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 Com-
mittee on Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Safe Drinking Water Act to increase consumer
confidence in safe drinking water and source water as-
sessments, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION. 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Drinking Water Right-
to-Know Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. RADIUM 224 IN DRINKING WATER.
Section 1412(b)(13) of the Safe Drinking Water Act
(42 U.S.C. 300g–1(b)(13)) is amended by adding at the
end the following:
‘‘(I) may be difficult to detect in
finished water; and
‘‘(II) may be present at levels
that present a public health concern
in finished water;’’;
(C) in the second sentence, by striking
‘‘Such regulations shall provide’’ and inserting
the following:
‘‘(ii) REGULATIONS.—The regulations
shall—
‘‘(I) provide’’;
(D) by striking ‘‘contaminant. The regula-
tions shall also include’’ and inserting ‘‘con-
taminant;
‘‘(II) include’’;
(E) by striking ‘‘water. The regulations
shall also provide’’ and inserting ‘‘water;
‘‘(III) provide’’;
(F) by striking the period at the end of the
subparagraph and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and
(G) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(IV) direct public water systems
to mail consumer confidence reports
to residential consumers and mail con-
sumer confidence reports suitable for
posting to customers providing water
to non-residential consumers, in addi-
tion to other methods provided for by
the regulations.’’;
(2) in subparagraph (B), by inserting after
clause (vi) the following:
‘‘(vii) The requirement that each com-
munity water system shall report to con-
sumers of drinking water supplied by that
community water system—
‘‘(I) any detection of a contami-
nant 
described 
in 
section
1453(a)(2)(D);
‘‘(II) any known or potential
health effects of each contaminant de-
tected in the drinking water, to the
maximum level of specificity prac-
ticable, including known or potential
health effects of each contaminant on
children, pregnant women, and other
vulnerable subpopulations, as deter-
mined by the Administrator;
‘‘(III) 
known 
or 
suspected
sources of contaminants detected in
the drinking water identified by name
and location; and
‘‘(IV) information on any health
advisory issued for the contaminant,
including actions that consumers can
take to protect themselves from con-
tamination in the drinking water sup-
plied by the community water sys-
tem.’’;
(3) in subparagraph (C)—
(A) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘its cus-
tomers’’ and inserting ‘‘consumers of drinking
water provided by the system’’; and
(B) in clause (iii), by striking ‘‘customers
of’’ and inserting ‘‘consumers of its drinking
water’’;
(4) in clause (ii) of the second sentence of sub-
paragraph (D), by striking ‘‘of its customers’’ and
inserting ‘‘consumer of its drinking water’’; and
(5) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(F) NOTICE OF NEWLY DETECTED CON-
TAMINATION
WITH
POTENTIAL
TO
HAVE
AD-
VERSE
HEALTH
EFFECTS.—The procedures
under subparagraph (D) shall specify that a
public water system shall provide written notice
to each consumer by mail or direct delivery—
‘‘(i) as soon as practicable, but not
later than 30 days after the date of dis-
covery of new contamination or a signifi-
cant increase in contamination (as com-
pared to the level of contamination re-
ported in any previous consumer con-
fidence report) by a regulated contaminant
that is above the maximum contaminant
level goal for that contaminant; or
‘‘(ii) as soon as practicable, but not
later than 30 days after the date of the
discovery of new contamination or the de-
tection of a significant increase in contami-
nation (as compared to the level of con-
tamination reported in any previous con-
sumer confidence report) by an unregu-
lated contaminant.
‘‘(G) DEFINITION OF CONSUMER.—In this
paragraph, the term ‘consumer’ includes—
‘‘(i) a customer of a public water sys-
tem; and
‘‘(ii) the ultimate consumer of the
drinking water.’’.
SEC. 4. SOURCE WATER ASSESSMENTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1453(a)(2) of the Safe
Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j–13(a)(2)) is
amended—
(1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘and’’ at
the end;
(2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period
at the end and inserting a semicolon; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(C) assess the susceptibility of each pub-
lic water system in the delineated areas to any
contaminant that—
‘‘(i) is subject to a national primary
drinking water regulation promulgated
under section 1412;
‘‘(ii) is included on a list of unregu-
lated contaminants that is published under
section 1412(b)(1)(B);
‘‘(iii) is the subject of a health advi-
sory that has been published by the Ad-
ministrator;
‘‘(iv) is monitored under the source
water 
assessment 
program 
established
under this subsection;
‘‘(v) is known or suspected to be from
a pollution source, including—
‘‘(D) identify each contaminant described
in subparagraph (C) that the State determines
presents a threat to public health;
‘‘(E) for each assessment under subpara-
graph (C), require monitoring for contaminants
described in subparagraph (C) if the State de-
termines that a contaminant may have been re-
leased by a potentially significant source;
‘‘(F) identify, with the maximum speci-
ficity practicable, known or suspected sources of
pollution that may threaten public health;
‘‘(G) apply to wellheads, groundwater re-
charge areas, watersheds, and other assessment
areas determined to be appropriate by the Ad-
ministrator; and
‘‘(H) be developed, updated, and imple-
mented in cooperation with members of the
general public that are served by each source
water assessment area included in the pro-
gram.’’.
(b) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Section 1453(a)(7) of
the Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j–13(a)(7))
is amended by inserting ‘‘and all documentation related
to the assessments’’ after ‘‘assessments’’.
(c) PLANS.—Section 1453(a) of the Safe Drinking
Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300j–13(a)) is amended by adding
at the end the following:
‘‘(8) PLANS.—
‘‘(A) INITIAL
PLAN.—Not later than 1
year after the date of enactment of this para-
graph, the State shall submit to the Adminis-
trator the plan of the State for carrying out
this subsection.
‘‘(B) UPDATES.—Not later than 5 years
after the date of the initial submission of the
plan and every 5 years thereafter, the State
shall update, and submit to the Administrator,
the plan of the State for carrying out this sub-
section.’’.
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