UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY WSG 120 Date Signed: October 29, 1996 MEMORANDUM SUBJECT: Section 301 of the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 FROM: Cynthia C. Dougherty, Director Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water TO: Water Division Directors Regions I - X The purpose of this memorandum is to give you the language and context of Section 301 of the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996. There has been some concern among the Regions, States and the water utility industry over the use of potable water source heat pumps. Demonstration projects have been installed in several states with the cooperation and encouragement of the US Department of Energy. The Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water, the Office of Research and Development and several Regions have raised a number of concerns about the use of these types of heat pumps firm pub lie health and water quality perspectives. Congress in the 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act repealed the section of the Energy Act that required the Secretary of the Department of Energy to encourage the use of these heat pumps. Section 301 of the Safe Drinking Water Act amends the Energy Conservation and Production Act by repealing section 3013, "Geothermal Heat Pumps." This section of the Energy Act is quoted in its entirely below: The Secretary shall- - (1) encourage states, municipalities, counties and townships to consider allowing the installation of geothermal heat pumps, and, where applicable, and consistent with public health and safety, to permit public and private water recipients to utilize the flow of water from, and back into, public and private water mains for the purpose of providing sufficient water supply for the operation of residential and commercial geothermal heat pumps; and (2) not discourage any local authority which allows the use of geothermal heat pumps from - - ------- WSG 120 (A) inspecting, at any reasonable time, geothermal heat pump connections to the water system to ensure the exclusive use of public or private water supply to the geothermal heat pump system; and (B) requiring that geothermal heat pumps systems be designed and installed in a manner that eliminates any risks of contamination to th public water supply. A number of memoranda on municipal water source heat pumps have been issued over the last few years. Both the Office of Research and Development and the Office of Water have discouraged the use of this technology until satisfactory test results using the protocol developed by the Office of Research and Development are provided. Among our numerous concerns are the potential deterioration of water quality and the advisability of cross-connections between heat exchangers and potable water mains. Our position remains unaltered, as no new data have been submitted to deal with our concerns. The repeal of this section of the Energy Act does not prohibit the use of this type of heat pump. As a consequence, we need to remain vigilant to any potential drinking water concerns arising from the sue of this heat pump technology. In this regard, I would request that the Regions consider the following suggestions. First, each Region should attempt to identify any existing or proposed installations in their States. In addition, we should remain vigilant to any public health or water quality problems that develop and provide support to the States as the need arises. If there are any questions you have concerning this matter or you have any information to share, Steve Clark on 202-260-7159, is our oint of contact. cc: Vanessa Leiby, ASDWA ------- |