UCMR Update Issue
4
| The "Everything you ever wanted to know about Aeromonas…but
were afraid to ask" Issue |
EPA 815-N-02-002b, August 2002
UMCR Update Issue Number 4 - This information sheet, The UCMR
Update, is the fourth to be issued by the Technical Support Center (TSC)
of the Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water (OGWDW). Future issues
will be distributed as needed to maintain information flow related to
the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulation (UCMR for those of you
who may have forgotten).
Editor's Note: As summer turns to fall, the Earth enters a time
of renewal. It is marked by the passing of the old in the fall with the
hope of the new, come springtime. The Update staff is also entering a
renewal period as the former editor, Rayshawn Askew, has left to pursue
a career in the National Football League. You may remember that Jim Walasek,
the editor prior to Rayshawn, entered the greener pastures of retirement
a year ago. This revolving door of editors at The Update has inspired
the phrase "Another issue, another editor" among the staff.
The task of editing The Update has now passed to me, Cory Wagner. I am
an Oak Ridge Intern Fellow with TSC and the newest member of the UCMR
Implementation Team. I hope to provide the same level of journalistic
integrity while simultaneously delivering some plain-English insight into
key aspects of the regulation, thus simplifying the UCMR. Expect the same
high quality, highly technical information that you have come to rely
on as well as the biting wit that you have come to love. This issue features
information on the following:
Aeromonas, Aeromonas
First of all, this section does not apply to everyone receiving this newsletter.
There are 120 large systems and 180 small systems that are required to
sample for the microbial agent, Aeromonas. Required public water systems
(PWS's) should have received notification from either EPA or their state/tribe/or
territory primacy agency. If you are not one of those 300 selected systems,
you may want to skip down to the section marked "Large Systems."
That is unless you're really crazy about Aeromonas, in which case,
I encourage you to read on. For those of you who are unsure about whether
you are required to sample for Aeromonas, a list of both large
and small
systems that have been selected to participate areposted on the Web.
As a side note, it may be interesting to some of you to know exactly what
it is that you are sampling for. For those of you who may not know, Aeromonas
spp. are a group of bacteria that are found in fresh and brackish water
environments. There are many species in the group and some are known to
cause illness in fish and amphibians. In humans, Aeromonas has
been implicated as a possible cause of some types of diarrhea and gastroenteritis.
For more information, see the following URL: http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/chap17.html
The Proposed Aeromonas Method Rule
On March 7, 2002, EPA published a proposed rule to approve EPA Method
1605 for the monitoring of the List 2 microbial contaminant, Aeromonas.
This proposed rule, entitled Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulation:
Approval of Analytical Method for Aeromonas; National Primary and Secondary
Drinking Water Regulations: Approval of Analytical Methods for Chemical
and Microbiological Contaminants (Try saying that three times fast!),
was open for comment until May 6, 2002. The portion of the proposed rule
that pertains to UCMR essentially defines the analytical method (EPA Method
1605: Aeromonas in Finished Water by Membrane Filtration using
Ampicillin-Dextrin Agar with Vancomycin (ADA-V) (EPA-821-R-01-034,
October 2001)) for the detection of Aeromonas and sets a minimum
reporting level (MRL) for the PWSs that will be testing for the bacteria
in 2003. While it does not apply to the UCMR, the proposed rule also establishes
several new analytical methods to support National Primary Drinking Water
Regulation (NPDWR) compliance monitoring. The "Aeromonas
Rule" is expected to be promulgated in the fall of 2002. The
text of the proposed rule can be found at the following URL (although
we strongly suggest that you don't operate heavy machinery while reading
it): http://www.epa.gov/safewater/standard/ucmr/aeromonas.htm
But wait…..there's more
The Aeromonas PT Program
In addition to the above, the preamble to the proposed "Aeromonas
Rule" also described the Aeromonas Performance Testing
(PT) program for laboratory approval. A laboratory must have advance EPA
approval to support Aeromonas monitoring. Interested laboratories
may participate in this voluntary PT program before the final rule is
promulgated. A laboratory must:
- Submit a letter of request to participate,
- Submit its Initial Demonstration of Capability (IDC) data,
- Provide proof of certification for a membrane filtration method,
and
- Successfully pass the Performance Test.
Once this is done, a laboratory will receive a letter indicating that
its approval to perform Aeromonas analyses for the UCMR is pending.
Final laboratory approval letters will be issued after the final rule
is promulgated. Laboratory approval will be limited and specific to the
duration of Aeromonas monitoring under the current UCMR cycle.
This monitoring is scheduled to begin in January 2003. At the time of
this publication, one PT study has already been concluded and a second
is underway. So far, four laboratories have passed. As more labs pass
the PT studies, they will be added to the Web site, which can be found
at the following URL:
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/standard/ucmr/aprvlabs.html.
In addition, one more PT study is planned for later this year. Interested
laboratories can see the application procedure at the following URL:
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/standard/ucmr/aeromonas_pt.htm
Aeromonas Sampling and the MRS
Aeromonas monitoring review sheets (MRS) were designed to solicit
information regarding sample point location, sample point I.D. and sampling
time for Aeromonas from each selected PWS. They are also used to
provide contact information for the PWS to EPA. In some cases, these forms
have already been completed by state/territory/tribal primacy agents for
the PWS. These PWSs will receive a completed form for review and the primacy
agent will be conducting the Aeromonas sampling for the PWS.
