UCMR Update Issue Number 1 January, 2001

EPA815-N-01-001a
Look to us for the latest info on the UCMR!
UCMR Update
Jim Walasek, Editor
Technical Support Center
January 2001

UCMR
Premier Issue
UCMR Update ISSUe Number 1- This information sheet, the UCMR Update,
is the first one to be issued by the Technical Support Center (TSC) of the Office of Ground Water and
Drinking Water (OGWDW). Future issues will be distributed as needed to maintain information flow
related to the UCMR.

Editor's Note: The UCMR is a multi-tiered rule that was promulgated in the September 17, 1999
Federal Register starting on page 50556 (64 FR 50556). The three-tiered monitoring approach
includes: Assessment Monitoring for the List 1 chemical contaminants, a Screening Survey for the list 2
chemical contaminants andAeromonas, and the Pre-Screen Testing for List 3 contaminants (mostly
microbiological contaminants). On December 18, 2000, the List 2 Rule was signed by EPA
Administrator, Carol Browner and will soon be published in the Federal Register. Well, I don't know
about you, but for me, reading the Federal Register is a sure cure for insomnia. Therefore, one of the
goals of this "rag" (the UCMR Update) will be to look at some of the major provisions of the Rule and
attempt to put them into "plain language."
Many of you just receiving this first issue of the UCMR Update have already received your
notification of the start of the Assessment Monitoring phase of the Unregulated Contaminant
Monitoring Rule (UCMR). Notification letters were sent out at the beginning of October to more than
one-third of the total (800) randomly selected small systems (those PWSs serving 10,000 or fewer
persons) by the States and in some cases, by the Technical Support Center here in Cincinnati. Many
of the small systems that were notified have been scheduled to begin sampling in the year 2001.
Because of their size, the small systems will be getting assistance in the analysis and reporting of their
samples. EPA will pay for the assembly and shipment of the sampling kits to the utility, shipment of the
water samples to the designated analytical lab for analysis, and data entry of the results by the labs. The
small systems will do the actual collection of the samples, but in some cases even that may be done by
others (e.g., State or USEPA Regional personnel).
In addition to the small systems, notification letters were also sent to the approximately 2700
large systems (serving more than 10,000 persons) that will be required to sample for the 12
contaminants on List 1. This list will more often be referred to as Assessment Monitoring. The large
systems, by virtue of their size and staffing, will have to provide their own sampling kits, sample
collection, and analytical services. They will also have to have their own results entered into the
Internet-based data entry system.
In this first issue of the UCMR Update, we will look at Assessment Monitoring, Index Systems,
Data Elements, Monitoring Frequency, the Small System Screening Survey, and Data Reporting. I have
selected these topics because they will all be important in the coming year.

