drink/sdwisfed/howtoaccessdata.cfm • Envirofacts - Access data for Individual water systems online http://www.epa.gov/enviro/html/sdwis/sdwis_ov.html • Download Microsoft Excel Pivot Tables of SDWIS/Fed data http://water.epa.gov/scitech/datait/databases/drink/pivottables.cfm • Online Consumer Confidence Report http://safewater.tetratech-ffx.com/ccr/index.cfm

21. Enforce Standards • States have discretion in enforcement • Preventive Actions • Sanitary Surveys • CPE’s and CTA’s • Reminder Letters • Technical Assistance and On-site Meetings • Operator Certification and Training • Remote Maintenance Workers • Outreach and Education Activities

22. Informal Enforcement Actions • Phone Calls • Warning Letters • Bilateral Compliance Agreement (BCA)

23. Formal Enforcement Actions • Notice of Violation (NOV) • Compliance Order By Consent (COBC) • Administrative Penalty • Civil Actions • Referral to EPA

24. We made 8,245 phone calls since 2006!!

25. Types of Violations • Monitoring and Reporting • Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) • Treatment Technique (TT)

33. Questions?