Water Contaminant Information Tool (WCIT) Update What is WCIT and who will use it? The Water Contaminant Information Tool (WCIT) is a secure, online database under development by the U.S. EPA that will provide information on contaminants of concern for water security. As a planning tool, WCIT can be used to help create and update vulnerability assessments, emergency response plans, and site-specific response guidelines. As a response tool, WCIT can be used to provide real-time data on water contaminants to help first responders (including utilities) make better decisions. In addition, WCIT will assist EPA to determine what information about priority contaminants is missing, which will direct future research efforts. WCIT users will include EPA Program Offices and Regions, other Federal organizations, drinking water and wastewater utilities of all sizes, State drinking water and wastewater programs, public health officials, environmental laboratories, emergency first responders, and technical assistance providers. What kind of information will I be able to find on WCIT? WCIT will contain the most up-to-date information on water contaminants from peer- reviewed sources and research. It will include data on contaminant names, contaminant availability, fate and transport, health effects and toxicity, medical information, drinking water treatment effectiveness, potential water quality and environmental indicators, sampling and analysis, and helpful response advice for utilities. Initially, only drinking water information will be contained in WCIT. However, the process to gather wastewater information has begun and these data will be added to WCIT later. Who is helping EPA to design WCIT? EPA established a User Workgroup to provide guidance on WCIT's design and functionality. The membership of this workgroup includes representatives from those agencies and groups (such as water utilities) who will be the ultimate users of WCIT. EPA also established an Expert Workgroup to conduct initial and ongoing reviews of the technical information contained in WCIT. These workgroup members are experts on chemical or pathogen properties, fate and transport, contaminant monitoring, health effects, or comprehensive contaminant data compilation and management procedures. When will I be able to access and use WCIT? Initial testing (also known as "beta" testing) of WCIT is complete, and the first version of WCIT will be available in the early fall of 2005. Currently, information for 16 contaminants has been entered into WCIT. It will contain information for a total of 45 contaminants when it is launched. Who can I contact to find out more about WCIT? Please contact Ashley Smith for more information at 202-564-0917 or at smith.ashley-m@epa.gov Office of Water www. epa.go v/watersecurity May 2005 EPA817-F-05-002 ------- |