0J9H leqen Gu\\\m *WV
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
EPA 570/9-89-006
December 1989
Office of Water (WH-550)
v>EPA
Public Notification For
Public Water Systems
Printed on Recycled Paper
-------
Overview
With the enactment of the Safe Drinking
Water Act (SD WA) in 1974, Congress required
that public drinking water systems notify
their customers when drinking water
standards are violated.
On June 19,1986, Congress amended the
Act and, among other changes, directed the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to
revise the public notification requirements.
Congress also reaffirmed its position that
public notification is an important responsi-
bility of public water systems.
In response to this Congressional man-
date, EPA, on October 28,1987, published its
revised, general public notification require-
ments, changing the way public drinking
water systems are to issue notice. These
requirements were effective April 28, 1989,
and can be found in 40 Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR) 141.32. Each state has
adopted or will adopt requirements no less
stringent than EPA's regulations. Contact your
state primacy agency for speci fic requirements
that apply in your state, or contact the
Safe Drinking Water Hotline
Hours:
8:30 am-4:30 pm
EST
Monday-Friday
1-800-426-4791
1-202-382-5533 in Alaska and
District of Columbia
Purpose of Public
Notification
The primary purpose of public notification
is to inform consumers of any existing or
potential adverse health effects" related to their
drinking water, and steps they can take to
minimize the impact. Public notification also
provides consumers with information that
will encourage them to support the expendi-
tures it will take to provide safe water.
LEVELS OF VIOLATIONS/ACTIONS
Tier 1 Violations
Tier 1 violations are the more serious and require substantial
efforts at public notification. Tier 1 violations include:
Failure to comply with a Maximum Contaminant Level
(MCL)
Failure to comply with a treatment technique requirement
established in lieu of an MCL
Failure to comply with a schedule prescribed under a
variance or exemption
Tier 2 Violations
Tier 2 violations are less serious and have simpler public
notification requirements. Tier 2 violations include:
Failure to comply with monitoring requirements
Failure to comply with specified testing procedures
Operating under a variance or an exemption
More detailed information concerning the revised public notification
requirements can be found in the handbook, "General Public Notifica-
tion for Public Water Systems" (Publication Number EPA 570/9-88-002,
September 1989). Copies may be purchased from the National Technical
Information Service (NTIS), U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 5285 Port Royal
Road, Springfield, Virginia 22161. Phone 1-800-336-4700 toll free to
order.
WHO MUST GIVE THE PUBLIC NOTICE
All public water systems (PWSs) must notify the public
when the system violates a national primary drinking
water regulation or receives and operates under a variance
and/or an exemption. Contact primacy agent to determine
your PWS type.
The form and timing of the public notification depends
on the type of violation or action and whether the public
water system is a community water system (CWS) or non-
community water system (NCWS). The type of violation
determines the timing of the notice.
In general, CWSs must provide notice in a newspaper
and, for acute violations, provide notice to the local radio
or TV stations. CWS must also give notice of Tier 1 viola-
tions to new billing units. NCWS will, in general, give
the notice by continuous posting. All public water
systems must use mandatory health effects language (see
40 CRF 141.32(e)) for certain types of violations. (Refer to
chart on next page.)
<
-------
Violation
Category
Type
TIER 1
1. MCL
2. Treatment
Technique
3. Variance or
Exemption
Schedule
Violation
Mandatory
Health
EffectJ
Information
Required
(All PWSs)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Notice to
New Billing
Units
(CWSs Only)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Type of
PWS
Community
Non-
Community1
Time Frame Within Which Notice Must be Clven (Box Indicates
time frame for initial notice and is followed by the frequency of
repeat notice until the violation is resolved)
Viola- 72 7 14 45 3 Annual
tion hours days days days months
Acute Violations:'
TV and Radio
No Repeat
Newspaper1
No Repeat
Mail or Hand Delivery*
Quarterly Repeat
Non-Acute Violations:
Newspaper
No Repeat
Mail or Hand Delivery1
Quarterly Repeat
Option I:
Acute/Non-Acute Violations
Notice as for Community Water Systems
or
Option 2:
Acute Violations:
Posting or
Hand Delivery
Continuous/Quarterly Repeat5
Non-Acute Violations:
I Posting or Hand Delivery
Continuous/Quarterly Repeat
TIER 2
1. Monitoring4
2. Testing
Procedure
3. Variance or
Exemption
Issued
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Community
Newspaper1
Quarterly
Repeat by
Mail or
Hand
Delivery
Non-
Community
Option 1:
Notice as for Community Water Systems
or
Option 2:
I Posting or Hand Delivery
1 r*Ant«m t/vi
j Quarterly
Repeat'
Footnotes
'if no newspaper of general circulation is available, an alternate procedure providing for notice by posting or hand delivery within 72
hours for Tier 1 acute violations, 14 days for Tier 1 non-acute violations, and 3 months for Tier 2 violations should be followed.
