EPA Updating Rules on Lead in Water

Stricter monitoring and reporting of problems with lead in drinking water will be required of utilities, states, schools and child care facilities, the Environmental Protection Agency said Monday.

EPA officials said they found few such problems nationally, but were moving to impose stricter requirements in lead and copper regulations, starting early next year, because of lead in drinking water found in 2002 in the Washington area.

Those problems gained widespread attention and residents complained that the city had done little to alert them.

Under the new rules, the EPA proposes that utilities better control corrosion in pipes and notify states at least 60 days before making treatment changes.

Utilities also would notify residents of any testing within a home or facility. Lead service lines that don’t meet requirements would be reexamined after any major changes to drinking water treatment.

Also being updated is the agency’s 1994 guidance on testing for lead in schools’ drinking water.

Benjamin Grumbles, the EPA’s assistant administrator for water, noted that the Safe Drinking Water Act makes cost a secondary concern to protecting public health.

“This plan will increase the accuracy and consistency of monitoring and reporting, and it ensures that where there is a problem, people will be notified and the problem will be dealt with quickly and properly,” he said.

The EPA’s regulations, which affect lead and copper in drinking water, also are intended to improve management of lead service lines and customer awareness of any problems.

Lead is a highly toxic metal used for years in many household products.

Pregnant women and infants are the most vulnerable to lead, which can cause kidney and brain damage and, in some cases, death.

The EPA said its review showed regulations were adequately protecting more than 96% of water systems that served 3,300 people or more.