United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Water
4603
EPA 811-F-96-004
May 1996
&EPA INFORMATION COLLECTION RULE
TECHNICAL SUMMARY
The final Information Collection Rule (ICR) was published in the Federal Register in May, 1996.
This FR notice finalizes requirements for monitoring microbial contaminants and disinfection
byproducts by large public water systems (PWSs), It also requires large PWSs to provide operating
data and a description of their treatment plant design. Finally, it requires some large PWSs to
conduct either bench or pilot scale testing of advanced treatment technologies.
i
Background
The rule is intended to provide EPA with a strong base of occurrence and treatment information for
use in developing new regulations for controlling disinfection byproducts (DBPs) and disease-
causing microorganisms in drinking water. These data, joined with the results of health effects and
treatment technology research, will assist EPA in making complex decisions about the risk-risk
tradeoff posed by the simultaneous control of DBPs and microbial contaminants. See the Federal
Register for details of the final rule and for a summary of public comments and EPA responses.
EPA, not the states, has the responsibility for implementing this rule. EPA has developed and is
providing to PWSs a data reporting software package to facilitate the reporting of data by the
utilities. Laboratories are required to be approved by EPA prior to conducting analyses for the ICR.
The data will be publicly available after EPA has completed review and validation, about six months
after sampling. PWSs are not required to report the results of monitoring to their customers.
Schedule
Affected PWSs will receive a Notice of Applicability from EPA in June, 1996. Each PWS must
reply to the notice within 35 days. PWSs will then receive a notice from EPA (tentatively
scheduled for September 1996) to prepare a sampling plan; the sampling plan must be submitted
for approval within 8 weeks. PWSs will begin 18 consecutive months of DBP and related
monitoring and microbial monitoring in the month following receipt of EPA's approval of the
sampling plan.
GENERAL MONITORING REQUIREMENTS
TYPE OF PWS1
PWS serving s 100,000
PWS serving 50,000-99,999,
with ;»50,QOO served by
ground water
DBP AND RELATED
MONITORING2
Yes - monthly for 18
months
NA
MICROBIAL
MONITORING3
Yes - monthly
for 1 8 months
NA
TREATMENT STUDIES AND
APPLICABILITY MONITORING4
Yes
Yes
1 Population served includes both retail and wholesale customers. Specific instructions for calculating population served are in the rule.
2 PWSs are also required to characterize treatment processes in the treatment plant.
3 Only at treatment plants using surface water or ground water under the direct influence of surface water.
"Applicability monitoring required to begin not later than August 1996 at treatment plants serving i 100,000 (or largest plant in PWS if
no individual plant serves k100,000). Results will be used to determine need for study, which must begin not later than April 1998.
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Microbial Monitoring and Surveys
Microbial Sampling Parameters
Cryp tosparidrum
Giardia
Total Cultivable Viruses
Total Coliforms
Fecal Colfforms or E. Coli
PWSs that serve ^ 100,000 people and use surface water
or ground water under the direct influence of surface
water are required to conduct source water microbial
monitoring. Microbial monitoring of water leaving the
treatment plant is required only if Giardia or
Cryptosporidium concentrations exceed 10/L or total
culturable virus concentration exceeds 1 /L in the source
water during the first 12 months of monitoring. Monitoring
will be monthly for 18 consecutive months and concurrent with DBP monitoring. Total coliforms
and fecal coliforms or E. coli are being monitored to assess how well they predict the presence and
levels of microbial contamination. EPA has included provisions for potentially avoiding source water
virus monitoring (§141.143(a)(2)(iv)) and reduced finished water Cryptosporidium and Giardia ;
monitoring (§141.143(a)(2)(iii)}.
Disinfection Byproduct (DBP) Monitoring
PWSs that serve i 100,000 people are required to
conduct monitoring for DBPs and other treatment
parameters. PWSs affected by this requirement must
conduct monthly monitoring for DBPs, DBP precursors,
and other chemical parameters at each treatment plant
and in the distribution system for 18 months, concurrent
with microbial monitoring. These PWSs will also be
required to characterize treatment processes in the
treatment plant on a monthly basis for the same period.
PWSs that receive all of their water from a supplier and
do not further disinfect that water before distribution are
not required to conduct any monitoring under this rule.
PWSs that use disinfectants other than free chlorine
(chloramines, hypochlorite solution, ozone, or chlorine
dioxide) are required to conduct additional analyses for
parameters associated with those disinfectants.
Bench- and Pilot-Scale Testing
DBP Sampling Parameters1
Disinfectant residual
Trihalomethanes
Haloacetic acids
Haloacetonitrifes
Haloketones
Chloropicrin
Chloral hydrate
Ammonia
Bromide
Total organic carbon
Total organic haltdes
Water quality parameters {e.g., pH,
alkalinity, hardness)
T Additional monitoring required
for systems using disinfectants other
than chlorine
PWSs that serve ^ 100,000 people are required to conduct treatment study applicability monitoring
and treatment studies, unless certain criteria are met, at treatment plants serving at least 100,000
(or at the largest treatment plant in the PWS if no individual plant serves 100,000). PWSs that
serve 50,000 to 99,999, with at least 50,000 people served by ground water, are also required to
conduct treatment study applicability monitoring and treatment studies, unless certain criteria are
met, at the largest treatment plant in the PWS. PWSs must conduct treatment study applicability
(total organic carbon (TOO) monitoring for 12 months at specified locations to determine at which
treatment plants they must conduct treatment studies. Bench- or pilot-scale studies will determine
the effectiveness of granular activated carbon or membranes in reducing the levels of DBP
precursors and must be designed to yield representative performance data and to allow the
development of treatment cost estimates for different levels of DBP control. EPA will provide
technical manuals on the study protocols. EPA has.included provisions for avoiding studies,
conducting joint studies with other PWSs, using previous studies ("grandfathering"), and
contributing to a research fund in lieu of conducting studies.
For More Information: Contact the Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791 or the
AWWA A-Team at 1-800-200-0984 or IGR_A_Team at
103327.2057@compuserve.com.
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