2May be waived by the state in writing if the violation has been corrected within the 45-day period.
includes both transient non-community public water systems and non-transient non-community public water systems.
4Less frequent (but no less than annual) notice can be allowed if state regulations providing for less frequent notice are approved by
EPA.
slf posting is used, the notice must be posted continuously for the duration of the violation or failure. If hand delivery is used, the
notice must be repeated every 3 months for as long as the violation or failure exists.
'Mandatory health effects language for contaminants is specified in the public drinking water regulations.
7 Acute violations are those which involve an acute risk to human health. Acute regulations are defined by the public notification
regulations and currently include (1) any violations specified by the state as posing an acute risk to human health, (2) violations of
the MCL for nitrate, (3) violations of the MCL for total coliforms when fecal coliforms or E. coli are present in the water distribution
system (effective December 31, 1990), and (4) occurrence of a water-borne disease outbreak in an unfiltered system (effective
December 31, 1990). Additional acute violations will be defined as new regulations are promulgated.
-------
TYPES OF PUBLIC NOTICE
Newspaper
TXs Timsj
llllllllll
llllllllll
llllllllll
TV-Radio
CHECKLIST OF NOTICE CONTENTS
¦ The notice provides a clear and readily understandable explanation of
the
O violation/action
© potential adverse health effects (mandatory health effects language found
in Section 141.32(e), the federal public notice regulations)
© population at risk
O steps the system is taking to correct the violation
© necessity of seeking alternative water supplies (if any)
© preventive measures the consumer should take until the violation is
corrected
M The notice
is clear and conspicuous in design
© contains non-technical language
© uses print that is easily read
content creates no problems that would frustrate the purpose of public
notification
Q> contains the telephone number of the owner, operator, or designee of the
public water system as a source of additional information
© contains multi-lingual information, where appropriate
Th^ircled numbers on the example correspond to items found in
checklist a]Bs. NA means not applicable in this situation.
PUBLIC NOTIFICATION
FOR
PUBLIC WATER SYSTEMS
SAMPLE: Posted Notice with Recommended Health Effects Language
June 1, 1989 Amber Way Turnpike Authority
TURNPIKE WATER SYSTEM ENCOUNTERS DELAY IN LOWERING NITRATE LEVELS
WATER FROM THIS LOCATION SHOULD NOT BE
GIVEN TO CHILDREN UNDER ONE YEAR OF AGE.
SITUATION
GENERAL
INFORMATION
HEALTH
INFORMATION
The Amber Way Turnpike Authority has announced a delay in installation of water-
treatment equipment for this rest stop. As a result:
Water available at this rest stop may be slightly higher in nitrates than
recommended and should not be given to children under one year of age, or
used in making baby formula.
Water measured at this rest stop contained 12 milligrams of nitrate per liter of water. That
is slightly higher than the nitrate limit of 10 milligrams per liter, established by the State
Health Department. The Turnpike Authority has ordered special water treatment equipment
that is designed to lower nitrate levels, and was scheduled to have the equipment
installed by June. 1989. The Turnpike Authority was granted an exemption by the State
Health Department to meet that deadline. However, because of installation delays, the
equipment will not be installed until August. An application has been made to the State
Health Department to approve that schedule.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets drinking water standards
and has determined that nitrate poses an acute health concern at certain levels of
exposure. This inorganic chemical is used in fertilizer, and is associated with sewage and
wastes from farm animals. It generally gets into water from sewage or as a result of
agricultural fertilizing activity.
Excessive levels of nitrate in drinking water have caused serious illness (and sometimes
death) in young children under one year of age Infants are at the greatest risk. The
serious illness in children is caused because nitrate is converted to nitrite in the body and
nitrite interferes with the oxygen carrying capacity of the child's blood. This is an acute
disease because the child can exhibit symptoms within hours of consuming water.
Symptoms include shortness of breath and blueness of the skin. Clearly, expert medical
advice should be sought immediately if these symptoms occur. However, they do not
always occur The purpose of this notice is to encourage parents and other responsible
parties to provide children with an alternate source of drinking water. Local and State
health authorities are the best source for information concerning alternate sources of
drinking water for infants. You will receive notice as soon as a determination has been
made that the drinking water is safe.
EPA has set the drinking water standard at 10 parts per million (ppm) for nitrate to protect
against the risk of these adverse effects Drinking water which meets the EPA standard is
associated with little to none of this risk and should be considered safe with respect to
nitrate.
Safe Water Available
Low-nitrate, safe water is available from the restaurant in the southeast corner of
the rest-stop area.
INFORMATION
The Turnpike Authority regrets the inconvenience. If you have questions regarding
nitrates or the schedule for completing this work, please contact:
Bob Paterson,
Amber Way Turnpike Authority
(417)555-8686
©
©
0 NA
*© recommended health effects language. Substitute mandatory language w'|
------- |