Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2001/05/22/01-12878/national-primary-drinking-water-regulations-arsenic-and-clarifications-to-compliance-and-new-source
Timestamp: 2015-08-31 15:18:24
Document Index: 350868839

Matched Legal Cases: ['arts 9', 'arts 9', '§ 141', '§ 141', '§ 141', '§ 141', '§ 141', '§ 141', '§ 141', '§ 141', '§ 142', '§ 142', '§ 142', '§ 141', '§ 141', '§ 141', '§ 141', '§ 141', '§ 141', 'ARTS 9', 'arts 9', '§ 141', 'art 141', 'art 141', '§ 141', '§ 141']

Federal Register | National Primary Drinking Water Regulations; Arsenic and Clarifications to Compliance and New Source Contaminants Monitoring: Delay of Effective Date
Dates: As of May 22, 2001, the effective date of the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations; Arsenic and Clarifications to Compliance and New Source Contaminants Monitoring, amending 40 CFR parts 9, 141 and 142, published in the Federal Register on Monday, January 22, 2001, at 66 FR 6976 and delayed on Friday, March 23, 2001, at 66 FR 16134, is further delayed for nine months, from the scheduled effective date of May 22, 2001, to a new effective date of February 22, 2002, except for the amendments to Secs. 141.23(c)(9), 141.23(i)(1), 141.23(i)(2), 141.24(f)(15), 141.24(f)(22), 141.24(h)(11), 141.24(h)(20), 142.16(e), 142.16(j), and 142.16(k) which are effective on January 22, 2004. The amendment to Sec. 141.6 in this rule is also effective February 22, 2002.
-28350 (9 pages)
Document Number: 01-12878
Shorter URL: https://federalregister.gov/a/01-12878 Related Topics
As of May 22, 2001, the effective date of the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations; Arsenic and Clarifications to Compliance and New Source Contaminants Monitoring, amending 40 CFR parts 9, 141 and 142, published in the Federal Register on Monday, January 22, 2001, at 66 FR 6976 and delayed on Friday, March 23, 2001, at 66 FR 16134, is further delayed for nine months, from the scheduled effective date of May 22, 2001, to a new effective date of February 22, 2002, except for the amendments to §§ 141.23(c)(9), 141.23(i)(1), 141.23(i)(2), 141.24(f)(15), 141.24(f)(22), 141.24(h)(11), 141.24(h)(20), 142.16(e), 142.16(j), and 142.16(k) which are effective on January 22, 2004. The amendment to § 141.6 in this rule is also effective February 22, 2002.
A public water system (PWS), as defined in 40 CFR 141.2, provides water to the public for human consumption through pipes or other constructed conveyances, if such system has “at least fifteen service connections or regularly serves an average of at least twenty-five individuals daily at least 60 days out of the year.” A public water system is either a community water system (CWS) or a non-community water system (NCWS). A community water system, as defined in § 141.2, is “a public water system which serves at least fifteen service connections used by year-round residents or regularly serves at least twenty-five year-round residents.” The definition in § 141.2 for a non-transient non-community water system (NTNCWS) is “a public water system that is not a CWS and that regularly serves at least 25 of the same persons over 6 months per year.” Entities potentially regulated by this action are community water systems and non-transient, non-community water systems. The following table provides examples of the regulated entities under this rule.
Privately owned/operated community water supply systems using ground water or mixed ground water and surface water.
State, Tribal, or local government-owned/operated water supply systems using ground water or mixed ground water and surface water.
Federally owned/operated community water supply systems using ground water or mixed ground water and surface water.
CCR—Consumer confidence reports (Subpart O) CFR—Code of Federal Regulations
EPA's review of the arsenic rule does not include a review of the clarifications to compliance and new source compliance monitoring regulations issued on January 22, 2001 (66 FR 6976). Therefore, the “effective date for purposes of compliance” for these regulations remains January 22, 2004, as specified in the January 2001 rule in § 141.6(k).
While provisions of the January 2001 final rule will move arsenic into the standardized monitoring framework for inorganics (i.e., §§ 141.23(a)(4)(i), (a)(5), (c), (i)(1), (i)(2), and (k)(2), (k)(3)), the compliance date for the revised arsenic regulations remains January 23, 2006. Until then, the revisions to § 141.11(a) and (b) retain the existing monitoring and compliance requirements of § 141.23(l)—(p) for arsenic.
