SAFE DRINKING WATER HOTLINE MONTHLY REPORT December 2001 Safe Drinking Water Hotline: National Toil-Free No.:(800) 426-4791 or (877) EPAWATER operated by Booz. Allen.Hamilton under Contract No. GS-10F-0090J. See past SDW Hotline Monthly Reports at http://intranet.epa.gov/ow/hotline. For more information, contact Harriet Hubbard, EPA Project Monthly Summary of Hotline Service Top Ten Referrals Total number of calls answered 1,033 Average wait time (in seconds) 16 % of all calls answered in < 1 min 93.8 % of calls satisfied immediately 98.1 % of callbacks answered in 5 days 100 Total number of emails received 248 % of emails answered in 5 days 100 # of Times Callers Listened to Recorded Message About Local DW Quality 644 # of Times Callers Listened to Recorded Message About Arsenic Rule 44 Inquiry Referred to: Number of Referrals Percent of Total* Referrals EPA Internet 197 18 State Lab Certification 138 12 Local Water System 105 9 N SFAVQ A/UL/NAIN 94 8 State PWSS 91 8 AGWT 70 6 Local Public Health 52 5 Other Hotlines 46 4 Non-EPA Internet 36 3 Regional Offices (combined) 35 3 Comparison to Previous Year Calls Emails December 2001 1,033 248 December 2000 3,053 348 Top Ten Question Topics Questions Percent of Topic (phone & email) Total* Questions Tap Water Testing 142 9 Local Drinking Water Quality 128 8 Household Wells 123 8 Lead 78 5 Radon 71 5 Other DW Background 70 5 Other EPA 68 4 Home Water Treatment Units 57 4 MCL List 50 3 Non-EPA Environmental 48 3 * 1,522 total questions were answered by the Hotline (via telephone and email) in December 2001. *1,122 total referrals to other resources, agencies, and organizations were provided by the Hotline in December 2001. Selected Questions and Answers Q: When does EPA expect to promulgate the new standard for ARSENIC that was announced by the Administrator on October 31, 2001? A: The lOug/L standard for arsenic in drinking water was promulgated on January 22, 2001 (66 FR6976). The announcement by the administrator informed the public of the Agency's decision to retain that level (10 ug/L) as the new maximum contaminant level (MCL) for arsenic in drinking water. Public Water systems will be required to meet this standard by January 2006. Q: What is the estimated dollar cost per prevented cancer with the change of the ARSENIC MCL to 10 ppb? A: In table III.E-10 of the final January 22, 2006 Arsenic Rule, the annual cost per cancer avoided (combined lung and bladder) ranges from $4.8million down to $3.2 million at 3% discount rate and ranges from $5.5 to $3.7 million at 7% discount rate. The ranges are based on lower and upper bound risk ranges (with the lesser dollar figure representing the upper bound). Safe Drinking X Water hAtline 1 ------- Q: Is naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) in drinking water addressed in the RADIONUCLIDES FINAL rule? For example, regarding the MCL of 4 mrem/y for beta particles, is Pb210 included since it is a beta emitter and naturally occurring? A: According to Radionuclides Rule: A Quick Reference Guide, June 2001 (EPA816-F-01-003), naturally occurring Lead-210 is not individually regulated but is included as one of the 168 individual beta particle and photon emitters. Monitoring of Lead-210 is required under the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule. Further action may be proposed at a later date. Naturally occurring Potassium-40 is excluded from the gross beta activity standard. Naturally occurring Polonium-210 is included under the gross alpha particles standard and monitoring of Polonium-210 is also required under the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule. Q: I understand that a motor vehicle waste disposal well not located within a ground water protection area or other sensitive ground water area is subject to closure or must obtain a permit in order to continue operation as required by the UNDERGROUND INJECTION Control Regulations for Class V Injection Wells Rule, promulgated December 7,1998. Are there any federal requirements for motor vehicle waste disposal wells not located within these specified areas? A: The rule only applies to wells within those specified areas. However, 40 CFR § 144.87(h) allows a State UIC director to impose some or all of the requirements promulgated by the December 7, 1998, rule as needed to provide protection to underground sources of drinking water. EPA expects states to determine what is best to provide the highest level of protection. The appropriate