Community water system

Today resource limitations have caused the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to reassess schedules for new rules. A 1987 USEPA survey indicated there were approximately 202,000 public water systems in the United States. About 29 percent of these were community water systems, which serve approximately 90 percent of the population. Of the 58,908 community systems that serve about 226 million people, 51,552 were classified as "small" or "very small." Each of these systems at an average serves a population of fewer than 3300 people. The total population served by these systems is approximately 25 million people. These figures provide us with a magnitude of scale in meeting drinking water demands in the United States. Compliance with drinking water standards is not... 

EPA has set a drinking water standard of 5 parts of trichloroethylene per one billion parts of water (ppb). One ppb is 1,000 times less than 1 ppm. This standard became effective on January 9, 1989, and applies to community water systems and those that serve the same 25 or more persons for at least 6 months. EPA requires industries to report spills of 1,000 pounds or more of trichloroethylene. It has been proposed that this level be reduced to 100 pounds. 

According to EPA s National Compliance Report for calendar year 1996 (EPA 1998g), the vast majority of people in the nation received water from systems that had no reported violations of the maximum contaminant level and treatment technique requirements or significant monitoring and reporting requirements. Lead has a maximum permissible level of 15 pg/L delivered to any user of a public water system. Lead and copper are regulated in a treatment technique that requires systems to take tap water samples at sites with lead pipes or copper pipes that have lead solder and/or are served by lead service lines. The water system is required to take treatment steps if the action level (15 pg/L for lead) is exceeded in more than 10% of tap water samples. For calendar year 1996, nearly 6 million people in the United States were served by community water systems that reported maximum contaminant level and treatment technique violations of the Lead and Copper Rule (EPA 1998g). 

Although we are concerned with the chemical industry in this text, the USEPA-developed Large Water System Emergency Response Plan Outline Guidance to Assist Community Water Systems in Complying with the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of2002 (dated July 2003), with minor adjustments,... 

EPA. 1988c. Maximum contaminant levels for radium-226, radium-228, and gross alpha-particle radioactivity in community water systems. 40 CFR 141.15 Federal Register, 533. 

Atrazine and Simazine Monitoring Data in Community Water Systems in the United States during 1993 to 2000... 

A population-linked database was developed to assess exposure to the herbicides atrazine and simazine in the drinking water of community water systems (CWS) fed by groundwater and surface water sources in 32 major-use states. These states represent about 99% of the annual atrazine and simazine use in the United States. Herbicide concentration and population data from 1993 through 2000 were paired for each water system and then aggregated to construct state and multistate exposure profiles. 

Meyer C, O Keefe P, Hilker D, et al. 1989. A survey of twenty community water systems in New York State for PCDDs and PCDFs. Chemosphere 19 21-26. 

Groundwater discharge/eff1uent Drinking water (class A, B, and D) Community water systems Drinking water Drinking water supply Effluent limitations for subsurface water... 

Aquatic life Recreation, wildlife Public water systems Surface waters Community water systems Groundwater - human... 

Requiring community water systems serving more than 10,000 customers to nohfy customers annually of the levels of federally regulated contaminants in the drinking water. These nohfications must include information on the presence of suspicious but still unregulated substances. If a violation of the standard occurs, the notihcations must contain information about the health effects of the contaminants in question. 

No MRLs were derived for oral exposure to asbestos for any duration. No studies were located regarding noncancer health effects in humans orally exposed to asbestos fibers, although asbestos cement pipes have been used in some community water systems for many years. Because ingested asbestos fibers are poorly... 

The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (commonly referred to as the CDC) has recommended the ophmal level for fluoride in drinking water (2), which is dependent on water temperature and population type. As water temperature increases, the optimal level decreases. For community water systems (serving both adult and children) with water temperatures ranging from 50 to 53.7°F, the optimal level is 1.2 mg/L for community water systems with water temperature ranging from 79.3 to 90.5°F, the optimal level is 0.7 mg/L. Table 3 presents the optimal fluoride level for community water systems. As shown in Table 4, the optimal levels are significant higher for a school public water supply system. The optimal level for school children is 4.5 times the levels for the general population serviced by a community system. 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), 2002a, Community Water System Survey 2000. Vol. 1, Office of Water. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA 815-R-02-005A. 

MCL for community water systems and non-transient, non-community water systems for PCBs MCLG for PCBs... 

MCL for community and nontransient, and non-community water systems PCBs (1336-36-3)... 

---