UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
                    GUIDANCE FROM HOTLINE COMPENDIUM
                                                                          WSGH14
                                                         Date Issued:  September 1988
SUBJECT:    Purpose and Applicability of Maximum Contaminant Level
             Goals (MCLGs)

SOURCE:    Betsy Devlin
Why are Maximum Contaminant Level Goals (MCLGs), which are non-enforceable, codified in
Title 40 CFR Part 141, Subpart F?

       Response:

       The Safe Drinking Water Act (SOWA), as amended in 1986, requires EPA to set MCLGs
       simultaneously with the promulgation of the MCLs.  Therefore, MCLGs appear in the
       CFR because they are a required portion of the Office of Drinking Water (ODW)
       regulations.  They represent an aspirational health goal at which no known or anticipated
       adverse health effects would occur, allowing an adequate margin of safety.  Thus,
       MCLGs are an important source of information to many of those regulated by SDWA.

       NOTE:  This response slightly differs from the version published within the September
       1988 Monthly Report.  The Office of Drinking Water edited the original response.

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