state UIC director should be contacted for information about requirements beyond those promulgated by the federal EPA. Question of the Month Q: According to EPA's final Radionuclide Rule Technical Fact Sheet, all new monitoring is to be conducted at each entry point to the distribution system. Does this mean the sample should be collected from the source (untreated water) coming into the treatment plant, or from a location after treatment prior to distribution? A: The term "entry point to the distribution system" means the point at which the treated water enters the distribution system. Chart of the Month 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 2 Figure 1. Radon Questions by EPA Region The Hotline answered 71 questions (via telephone and email) specifically about radon in drinking water. This chart represents a breakdown of radon questions by EPA Region where state information was available (eleven of the 71 inquirers did not indicate the state in which they lived). People in the northeast U.S. presented the Hotline with the majority of the radon questions. While people in Region 1 presented the most questions about radon, the two individual states Safe Drinking X Water HAtline 2 ------- most highly represented by radon inquirers (Connecticut and New York) were in Region 2. What's New? New Documents: Two new guidance documents for the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulation (UCMR) are now available online. Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulation Reporting Guidance, November 2001 (EPA815- R-01-029). Available at: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/standard/ucmr/repo rtingguidancc .pdf Reference Guide for the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulation, October 2001 (EPA815-R-01 -023). Available at: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/standard/ucmr/ref_ guide.pdf Daily Call Data Total Calls Answered Average Wait Time mm:sec 3-Dec 79 0:09 4-Dec 73 0:24 5-Dec 57 0:10 6-Dec 78 0:22 7-Dec 57 0:13 10-Dec 63 0:15 11-Dec 58 0:08 12-Dec 49 0:07 13-Dec 61 0:27 14-Dec 52 0:12 17-Dec 47 0:09 18-Dec 71 0:18 19-Dec 50 0:12 20-Dec 54 0:11 21-Dec 41 0:37 26-Dec 38 0:06 27-Dec 33 0:09 28-Dec 40 0:36 31-Dec 32 0:31 TOTALS 1,033 0:17 Customer Profiles Customer Calls Emails Analytical Laboratories 25 4 Citizen - Private Well 213 34 Citizen - PWS 430 62 Consultants/Industry/T rade (DW) 82 15 Consultants/Industry/T rade (Other) 55 25 Environmental Groups 14 0 EPA 16 4 Other Federal Agency 11 3 Government, Local 16 5 Government, State 23 15 Government, Tribal 0 1 Spanish Speaking 1 2 International 1 14 Media 3 0 Medical Professional 2 2 Public Water System 65 14 Schools/University 28 46 Other 48 2 TOTALS 1,033 248 TOPIC CATEGORIES CATEGORY Calls Emails Microbials/Disinfection Byproducts Chlorine 9 6 Coliforms 24 7 Cryptosporidium 9 0 Disinfection/Disinfection Byproducts (Other) 14 3 Disinfection - Home Water 9 3 Other Microbials 13 0 Surface Water Treatment (SWTR, ESWTR, LT1FBR) 26 3 Trihalomethane (THM) 6 2 Inorganic Chemicals (IOC)/Synthetic Organic Chemicals (SOC) Arsenic 39 8 Fluoride 7 2 Methyl-terfr'orv-butyl-ether (MTBE) 8 3 Phase I, II & V 19 10 Sodium Monitoring 1 1 Sulfate 6 2 Lead and Copper Copper 10 1 Lead 70 8 Lead Contamination Control Act (LCCA)/Lead Ban 4 0 Safe Drinking X Water hAtline 3 ------- Radionuclides Radionuclides (Other) 18 5 Radionuclides (Radon) 64 7 Secondary DW Regulations Secondary DW Regulations 31 7 SDWA Background/Overview Definitions & Applicability 18 4 MCL List 33 17 Other Background 55 15 SDWA 10 10 Water on Tap 12 4 Other DW Regulations Analytical Methods (DW) 16 9 Contaminant Candidate List/ Drinking Water Priority List 2 0 Consumer Confidence Report (DW) 36 6 DW Primacy (PWS) 1 0 Operator (PWS) Certification 3 1 Public Notification (PWS) 8 2 State Revolving Fund (DW) 2 2 Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) 39 3 Other Drinking Water Additives Program 3 2 Bottled Water 25 4 Complaints about PWS 20 4 Compliance & Enforcement (PWS) 12 4 Home Water Treatment Units 50 7 Infrastructure/Cap. Development 4 2 Local DW Quality 104 24 Tap Water Testing 132 10 Treatment/BATs (DW) 20 11 Drinking Water Source Protection Ground Water Rule 1 1 Sole Source Aquifer 0 0 Source Water/Wellhead Protect. 12 5 UIC Program 7 1 Out of Purview Household Wells 106 17 Non-Environmental 27 18 Non-EPA Enviromnental 32 16 Other EPA (Programs) 51 17 TOTALS 1,228 294 Safe Drinking Water H&tline ------- |