Safe Water Drinking Act

The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), enacted in 1974 to assure high-quality water supplies through public water system. The act is truly the first federal intervention to set the limits of contaminants in drinking water. The 1986 amendments came two years after passage of the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA) or the RCRA amendments of 1984. As a result, certain statutory provisions were added to these 1986 amendments to reflect the changes made in the underground injection control (UIC) systems. 

In addition, the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986 set the groundwater standards the same as the drinking water standards for the purpose of necessary cleanup and remediation of an inactive hazardous waste disposal site. The 1986 amendments of the SDWA included additional elements to establish maximum contaminant-level goals (MCLGs) and national primary drinking water standards. The MCLGs must be set at a level at which 

In the context of the petroleum industry, the priority list of drinking water contaminants is very important since it includes the contaminants known for their adverse effect on public health. Furthermore, most if not all are known or suspected to have hazardous or toxic characteristics that can compromise human health. 

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund, 1980, created a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries and provided broad federal authority to respond directly to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances that may endanger public health or the environment. The act was amended by the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) in 1986 and stressed the importance of permanent remedies and innovative treatment technologies in cleaning up hazardous waste sites. 

A CERCLA response or liability will be triggered by an actual release or the threat of a hazardous substance or pollutant or contaminant being released into the environment. A hazardous substance [CERCLA 101(14)] is any substance requiring special consideration due to its toxic nature under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, or Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and as defined under the RCRA. Additionally [CERCLA 101(33)], a pollutant or contaminant can be any other substance not necessarily designated or listed that will or may reasonably be anticipated to cause any adverse effect in organisms and/or their offspring. 

This section is adapted from USEPA, Understanding the Safe Drinking Water Act, EPA 816-F-04-030, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, 2004. 

Point-source water pollution is any discernible, defined, and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, vessel, or other floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be discharged into a river or other surface water body. Non-point-source pollution consists of runoff from irrigated agricultural land. 

The SDWA was enacted in 1974 to protect the quality of drinking water in the USA. The act authorized the EPA to establish safe health-related drinking water standards, with which all owners and operators of public water systems must comply. The SDWA required the EPA to identify contaminants and rate their potential to harm public health. The wellhead protection provisions of the SDWA are important for groundwater quality protection. 

The Underground Injection Control Program (UIC), under SDWA, protects the subsurface emplacement of fluid. This act allowed the SDWA to protect the public from contaminated drinking water. This program is discussed in 8.5. 

In 1986, the SDWA was amended to greatly increase the responsibilities of EPA and state agencies. Under the 1986 amendments, EPA is directed to schedule the promulgation of primary public drinking water regulations, impose civil and criminal penalties for tampering with pubhc water systems, and enforce more stringent standards. Also, rmder the 

1986 amendments, the wellhead protection program was established to focus on potential contamination of stnface and subsurface sturotmding a well. In 1988, Congress passed the Lead Contamination Control Act (LCCA) as an additional amendment to the SDWA to protect the public against the contamination of drinking water by lead. 

In 1996, the SDWA was amended again to place emphasis on sound science and a risk-based standard approach, small water supply systems, and water infrastructure assistance through a revolving loan fimd.  

The SDWA was established to protect the quality of drinking water in the United States. This law focuses on all waters actually or potentially designated for drinking use, whether from above- or underground sources. The Act authorized EPA to establish safe standards of purity and required all owners or operators of public water systems to comply with primary (health-related) standards. State governments, which assume this power from EPA, also encourage attainment of secondary standards (nuisance-related). 

Those federal regulations of interest and importance for addressing subsurface environmental issues in chronological order of establishment include the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC), the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), the Resource, Conservation, and Recovery Act (RCRA), the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA), the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FTFRA), and the Petroleum Safety Act (PSA). These regulations are discussed below. 

More stringent vessel safety and accident and spill prevention measures are regulated by the Coast Guard as promulgated under the Port and Tanker Safety Act of 1978 (33 USC, Sections 1201-1231), Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention of 1973, and the MARPOL Convention of 1978. Financial responsibility to meet potential Lability under the CWA must also be met. 

The SDWA was enacted in 1974, with amendments promulgated in 1986 and 1996. The SDWA expanded the role of the federal government to establish national standards for the levels of contaminants in drinking water, creating state programs to 

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All the PMBs are Hsted on the U.S. EPA s Toxic Substances Control Act NonConfidential Chemical Substances Inventory (Table 8). In the early to mid-1980s, pseudocumene, mesitylene, hemimellitene, and trimethylbenzene were coveted by TSCA Section 8(a) Preliminary Assessment Information Rule (PAIR) reporting requirements (22) and by TSCA Section 8(d) for health and safety data (23). Mesitylene is the subject of a test rule subacute oral toxicity and subchtonic oral toxicity in tats were underway in 1994 (24). The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) allows monitoring for pseudocumene and mesitylene at the discretion of the State (25). Of the PMBs, only pseudocumene is subject to SARA Tide III section 313 annual release reporting (26). 

Safe Drinking Water Act, 42 USC 300f-300j-26 40 CFR Parts 141-149. 

Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (HMTA) Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)... 

Environmental Levels and Exposures. Barium constitutes about 0.04% of the earth s cmst (47). Agricultural soils contain Ba " in the range of several micrograms per gram. The Environmental Protection Agency, under the Safe Drinking Water Act, has set a limit for barium of 1 mg/L for municipal waters in the United States. 

MCLGs were not established before the 1986 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act. Therefore, there is no MCLG for this contaminant. 

The Safe Drinking Water Act Aiiiendiiients of 1996 substantially revised file act. Among other changes, the 1996 law ... 

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