I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2108

To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to increase consumer confidence

in safe drinking water and source water assessments, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 9, 1999

Mr. PALLONE (for himself, Mr. FRANKS of New Jersey, Mr. MARKEY, Mrs.

CAPPS, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. BONIOR, Mr. HINCHEY, and Mr. LEWIS of

Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to increase consumer

confidence in safe drinking water and source water assessments, and for other purposes.

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 ‘‘Drinking Water Right5 to-Know Act of 1999’’.

6 SEC. 2. RADIUM 224 IN DRINKING WATER.

7 Section 1412(b)(13) of the Safe Drinking Water Act

8 (42 U.S.C. 300g–1(b)(13)) is amended by adding at the

9 end the following:
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1 ‘‘(H) RADIUM 224 IN DRINKING WATER.—

2 A national primary drinking water regulation

3 for radionuclides promulgated under this para4 graph shall require testing drinking water for

5 the presence of radium 224 not later than 48

6 hours after taking a sample of the drinking

7 water.’’.

8 SEC. 3. CONSUMER CONFIDENCE REPORTS BY COMMUNITY

9 WATER SYSTEMS.

10 Section 1414(c)(4) of the Safe Drinking Water Act

11 (42 U.S.C. 300g–3(c)(4)) is amended—

12 (1) in subparagraph (A)—

13 (A) by striking ‘‘The Administrator’’ and

14 inserting the following:

15 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Adminis16 trator’’;

17 (B) in the first sentence—

18 (i) by striking ‘‘customer of’’ and in19 serting ‘‘consumer of the drinking water

20 provided by’’; and

21 (ii) by inserting before the period at

22 the end the following: ‘‘that includes a re23 port on the level of each contaminant

24 that—
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1 ‘‘(I) may be difficult to detect in

2 finished water; and

3 ‘‘(II) may be present at levels

4 that present a public health concern

5 in finished water;’’;

6 (C) in the second sentence, by striking

7 ‘‘Such regulations shall provide’’ and inserting

8 the following:

9 ‘‘(ii) REGULATIONS.—The regulations

10 shall—

11 ‘‘(I) provide’’;

12 (D) by striking ‘‘contaminant. The regula13 tions shall also include’’ and inserting ‘‘con14 taminant;

15 ‘‘(II) include’’;

16 (E) by striking ‘‘water. The regulations

17 shall also provide’’ and inserting ‘‘water;

18 ‘‘(III) provide’’;

19 (F) by striking the period at the end of the

20 subparagraph and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

21 (G) by adding at the end the following:

22 ‘‘(IV) direct public water systems

23 to mail consumer confidence reports

24 to residential consumers and mail con25 sumer confidence reports suitable for
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1 posting to customers providing water

2 to non-residential consumers, in addi3 tion to other methods provided for by

4 the regulations.’’;

5 (2) in subparagraph (B), by inserting after

6 clause (vi) the following:

7 ‘‘(vii) The requirement that each com8 munity water system shall report to con9 sumers of drinking water supplied by that

10 community water system—

11 ‘‘(I) any detection of a contami12 nant described in section

13 1453(a)(2)(D);

14 ‘‘(II) any known or potential

15 health effects of each contaminant de16 tected in the drinking water, to the

17 maximum level of specificity prac18 ticable, including known or potential

19 health effects of each contaminant on

20 children, pregnant women, and other

21 vulnerable subpopulations, as deter22 mined by the Administrator;

23 ‘‘(III) known or suspected

24 sources of contaminants detected in
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1 the drinking water identified by name

2 and location; and

3 ‘‘(IV) information on any health

4 advisory issued for the contaminant,

5 including actions that consumers can

6 take to protect themselves from con7 tamination in the drinking water sup8 plied by the community water sys9 tem.’’;

10 (3) in subparagraph (C)—

11 (A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘its cus12 tomers’’ and inserting ‘‘consumers of drinking

13 water provided by the system’’; and

14 (B) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘customers

15 of’’ and inserting ‘‘consumers of its drinking

16 water’’;

17 (4) in clause (ii) of the second sentence of sub18 paragraph (D), by striking ‘‘of its customers’’ and

19 inserting ‘‘consumer of its drinking water’’; and

20 (5) by adding at the end the following:

21 ‘‘(F) NOTICE OF NEWLY DETECTED CON22 TAMINATION WITH POTENTIAL TO HAVE AD23 VERSE HEALTH EFFECTS.—The procedures

24 under subparagraph (D) shall specify that a
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1 public water system shall provide written notice

