During the final days of the Clinton Administration in January, 2001, US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Administrator, Carol Browner,amended the Arsenic standard in drinking water from a previous MCL of 50 ug/l down to 10 ug/l. Theincoming Bush Administration challenged that decision and on March 20, 2001 the new USEPAAdministrator Governor Christie Todd Whitman announced that her agency would begin a new rulemakingprocedure to re-evaluate the arsenic standard. Whitman asked three expert panels to review allnew and existing materials. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) would review the health risks; theScience Advisory Board (SAB) would review the benefits; and the National Drinking Water AdvisoryCouncil (NDWAC) would review the national cost of implementation. At the May, 2001 meeting of theNDWAC, a Working Group consisting of 17 experts from around the country was established that wouldevaluate the costs of implementing the arsenic standard. This Working Group met five times betweenMay 29 and August 3, 2001, plus numerous interim conference calls, e-mails, and subgroup meetings. TheWorkgroup completed its report and recommendations by mid-August. On August 22, 2001, the NationalDrinking Water Advisory Council voted unanimously to accept the report and forward itsrecommendations to EPA Administrator Christie Whitman. On October 4, 2002 the final report wassubmitted to the House Science Committee of the United States House of Representatives.The report contains three major areas of recommendations:how to improve the current national cost estimate;how should future cost estimates be done by EPA; and,how Affordability should apply to rule implementation.On October 31, 2002 the USEPA Administrator announced the final arsenic standard will be 10 ug/l andwater systems would be required to meet the new standard by January, 2006. 97% of the systems affectedby the ruling are small systems. The cost of implementation to many of these will be very substantial.Current estimates range from $20 - $580 per month per household over and above current water rates. Anumber of bills have been introduced in Congress to attempt to mitigate this huge cost, however as of April 1, 2002 hone have been passed. Includes 9 references, tables.
