Senate Orders Tougher Arsenic Limit for Water

The Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to require the Environmental Protection Agency to immediately put into effect a stricter standard for arsenic in drinking water and direct local water systems to tell customers how much of the toxic substance is flowing from their taps.

The directive, which was approved, 97 to 1, as an amendment to a funding bill, was somewhat milder than an amendment passed by the House last week. The House measure ordered the EPA to reduce the allowable level of arsenic in drinking water by 80%.

“I hope we will send a rip-roaring message to the president: Set the standard. Set it low. Set it fast,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chief sponsor of the measure, which was included in the appropriation for the Veterans Administration, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the EPA.

The current standard for arsenic in drinking water is 50 parts per billion. The Clinton administration, during its waning days, set a new standard of 10 ppb that was to take effect in March.

But the Bush administration’s EPA administrator, Christie Whitman, rescinded the new standard pending an agency review of its cost and effect on health. She has promised to produce a standard falling between 3 ppb and 20 ppb by February.

Environmentalists applauded the Senate vote even though the amendment would leave it up to Whitman to determine the appropriate standard. The House measure would require her to reinstate the Clinton administration standard of 10 ppb.

“It sends a very important signal that the Congress won’t tolerate weakening or delaying public health provisions,” said Alyssondra Campaigne, legislative director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group.

Democratic Senate staffers said the amendment did not specify the 10 ppb standard because its sponsors feared it might not receive enough votes to pass in that form. It will be up to House and Senate conferees to reconcile the two versions of the arsenic mandate.

White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said the president believes Whitman is pursuing the “responsible approach” with her review but will work with Congress to ensure an outcome that is “based on sound science.” It is too early, she said, to tell whether President Bush would veto the funding bill if it contains an arsenic directive.

The administration has been harshly criticized by environmentalists and Democrats in Congress for delaying action on arsenic. Even Republican allies have acknowledged that the administration made a public relations blunder when it abruptly rescinded the Clinton administration standard.

Republicans said the Senate vote was not the kind of unconditional rebuke to the administration that the House measure appears to be.

“This agreement keeps hope alive that new arsenic standards will be based on sound science and it puts pressure on the EPA to act soon to set that standard,” said Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.). “This issue will still have to be negotiated with the House, but this compromise is better than the House’s outright hands-off mandate.”

A study by the National Academy of Sciences found that exposure to arsenic in drinking water causes lung, bladder and skin cancer, and it recommended reducing the standard. Its report concluded that the current standard “could easily” result in a cancer risk of 1 case for every 100 people. Arsenic has also been linked to liver and kidney cancer.

Hundreds of California water systems have logged arsenic levels from 10 ppb to 50 ppb, according to the Assn. of California Water Agencies. The association estimates that it would cost $500 million to bring California systems into compliance with a standard of 10 ppb.

Across the country, 3,000 water systems serving 13 million people deliver water with arsenic levels exceeding 10 ppb, according to the EPA.

Boxer stressed the need to begin informing people of the arsenic level in their water without delay. “You should have the right to know you have arsenic in the water.”

Arsenic occurs naturally in some ground water, but mining, wood processing and other industries can increase concentrations through runoff from their operations.