II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1578 

To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act with respect to consumer confidence 

reports by community water systems. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011 

Mr. TOOMEY (for himself and Mr. BOOZMAN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and 

Public Works 

A BILL 

To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act with respect to 

consumer confidence reports by community water systems. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘End Unnecessary Mail5 ers Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CONSUMER CONFIDENCE REPORTS BY COMMUNITY 

7 WATER SYSTEMS. 

8 (a) METHOD OF DELIVERING REPORT.—Section 

9 1414(c)(4)(A) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 

10 300g–3(c)(4)(A)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘The Ad2 ministrator, in consultation’’ and inserting the fol3 lowing: 

4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Adminis5 trator, in consultation’’; 

6 (2) in clause (i) (as designated by paragraph 

7 (1)), in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘to mail to 

8 each customer’’ and inserting ‘‘to provide, in accord9 ance with clause (ii) or (iii), as applicable, to each 

10 customer’’; and 

11 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

12 ‘‘(ii) MAILING REQUIREMENT FOR

13 VIOLATION OF MAXIMUM CONTAMINANT

14 LEVEL.—If a violation of the maximum 

15 contaminant level for any regulated con16 taminant has occurred during the year 

17 concerned, the regulations under clause (i) 

18 shall require the applicable community 

19 water system to mail a copy of the con20 sumer confidence report to each customer 

21 of the system. 

22 ‘‘(iii) MAILING REQUIREMENT ABSENT

23 ANY VIOLATION OF MAXIMUM CONTAMI24 NANT LEVEL.— 


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1 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—If no viola2 tion of the maximum contaminant 

3 level for any regulated contaminant 

4 has occurred during the year con5 cerned, the regulations under clause 

6 (i) shall require the applicable com7 munity water system to make the con8 sumer confidence report available by, 

9 at the discretion of the community 

10 water system— 

11 ‘‘(aa) mailing a copy of the 

12 consumer confidence report to 

13 each customer of the system; or 

14 ‘‘(bb) subject to subclause 

15 (II), making a copy of the con16 sumer confidence report available 

17 on a publicly accessible Internet 

18 site of the community water sys19 tem and by mail, at the request 

20 of a customer. 

21 ‘‘(II) REQUIREMENTS.—If a 

22 community water system elects to pro23 vide consumer confidence reports to 

24 consumers under subclause (I)(bb), 

25 the community water system shall 


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1 provide to each customer of the com2 munity water system, in plain lan3 guage and in the same manner (such 

4 as in printed or electronic form) in 

5 which the customer has elected to pay 

6 the bill of the customer, notice that— 

7 ‘‘(aa) the community water 

8 system has remained in compli9 ance with the maximum contami10 nant level for each regulated con11 taminant during the year con12 cerned; and 

13 ‘‘(bb) a consumer confidence 

14 report is available on a publicly 

15 accessible Internet site of the 

16 community water system and, on 

17 request, by mail.’’. 

18 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 

19 1414(c)(4) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 

20 300g–3(c)(4)) is amended— 

21 (1) in subparagraph (C), in the matter pre22 ceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘mailing requirement 

23 of subparagraph (A)’’ and inserting ‘‘mailing re24 quirement of clause (ii) or (iii) of subparagraph 

25 (A)’’; and 


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1 (2) in subparagraph (D), in the first sentence 

2 of the matter preceding clause (i), by striking ‘‘mail3 ing requirement of subparagraph (A)’’ and inserting 

4 ‘‘mailing requirement of clause (ii) or (iii) of sub5 paragraph (A)’’. 

6 (c) APPLICATION; ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by 

8 this section take effect on the date that is 90 days 

9 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

10 (2) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 90 days 

11 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Adminis12 trator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall 

13 promulgate any revised regulations and take any 

14 other actions necessary to carry out the amendments 

15 made by this section. 

Æ 


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