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Partnership is Formed - Due to the size and scope of the UCMR, and the fact that EPA
will be directly implementing the rule without required assistance from the States, it was set up as a
voluntary partnership arrangement between EPA and the States/Territories. Most of the States did sign
Partnership Agreements (PAs), while others only agreed to do certain aspects of the monitoring, but did
agree, in a letter to EPA, to do these tasks. A few states said they would not take part in any of the
UCMR activities, an action which required the USEPA to get involved directly with the utilities.
In addition to USEPA and the states, there are several other players in this undertaking. For
instance, EPA Regional offices were responsible for negotiating the Partnership Agreements with the
States. As monitoring begins, some EPA Regional offices will be collecting samples for systems as
well as assisting with the review of data or assisting with compliance issues. Therefore, the EPA
Regions should be the first contacts for questions concerning the UCMR.
EPA is also working with several contractors on implementation of the UCMR. First, Cadmus
(an EPA contractor located in Massachusetts) has been responsible for randomly selecting the "small"
PWSs for Assessment Monitoring and the Screening Surveys, as well as the large (serving over 10,000
persons) PWSs which will participate in the Screening Surveys. They also worked with the States to
compile the State Monitoring Plans (SMP) and drafted all of the guidance documents.
Great Lakes Environmental Center (GLEC) was chosen as the small system implementation
contractor for the UCMR. They will be responsible for coordination of the small system sampling effort
including the design and shipment of sampling kits to the systems (or State/Regional samplers). They
will also review data from the laboratory analysis of the small system samples. Furthermore, GLEC
will be working with Montgomery Watson (MW) and Environmental Health Laboratory (EHL),
who will perform the chemical analyses for all the small systems in the UCMR. Another contractor, the
National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP) is assisting with all the mass
mailings (of notification letters and the like) which need to be undertaken for the UCMR. Finally,
Logistics Management Institute (LMI) is developing the web-based data entry system, as well as the
format for transferring batch data.
Of course, there is even a partnership "within" the EPA to get the UCMR off the ground and
running, involving several groups within the Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water. For
example, the Targeting and Analysis Branch (TAB) was responsible for getting the Rule published.
The Infrastructure Branch (IB) will be responsible for getting the data to Envirofacts. The Office of
Environmental Information (OEI) is responsible for getting the electronic data reporting system in
shape. And last, but not least, the Technical Support Center (TSC), here in Cincinnati, is responsible
for implementing the UCMR. TSC also played a significant role in the development of the Rule.
As you can see, the UCMR is truly a partnership arrangement. And TSC, for one, is looking
forward to a successful partnership.

List 2 Large Systems Revealed - The list of large systems selected for the UCMR
Screening Survey for List 2 contaminants is available for your viewing pleasure on EPA's website at
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/standard/ucmr/list21argesvstems.html. The list consists of the 120
systems designated for 2002, and 120 systems selected for monitoring in 2003.

Assessment Monitoring - When you hear the words, Assessment Monitoring, think of
List 1. This list contains 12 chemical contaminants, eleven of which can be analyzed using current
analytical methods. A new method for the determination of perchlorate (EPA Method 314.0) was
developed specifically for the UCMR. [Refer to Table 1 in the Rule (p. 50613) for the complete list.]
Eleven of the contaminants are organics, while perchl orate, is an inorganic contaminant.
One year of Assessment Monitoring for the List 1 contaminants must take place during the period
beginning January 1, 2001 and ending December 31, 2003. The schedule for Assessment Monitoring
for small systems down to the year and month has already been determined from the State Monitoring
Plans (SMPs). Our implementation contractor, GLEC, will soon be contacting the small systems to
establish the exact week of sampling and to begin shipping sampling kits to the systems (or the
State/EPA Regional samplers).
As for the large systems, they have been notified about the monitoring period for the List 1 UCMR
contaminants, but have some discretion when it comes to the year in which they want to monitor. Large

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systems must provide their own sampling kits and collect their own samples and have them analyzed by
an approved lab of their choosing. Their lab will enter the results into EPA's electronic data reporting
system (known as SDWARS and still under development), but the utility will have the opportunity to
review data and the responsibility to approve the results through the same data reporting system.

Index SySteniS - The term "Index Systems" applies to the 30 randomly selected small systems
that will be monitored over a five-year period for a wide range of parameters. These systems were
selected randomly from the systems in State Monitoring Plans (SMPs). The purpose of this sampling
program is to study the effect of temporal variation on contaminant occurrence and to provide additional
information on small systems which can then be used to "tailor future regulations to small systems."
EPA will pay for Index System monitoring (sampling equipment, shipment of samples, analysis,
and data entry). In addition, a field technician will be available to each Index System to collect the
samples. Additional system information will be collected initially "to characterize the environmental
setting affecting the system." Systems selected as Index Systems will receive further guidance from
EPA in the weeks to come.

