United States Office of Water EPA 815-F-01 -006
Environmental Protection 4606 February 2001
Agency
<&EPA Unregulated Contaminant
Monitoring Regulation:
Screening Survey for List 2
Contaminants by Selected
Small Public Water Systems
Introduction
The 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) require the EPA to publish revisions to the Unregulated
Contaminant Monitoring Regulation (UCMR) establishing criteria for a program to monitor unregulated contaminants in
drinking water and to publish a list of contaminants to be monitored. Under the UCMR, a randomly selected sample of 800
community water systems (CWSs) and non-transient, non-community water systems (NTNCWSs) that serve 10,000 or
fewer persons (small systems) will monitor and report these unregulated contaminants. A subset of these water systems will
be required to participate in a Screening Survey for the UCMR List 2 contaminants. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA or Agency) will pay all costs associated with sending water samples to the appropriate laboratory, analyzing water
samples, and reporting results for the small systems.
The purpose of UCMR monitoring is to collect contaminant occurrence data to support the U.S. EPA Administrator's
decisions regarding whether or not to regulate contaminants, such as those on the Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate
List, to protect public health. The Agency promulgated revisions to the UCMR, published in the Federal Register on
September 17, 1999 and supplemented on March 2, 2000. The UCMR List 2 Rule, which was finalized and published in the
Federal Register on January 11, 2001, also supplements the UCMR and is the focus of this fact sheet.
EPA has organized the UCMR contaminants into three lists based on the availability of analytical methods to detect their
presence in drinking water and on the type of monitoring to be conducted: Assessment Monitoring, List 1, consists of
chemical contaminants for which standard analytical methods are available; Screening Survey, List 2, consists of
contaminants for which new analytical methods will be used; and Pre-Screen Testing, List 3, consists of contaminants for
which analytical methods are being researched. This fact sheet serves as a supplement to the initial UCMR fact sheet for
small systems, entitled: "Monitoring for List 1 Contaminants by Selected Small Public Water Systems". Table 1 identifies the
Screening Survey List 2 contaminants, which selected small systems are required to monitor, along with their environmental
sources.
What Systems Must Monitor for List 2 Contaminants? (See §141.40(a)(l))
Screening Surveys for List 2 contaminants will be conducted by a randomly selected subset of the 800 small systems that
conduct Assessment Monitoring for List 1 contaminants. For each of the two Screening Surveys, 180 small systems
(selected from the 800 systems conducting Assessment Monitoring) will be required to conduct sampling. If your system was
selected to participate in one of the Screening Surveys, you should have been notified by your State drinking water agency or
EPA.
When and How Often Must Monitoring Occur? (See §141.40(a)(5))
To minimize small system burden, EPA and the States have scheduled sample collection for Screening Surveys and
Assessment Monitoring to coincide. The first Screening Survey, for 13 chemical contaminants, will be conducted in 2001 for
small systems. Systems that use surface water as their drinking water source will collect samples for four consecutive
quarters, and systems that rely on ground water will collect samples two times, six months apart. Your State or EPA will
notify you of your specific monitoring schedule.
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A second Screening Survey for the List 2 microbiological contaminant, Aeromonas, will be performed in 2003 by a different
set of 180 small systems. Aeromonas samples will be taken once each quarter, with additional samples taken each month
during the warmest quarter of the year (i.e., six times during the year). Again, selected small systems will be notified of their
specific schedule by the State or EPA.
Table 1: UCMR (1999) List 2 Contaminants that are Required for Monitoring and Their Uses or Sources
Contaminant Name
CASRN
Use or Environmental Source
Screening Survey Chemical Contaminants (2001)
1 ,2-diphenylhydrazine
2-methylphenol
2,4-dichlorophenol
2,4-dinitrophenol
2,4,6-trichlorophenol
Diazinon
Disulfoton
Diuron
Fonofos
Linuron
Nitrobenzene
Prometon
Terbufos
122-66-7
95-48-7
120-83-2
51-28-5
88-06-2
333^1-5
298-04-4
330-54-1
944-22-9
330-55-2
98-95-3
1610-18-0
13071-79-9
Used in the production of benzidine and anti-inflammatory drugs
Released in automobile and diesel exhaust, coal tar and petroleum refining,
and wood pulping
Chemical intermediate in herbicide production
Released from mines, metal, petroleum, and dye plants
By-product of fossil fuel burning, used as bactericide and wood/glue
preservative
Insecticide used with rice, fruit, vineyards, and corn crops
Insecticide used with cereal, cotton, tobacco, and potato crops
Herbicide used on grasses in orchards and wheat crops
Soil insecticide used on worms and centipedes
Herbicide used with corn, soybean, cotton, and wheat crops
Used in the production of aniline, which is used to make dyes, herbicides,
and drugs
Herbicide used on annual and perennial weeds and grasses
Insecticide used with corn, sugar beet, and grain sorghum crops
Screening Survey Microbiological Contaminant (2003)
Aeromonas
N/A
Present in all freshwater and brackish water
Where Must Samples be Collected? (See §141.40(a)(5))
Samples for the first Screening Survey (chemical contaminants to be collected in 2001) must be taken at the entry point(s) to
the distribution system. Note that source water samples are not permitted.
