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).

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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

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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

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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

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