For those of you whose state/territory/tribe did not complete the form,
we'll be counting on you to do so. Selected systems should have already
received a form to be completed. These forms were mailed, along with "notification"
letters, on July 24. Please review your form and return completed forms,
as applicable, to TSC by the deadline of September 1, 2002.
If you are on the list of affected systems (see above) and have not received
either a notification letter and MRS, or, alternatively, notification
from your state/territory/tribal agency that they will be sampling for
you, please contact the UCMR Coordinator at the TSC (address listed near
end of The Update).
LARGE Systems News
If you are a public water system (PWS) and serve over 10,000 people,
then this section is for you:
Assessment Monitoring Reminder Letters
TSC will be sending out reminder letters to all large PWSs that have not
posted any assessment monitoring (List 1) data to the Web-based reporting
system, the Safe Drinking Water Accession and Review System (SDWARS/UCMR),
as of August 2002. As you know, next year marks the final year in this UCMR
monitoring period and all sampling must be done by the end of 2003. The
letters are expected to be mailed in September 2002.
Screening Survey Reminder Calls
The Great Lakes Environmental Center, affectionately known as GLEC, is
a contractor supporting data follow up for EPA. They will be calling any
large PWS that is required to sample for List 2 items (and you should
know who you are). Those sampling for List 2 chemicals will receive a
call from GLEC if you have yet to post any data to SDWARS/UCMR. This monitoring
was to have occurred in 2002. For those sampling for List 2 Aeromonas,
GLEC will call you if you have not returned the MRS by the September 1
deadline.
Random Musings
The following topics are applicable to all UCMR Update readers:
Some Percolating Thoughts About Perchlorate
Please note that the list of approved laboratories that may analyze UCMR
samples for perchlorate has been posted on the EPA Web site. The URL is:
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/standard/ucmr/aprvlabs.html
For all you large PWSs out there, make sure that you are using an approved
lab for the perchlorate analysis. The laboratory MUST be approved and
use EPA Method 314.0. This is extremely important, as the data can not
be used if generated by a lab that is not approved. This will require
you to resample and will cause a delay in the progress that you have achieved
thus far.
Laboratories Reporting Data
EPA would like to clarify that the laboratory that actually performs any
analysis for UCMR must be the one to post the data to SDWARS/UCMR. If
you have any questions regarding this, please contact the UCMR Coordinator
(address near the end of The Update).
Nitrobenzene and the (mis) use of EPA Method 526
Attention all labs and PWSs: if you are performing assessment monitoring
(List 1) for nitrobenzene and using EPA method 526, PLEASE STOP!! EPA
Method 526 is ONLY approved for nitrobenzene as a List 2 contaminant.
It cannot be used for assessment monitoring. Large PWSs are responsible
for ensuring that their nitrobenzene testing is being performed properly,
using any the following methods: EPA 524.2, ASTM D5790, SM 6210D, or SM
6200B.
Extra, Extra! Data Posted on Web!! Read All About It!!
Finally, after much hair-pulling and hard work, the first batch
of approved UCMR data has been posted to the Web!!! We here at
The Update are very excited to see the fruition of all the hard work from
dedicated individuals within our extended UCMR partnership team, PWSs
and supporting analytical laboratories. These combined efforts have enabled
us to achieve this important milestone. We hope you share in our excitement.
Look for more data to be posted in the future. The link to posted data
is: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/data/ucmrgetdata.html
Important Dates
September 1, 2002:
- Deadline to return Aeromonas monitoring review sheets (MRS).
September 30, 2002:
- Reminder letters issued to all large PWSs that have not posted any assessment
monitoring data to SDWARS.
October 10, 2002:
- Determination and posting of laboratories approved for Aeromonas testing
based on the second round of PT testing.
October/November:
- "Aeromonas Rule" expected to be promulgated
- Deadline for submitting Aeromonas PT letter of request to participate
for the
third and final round of laboratory PT Testing, based on time of publication
of
the rule.
January 1, 2003:
- Beginning of the final year of assessment monitoring under the current
UCMR
cycle.
- Beginning of first Aeromonas sampling period.
Contact Information:
A general reminder to laboratories and PWSs: when contacting the EPA
about UCMR issues, please use your USEPA Lab ID number or PWSID number
respectively.
General UCMR questions may be directed to the Drinking Water Hotline
at: 1-800-426-4791
Questions regarding registration for or use of the SDWARS/UCMR reporting
system may be directed to the SDWARS Help Desk at: 1-888-890-1995
Correspondence with TSC may be directed to:
UCMR Coordinator
Technical Support Center (MS-140)
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
26 W. Martin Luther King Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45268
FAX: 513-569-7191
Future Issues of the UCMR Update
This issue of The UCMR Update is sent to you to keep you abreast of the
latest information on the UCMR. If you know of someone else not currently
on the Update mailing list, who would like to receive future issues, please
have them fill out the form below and return it to TSC at the address
above. You may also e-mail me a short message with your mailing address
at wagner.cory@epa.gov
to be placed on the mailing list. Previous issues may be viewed online
at: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/standard/ucmr/updateindex.html
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