EPA tightens standards for US drinking water

March 23, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

The Environmental Protection Agency is tightening drinking-water standards to impose stricter limits on four contaminants that can cause cancer.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said Monday that the agency is developing stricter regulations for four chemical compounds: tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, acrylamide and epichlorohydrin. All four compounds can cause cancer.

Trichloroethylene, or TCE, and tetrachloroethylene are used as industrial solvents and can seep into drinking water from contaminated groundwater or surface water. The other two compounds are impurities that can be introduced into drinking water during the water treatment process.

Jackson said the EPA will issue new rules on TCE and tetrachloroethylene in the next year. Rules for the other two compounds will follow.

Jackson made the comments as she announced a new strategy to better protect public health from contaminants in drinking water. With budgets strained and new threats emerging, the EPA, states and utilities need to foster innovation that can increase cost-effective measures to protect drinking water, Jackson said.

Jackson called for greater collaboration among states and the federal government, as well as development of new technologies to meet the needs of rural, urban and other water-stressed communities.

The new strategy would address contaminants as a group to improve efficiency; develop new technologies to address health risks from a broad array of contaminants; use a combination of laws to protect drinking water; and form partnerships with states.