Diltil Elements - The 16 data elements which are to be reported include:
1. PWSID Number - 2 character postal State code (e.g., FL for Florida) followed by 7-digit
number
2. Sampling Point ID Number - 3 part alphanumeric designation consisting of: the PWS Facility
ID Number, the Sampling Point ID Number, and the Sampling Point Type ID. An example
would be: 00105-00105E-SS
3. Sample Collection Date - date sample is collected in the format yyyymmdd
4. Sample ID Number - up to 15 alphanumeric characters assigned by the lab to identify water
samples collected at the same time and location
5. Contaminant/Parameter - the name of the UCMR contaminant/water quality parameter for
which the sample is being analyzed (e.g., MTBE)
6. Analytical Results - Sign - alphanumeric value of < (less than) or = (equal to)
7. Analytical Result - Value - actual numeric value of the analysis, or the MRL (min. reporting
level)
8. Analytical Result - Unit of Measure - unit of measurement such as micrograms per liter
9. Analytical Method Number - ID number of analytical method such as, EPA 502.2
10. Sample Analysis Type - type of sample collected (one of 4 types: RFS (raw field sample),
RDS (raw duplicate field sample), TFS (treated field sample), TDS (treated duplicate field
sample)
11. Sample Batch ID Number - 3 part number consists of up to: 10 character lab ID code
assigned by EPA, 15 character batch (extraction or analysis) code assigned by lab, date
(yyyymmdd format) batch was extracted or analyzed
12. Minimum Reporting Level (MRL) - lowest concentration of an analyte that may be reported
13. MRL Unit of Measure - unit of measure such as micrograms per liter (ug/L)
14. Analytical Precision - degree of agreement between two repeated measurements. For the
UCMR it is defined as the relative percent difference (RPD) between spiked matrix duplicates
15. Analytical Accuracy - describes how close a result is to the true value measured through the
use of spiked field samples
16. Spiking Concentration - concentration of method analytes added to a sample for the purpose
of calculating analytical precision and accuracy

JVLonitOFing Frequency - The monitoring frequency for Assessment Monitoring varies
from 4 times per year for surface water systems to just two times per year for groundwater systems.
Sounds simple doesn't it? Au contraire. One of the sampling times for surface water systems must fall
between May 1st and July 31st (the so-called vulnerable period) while the other three sampling times
must occur in the same relative month in each of the other quarters. For example, if you sample the

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vulnerable period in June, the other sampling must be done in March, September, and December (three
months before and three and six months after the vulnerable period sampling). For ground water,
sample during one month of the vulnerable time (May 1st through July 31st ) and during one month five
to seven months earlier or later (e.g., if you plan to sample in June 2001, collect the other sample in
either January 2001 or November 2001, December 2001, or January 2002). Now I'm confused. Good
luck.

Small System Screening Survey -EPA divided the list of contaminants that systems
must monitor for into 3 separate lists based on the availability of analytical methods. 'We have already
discussed Assessment Monitoring, the List 1 contaminants. The Screening Survey or List 2
contaminants, consists of 13 chemical contaminants for which analytical methods will be available by
the start of monitoring in 2001. Of the 800 randomly selected small systems, 180 small systems were
randomly selected to begin monitoring for List 2 contaminants in 2001. (The 120 randomly selected
large systems do not begin monitoring for List 2 chemical contaminants until January 2002.) A second
Screening Survey for the List 2 microbiological contaminant, Aeromonas, will be performed by 180
other small systems in 2003. List 2 monitoring for small systems is scheduled in 2001 to run
concurrently with List 1 (Assessment Monitoring) contaminant monitoring. Small system monitoring
for List 2 contaminants is taking place before the large systems monitor for these contaminants because
EPA is paying for the small system monitoring and hopes to gain some additional experience with the
methods before the large systems (which must pay for their own monitoring costs) start their monitoring
in 2002.