Samples for Aeromonas (to be collected in 2003) are to be taken at the three locations in the distribution system that
represent: a midpoint location in the distribution system with typical disinfectant residual levels, a point located furthest from
the entry point to the distribution system, and a location in the distribution system with the lowest disinfectant residual. EPA
will provide further guidance on Aeromonas sampling before systems begin collecting samples for it in 2003.
Many States have agreed to collect the UCMR samples for small systems. If your State has not agreed to do this, the owner
or operator of your system must collect the samples with EPA-supplied equipment, and send them to an EPA-specified
laboratory. Your State or EPA will let you know who will collect the samples. EPA will pay for shipping, testing, and
reporting the analytical results of the samples.
How Are the Samples to be Analyzed? (See §141.40(a)(5) and Appendix A)
Samples are to be analyzed by an EPA designated laboratory, which will be required by contract to adhere to the UCMR's
quality control (QC) specifications. EPA has laboratories in place to analyze samples taken at small systems.
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How Will the Monitoring Data be Reported to EPA? (See §141.35(e))
Small systems will not have to report Screening Survey results directly to EPA. Instead, EPA will arrange to receive results
from the designated contract laboratories; copies will be sent to the system and State. The system will have 30 days to
review and comment on the data. EPA will wait for an additional 60 days before placing the data in the National Drinking
Water Contaminant Occurrence Database to allow for quality control review by the system and the State. Each small
system, however, is still responsible for ensuring that its Screening Survey results are sent to the State.
Are There Requirements for Notifying the Public? (See §141.153(d) and §141.207)
Yes. Under the Consumer Confidence Report (CCR) Rule (40 CFR 141.153(d)), published on August 19, 1998 (63 FR
44511), CWSs must report the monitoring results whenever unregulated contaminants are detected. CCRs are to be sent to
all billing customers each year by July 1. (The CCR Rule does not apply to non-community water systems.) For NTNCWSs,
UCMR results will be made available to the public through the requirements of the revised Public Notification (PN) Rule (65
FR 25982), under 40 CFR 141.207. As required by the PN Rule, NTNCWSs must notify persons served by the system of
the availability of UCMR results within 12 months after the results are known. Because the revised PN Rule goes into effect
at different times in different States, owners and operators should check with their State drinking water agency to determine
which public notice requirements apply. Details on these reporting requirements can be found in the documents: Preparing
Your Drinking Water Consumer Confidence Report (EPA 816-R-99-002) and Public Notification Handbook (EPA
816-R-00-010). Both are available on the Web at www.epa.gov/safewater.
Where Can I Get More Information?
More information on the UCMR is available from the following sources:
• Federal Register notices of September 17, 1999 (64 FR 50556),
March 2, 2000 (65 FR 11372), and January 11, 2001 (66 FR 2273).
• The EPA Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water Web Site
(www.epa.gov/safewater/ucmr.html).
• Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulation Analytical
Methods and Quality Control Manual (EPA 815-R-00-006).
• Supplement A to the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring
Regulation Analytical Methods and Quality Control Manual (EPA
815-R-00-002).
• Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulation Guidance for
Operators of Public Water Systems Serving 10,000 or Fewer
People (EPA 815-R-01-002).
• The Safe Drinking Water Hotline (800 426-4791).
EPA is developing additional guidance materials, so check the Office of
Ground Water and Drinking Water Web Site often for the latest
information about them.
Table 2, at right, lists UCMR contacts in the EPA regional offices and
the Agency's Technical Support Center in Cincinnati, OH.
Table 2: EPA UCMR Contacts
EPA
Region 1
Region 2
Region 3
Region 4
Region 5
Region 6
Region 7
Region 8
Region 9
Region 10
Technical
Support
Center
Contact
Chris Ryan
Robert Poon
Michelle Hoover
Janine Morris
Janet Kuefler
Andrew J. Waite
Stan Calow
Rod Glebe
Jill Korte
Gene Taylor
Dan Hautman
Telephone
617918-1567
212637-3821
215814-5258
404 562-9480
312886-0123
214665-7332
913551-7410
303312-6627
415744-1853
206553-1389
513569-7948
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