2 to each consumer by mail or direct delivery—

3 ‘‘(i) as soon as practicable, but not

4 later than 30 days after the date of dis5 covery of new contamination or a signifi6 cant increase in contamination (as com7 pared to the level of contamination re8 ported in any previous consumer con9 fidence report) by a regulated contaminant

10 that is above the maximum contaminant

11 level goal for that contaminant; or

12 ‘‘(ii) as soon as practicable, but not

13 later than 30 days after the date of the

14 discovery of new contamination or the de15 tection of a significant increase in contami16 nation (as compared to the level of con17 tamination reported in any previous con18 sumer confidence report) by an unregu19 lated contaminant.

20 ‘‘(G) DEFINITION OF CONSUMER.—In this

21 paragraph, the term ‘consumer’ includes—

22 ‘‘(i) a customer of a public water sys23 tem; and

24 ‘‘(ii) the ultimate consumer of the

25 drinking water.’’.
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1 SEC. 4. SOURCE WATER ASSESSMENTS.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1453(a)(2) of the Safe

3 Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j–13(a)(2)) is

4 amended—

5 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘and’’ at

6 the end;

7 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period

8 at the end and inserting a semicolon; and

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

10 ‘‘(C) assess the susceptibility of each pub11 lic water system in the delineated areas to any

12 contaminant that—

13 ‘‘(i) is subject to a national primary

14 drinking water regulation promulgated

15 under section 1412;

16 ‘‘(ii) is included on a list of unregu17 lated contaminants that is published under

18 section 1412(b)(1)(B);

19 ‘‘(iii) is the subject of a health advi20 sory that has been published by the Ad21 ministrator;

22 ‘‘(iv) is monitored under the source

23 water assessment program established

24 under this subsection;

25 ‘‘(v) is known or suspected to be from

26 a pollution source, including—
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1 ‘‘(I) a nonpoint source;

2 ‘‘(II) a facility subject to the

3 Comprehensive Environmental Re4 sponse, Compensation, and Liability

5 Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.);

6 or

7 ‘‘(III) a factory or other oper8 ating facility that generates, treats,

9 stores, disposes of, or releases a mate10 rial regulated or reported under—

11 ‘‘(aa) the Federal Water

12 Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C.

13 1251 et seq.);

14 ‘‘(bb) the Solid Waste Dis15 posal Act (42 U.S.C. 6901 et

16 seq.);

17 ‘‘(cc) the Clean Air Act (42

18 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.); or

19 ‘‘(dd) section 313 of the

20 Superfund Amendments and Re21 authorization Act of 1986 (42

22 U.S.C. 11023); or

23 ‘‘(vi) is monitored by the United

24 States Geological Survey under the Na25 tional Water Quality Assessment program;
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1 ‘‘(D) identify each contaminant described

2 in subparagraph (C) that the State determines

3 presents a threat to public health;

4 ‘‘(E) for each assessment under subpara5 graph (C), require monitoring for contaminants

6 described in subparagraph (C) if the State de7 termines that a contaminant may have been re8 leased by a potentially significant source;

9 ‘‘(F) identify, with the maximum speci10 ficity practicable, known or suspected sources of

11 pollution that may threaten public health;

12 ‘‘(G) apply to wellheads, groundwater re13 charge areas, watersheds, and other assessment

14 areas determined to be appropriate by the Ad15 ministrator; and

16 ‘‘(H) be developed, updated, and imple17 mented in cooperation with members of the

18 general public that are served by each source

19 water assessment area included in the pro20 gram.’’.

21 (b) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Section 1453(a)(7) of

22 the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j–13(a)(7))

23 is amended by inserting ‘‘and all documentation related

24 to the assessments’’ after ‘‘assessments’’.
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1 (c) PLANS.—Section 1453(a) of the Safe Drinking

2 Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j–13(a)) is amended by adding

3 at the end the following:

4 ‘‘(8) PLANS.—

5 ‘‘(A) INITIAL PLAN.—Not later than 1

6 year after the date of enactment of this para7 graph, the State shall submit to the Adminis8 trator the plan of the State for carrying out

9 this subsection.

10 ‘‘(B) UPDATES.—Not later than 5 years

11 after the date of the initial submission of the

12 plan and every 5 years thereafter, the State

13 shall update, and submit to the Administrator,

14 the plan of the State for carrying out this sub15 section.’’.

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