Data Reporting - Analytical data from the UCMR monitoring will be entered into a web-
based data entry system known as SDWARS (for Safe Drinking Water Acquisition and Reporting
System). This database system is currently under development and it is anticipated that it will be ready
to accept data in June 2001. In the interim, it will be necessary for large systems and laboratories to
participate in a registration process. Letters will be mailed to these systems and labs in January (or
early February) 2001 announcing the start of registration and explaining the procedures to be followed.
The registration process will probably (the details are still being worked out) involve submitting a list
(on your "Official" letterhead) of potential users that will need access to the system for data entry and/or
data review/approval. In turn, a letter will be sent to each potential user with detailed instructions on
how to access the system along with a user ID and a temporary password. You will then be able to
logon to the system (set-up a password of your choosing) and register for the purpose of entering and/or
reviewing/approving UCMR data. More on the development of this system in the next UCMR Update.
LabS Approved - Just over 100 laboratories have been approved to
conduct perchl orate analysis in support of List 1, Assessment Monitoring. These laboratories have
successfully completed and passed either the Spring or the Fall 2000 Perchlorate Performance Testing
(PT) Study. At the time of these studies, these laboratories were certified by a State or primacy agency
to conduct compliance monitoring for at least one inorganic parameter using an approved ion
chromatographic method. For a complete listing of these approved labs go to the EPA website at
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/standard/ucmr/aprvlabs.html

Additional Information for Systems? - Recently, many States have been
contacted by their systems seeking more information about the UCMR. Help is on the way! Two new
guidance documents are about to be released by EPA. One, titled Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring
Regulations Guidance for Operators of Public Water Systems Serving 10,000 or Fewer People (whew,
that's a mouthful) EPA # 815-R-00-018, should help answer some of those nagging questions about the
how, what, when, where of UCMR Assessment Monitoring. It is currently on the safewater web site in
draft form, but will be published soon and available through the Water Resources Center. Another
guidance document with a similar "catchy" title, Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulation
Guidance for Operators of Public Water Systems Serving More Than 10,000 Persons, EPA # 815-R-OO-
01?_ is not yet ready, but should be soon. Another document (UCMR: Interim Update on Reporting) is

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being developed primarily for large systems and their laboratories that will provide an informational
update on data reporting under the UCMR. Fact sheets are also being developed for both the large and
small systems and may be included in the mailing explaining the registration process for the data
system.

List 2 Rule Final - The final rule for List 2 was proposed in the September 13, 2000 Federal
Register starting on page 55362 (65 FR 55362) and was signed by the EPA Administrator on December
1 8 authorizing the Rule as Final and its publication in the Federal Register. It may not be published in
the Federal Register until January 2001; in the interim, a prepublication version is available on the web
at http : //www. epa. gov/s af ewater/standard/
ucmr/prepubfmal_ucmr_list2.pdf .
The September 1999 UCMR included 3 lists of contaminants to be monitored: List 1 for
contaminants with approved analytical methods, List 2 for contaminants with methods being refined,
and List 3 for contaminants with methods being developed in research. This latest rule finalizes
analytical methods for 13 (of the original 16) List 2 chemical contaminants and the monitoring schedule
for the microbiological contaminant, Aeromonas (2003 - if the analytical method is promulgated in
2001). The rule also finalizes minor changes to the September 1999 UCMR that affect the
implementation of monitoring for both List 1 and List 2 contaminants.

When Contacting US... -Utilities, please use your PWSID Number (laboratories use your
USEPA (EMSL) LAB ID number for lab related issues) as a reference in any written correspondence
with the UCMR folks here at TSC. The address is:

UCMR Coordinator
Technical Support Center
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency
26 W. Martin Luther King Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45268

Future ISSUeS Of the UCMR Update - This issue of the UCMR Update is being
sent to you to keep you abreast of the latest information on the UCMR. If you or someone else would
like to receive future issues (limit one per entity, but feel free to copy), please fill out the form below
and return it to the Technical Support Center in Cincinnati, or e-mail a short message with your mailing
address to walasek.j ames@epa. gov to be placed on the mailing list. Thank you.
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Yes, I would like to receive future issues of the UCMR Update. My current mailing address is:

Name:
PWSID# (or USEPA Lab ID#):
PWS (or Lab) Name:
Mailing Address:
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Mail to: Jim Walasek, U.S. EPA, 26 W. M. L. King Dr. (MS-140), Cincinnati, OH 45268

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