Section 1413(a)(1) of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), as amended in 1996, requires States with primary enforcement responsibility to adopt drinking water regulations that are no less stringent than EPA's regulations. By statute, States are required to do so no later than two years after EPA promulgates national primary drinking water regulations unless EPA provides up to a two-year extension. Specifically, States will be required to specify the initial monitoring requirements for new PWSs and new sources (§ 142.16(k)) mentioned in the previous section. In addition, States will have to adopt the wording for submitting more information for newly regulated contaminants per § 142.16(e) and less information than now required for revising primacy for an existing contaminant per § 142.16(j).
The January 2001 revisions to the CCR rule that included new reporting requirements for arsenic will be delayed until February 22, 2002. The final rule issued for the consumer confidence rule (63 FR 44512) on August 19, 1998, at § 141.154(b) required CWSs that detect arsenic between 25 μg/L and 50 μg/L to include an informational statement about EPA's review of the arsenic standard beginning with the report for calendar year 1998 (see § 141.152(a)). Section 141.153(d)(4) requirements stipulate that if arsenic is detected, the CCR must list the MCL (i.e., 50 parts per billion (ppb)), the highest contaminant level used to determine compliance, the range of detected levels (specified in § 141.153(d)(4)(iv)), and likely source(s) of contamination. Section 141.153(d)(6) requires that, for any data indicating violations of the arsenic MCL (i.e., 50 parts per billion (ppb)), the CCR must explain the length of the violation, actions taken to address the violation, and the potential adverse health effects described in appendix A to subpart O.
The final arsenic rule (EPA 2001a) issued on January 22, 2001 (66 FR 6976), made two changes to the annual consumer confidence reports for arsenic. The January 2001 arsenic rule changed the informational reporting for arsenic in § 141.154(b) to require additional information for CWSs that detected between 5 μg/L and 10 μg/L starting with the calendar year 2001 report (due July 1, 2002). The January 2001 rule (66 FR 6976) also added § 141.154(f) to require reporting of health effects information for systems that detect arsenic between 10 μg/L and 50 μg/L beginning with the report due July 1, 2002 and ending January 22, 2006, before the new MCL becomes effective for compliance purposes.
Because of the review of the January 2001 arsenic rule, the reporting requirements in §§ 141.154(b) and (f) relating to arsenic will also need to be reconsidered and may, at the least, need to be amended to delay the due date for reporting. EPA will be considering changes to these CCR requirements for arsenic as part of the forthcoming arsenic rulemaking discussed in section II of today's preamble.
II. What Will Be the Process for Reviewing the Arsenic Rule? Back to Top
In the case of the National Research Council, EPA is relying on the same independent judgment, objective analysis, and scientific expertise that is reflected in the March 1999 NRC report (NRC, 1999), entitled, “Arsenic in Drinking Water” in reviewing the Agency's interpretation and application of existing arsenic research as well as new studies of arsenic health effects science that have been published since the 1999 report. With regard to costing issues, the National Drinking Water Advisory Council has a charter, under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, to advise the Agency on an array of drinking water issues associated with implementing the national drinking water program and has previously provided recommendations to the Agency in the development of the arsenic in drinking water rule.
As its next step in the process for review of the arsenic MCL, EPA plans to release a proposal requesting comment on a range of arsenic MCLs from 3 μg/L to 20 μg/L. The purpose of this proposal is to provide for additional public comment on the range of arsenic MCLs and the science, cost and benefit and other analysis related to the arsenic rule. EPA will also provide the public an opportunity to comment on the results of the independent science and cost reviews. EPA then plans to analyze the results of these reviews together with any public comment on the range of arsenic MCLs to reach a final decision on how to proceed with regard to the arsenic MCL. As it becomes available, further information on this process will also be available on EPA's arsenic in drinking water webpage at www.epa.gov/safewater/arsenic.html and from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline phone: (800) 426-4791, or (703) 285-1093, e-mail: Hotline-sdwa@epa.gov.
Working group members will be asked to attend a series of meetings (approximately three) over the summer of 2001, participate in discussion of key issues and assumptions at these meetings, and review work products of the working group. EPA has asked NDWAC to ensure the working group prepares a report and makes a recommendation to the full NDWAC based on their review of the national cost estimates. The NDWAC, in turn, would submit a report and make a recommendation to EPA. All NDWAC working group meetings and full NDWAC meetings are open to the public, and meeting information is posted on the calendar accessible from www.epa.gov/safewater. The report and the final recommendations of the NDWAC will be made available for public review and comment by EPA and will also be available in the arsenic rulemaking record.
The overwhelming number of commenters expressed concern about a nine-month delay of the effective date of the revised arsenic rule, due in part to concerns about immediate health impacts due to a delay in implementation of the rule. EPA does not believe that this short delay of the effective date will result in health effects of any kind for several reasons. First of all, the delay EPA issues today is very short; EPA has committed to reviewing the science and cost issues related to the revised final arsenic rule as expeditiously as possible and no later than early next year. Second, the compliance date for the revised arsenic rule was five years in the future even under the January 2001 rule so that there would have been no immediate implementation of the new standard in any case. Moreover, EPA does not anticipate that this short delay will mean a delay in these compliance deadlines.
Several commenters expressed support for delaying the effective date in order to undertake the necessary scientific and technical reviews. The Agency agrees with the sentiment that additional time for technical reviews of elements of the rule is warranted. The Agency also believes that it is also important to recognize that the economic impact of the 80% decrease in the 50 μg/L MCL to 10 μg/L affects about 4,000 PWSs, many of whom serve populations of less than 3,300. Thus, the per capita cost of the final MCL could be significant at some affected PWSs. The independent review proposed by EPA provides more time to develop a mitigation strategy, and the re-opening of the comment period allows the public to participate in this process and suggest other options.
Several commenters provided detailed suggestions about how to select members and charge the expert panels in the review of the arsenic final rule. Commenters requested that the charge to the panel be very broad and include all of the issues described in the preamble of the final rule. The Agency appreciates the suggestions for charging the expert panels, and is providing the public with several ways to participate in the review of the final arsenic rule process. For example, on May 4, 2001 (66 FR 22551), EPA requested nominations of individuals to serve on the cost working group of NDWAC (EPA, 2001c). This document provided an opportunity to advise EPA on the selection of this expert panel. In addition, many of these issues will be discussed in the future proposed rule that will request comment on a range of arsenic MCLs and provide for additional public comment on the range of science and cost issues related to the arsenic rule (66 FR 20582, April 23, 2001). In the April 2001 document, the Agency noted that the results of the independent science and cost reviews will be made public along with further information on the review process. Finally, much of this information will be available on EPA's drinking water webpage at www.epa.gov/safewater/arsenic.html and from the Safe Drinking Water Hotline. Similarly, on April 17, 2001, the NAS provided notice about its charge to the new arsenic committee on its web site and solicited comment on the provisionally named members of the committee.
The Agency believes there is still a strong basis to specify an arsenic MCL significantly less than the current 50 μg/L standard. Although the Agency will ask for a review of the 3-20 μg/L range proposed in the June 22, 2000, proposed rule, the public may provide evidence to support a higher drinking water arsenic standard. 4. Use of a Sublinear Dose Response Relationship
The RFA generally requires an agency to prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis of any rule subject to notice and comment rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act or any other statute unless the agency certifies that the rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. Small entities include small businesses, small organizations, and small governmental jurisdictions. The RFA provides default definitions for each type of small entity. It also authorizes an agency to use alternative definitions for each category of small entity, “which are appropriate to the activities of the agency” after proposing the alternative definition(s) in the Federal Register and taking comment. 5 U.S.C. 601(3)-(5). In addition to the above, to establish an alternative small business definition, agencies must consult with the Small Business Administration's Chief of Counsel for Advocacy.
Section 553(d) of the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 553(d), generally requires that a substantive rule not become effective prior to 30 days after publication. However, that section allows rules to be effective immediately if the rule relieves a restriction or for other good cause found by the Agency and published with the rule. Today's effective date delay is immediately effective. EPA believes that this action is justified because there is no need to delay the effective date of a rule that merely delays an effective date. This rule has little, if any, substantive impact. Thus, EPA believes that this action is consistent with Section 553 of the APA. V. References Back to Top
PARTS 9, 141, AND 142—[DELAY OF EFFECTIVE DATE] Back to Top
1. To delay the effective date of the amendments to 40 CFR parts 9, 141, and 142 published January 22, 2001 (66 FR 6976), and delayed on March 23, 2001 (66 FR 16134), from May 22, 2001, to February 22, 2002, except for the amendments to §§ 141.23(c)(9), 141.23(i)(1) and (i)(2), 141.24(f)(15), (f)(22), (h)(11) and (h)(20), and 142.16(e), (j), and (k), which are effective January 22, 2004.
2.To amend 40 CFR part 141 as follows: A. The authority citation for part 141 continues to read as follows:
§ 141.6 Effective dates.
(j) * * * However, the consumer confidence rule reporting requirements relating to arsenic listed in § 141.154(b) and (f) are effective for the purpose of compliance on February 22, 2002.