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Radon in Drinking Water Stakeholder Meeting
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
October 30, 1997
Boston, Massachusetts
I. Background
The Safe Drinking Water Act, as amended in 1996, requires that the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) withdraw the 1991 proposed
rule for radon-222 and develop a final Maximum Contaminant Level Goal
and National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) by August of 2000.
The EPA has held a series of meetings this year as opportunities for all
stakeholders to provide early, meaningful input during the regulatory
process. The one-day public meeting held in Boston, Massachusetts on October
30, 1997 was the last of the initial series of meetings, the first was
held in Washington, DC on June 26, 1997 and the second in San Francisco,
CA on September 2, 1997. The purpose of the meetings was to discuss EPA's
plans for developing a proposed NPDWR for radon-222. EPA solicited written
public comments after each meeting.
The Boston meeting was attended by 46 stakeholders, plus a number
of staff from USEPA Region 1 and Headquarters offices (both Office of
Ground Water and Drinking Water and Office of Radiation and Indoor Air).
Stakeholders included representatives of both large and small public water
systems from Maine, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. Numerous state government
staff from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island,
and Vermont attended (representing indoor air, radiation, and drinking
water programs). National and local groups represented included Clean
Water Action, the American Society of Home Inspectors, the Maine Rural
Water Association, the Canada Radiation Protection Bureau, Citizens for
Quality Drinking Water in Litchfield, CT, and the U.S. Postal Service.
II. Summary
The goal of these initial meetings was to frame a broad range of
issues associated with the radon-222 regulatory process: (1) the radon
in drinking water regulation development (treatment technologies, occurrence,
analytical methods); (2) the multimedia mitigation program; and (3) stakeholder
involvement processes. The meetings were intended to provide a forum for
stakeholder input to many key issues, which include, but were not limited
to:
(1) Any new information or data;
(2) Issues and concerns related to rule development;
(3) Issues and concerns related to implementing a multimedia mitigation
program from the perspective of states, water systems, public health and
safety organizations, environmental and public interest groups, and the
public; and
(4) Recommendations on the most beneficial points in the process for stakeholder
input and preferred approaches for stakeholder input.
Issues discussed at the Boston meeting included the following, but
were not limited to:
(Note: The full meeting summary, which will be available in mid-December,
will include the issues raised at the meeting in more detail)
Treatment Technology
- Pre/Post treatment considerations for both aeration and GAC
- Issues pertaining to aeration off-gassing of radon and volatile organic
compounds
- Costs and limitations of granulated activated carbon (GAC) and its
possible exclusive use in point-of-entry treatment
- Health risks from radioactive build-up on granular activated carbon
beds
- Need to include cost of pre-/post- treatment of water in cost assessment,
including disinfection
Analytical Methods
- Impact of privatizing EPA's performance evaluation program for laboratories
- Concern regarding variation of detection limit at different laboratories
and sufficient laboratory capacity
Occurrence
- Concern regarding the representativeness of the National Inorganics
and Radionuclides Survey (NIRS)
- Ways for states to share data with EPA and how new data will be integrated
with NIRS (contact: Peter Lassovszky: 202-260-8499)
- Need to consider the number of wellheads in each community water system
when assessing cost
- Need for additional studies to assess temporal variability of radon
Monitoring and Compliance
- Approaches for developing the monitoring scheme to account for temporal
variability of radon
Multimedia Mitigation Program
- Approaches to assessing baseline and to measuring risk reduction from
multimedia mitigation programs
- Potential sources of funding for implementing multimedia mitigation
programs
- How the multimedia mitigation program will be tracked and results
reported after approval by EPA and implementation by the state or public
water system
- Equity concerns, regarding public health protection for communities
that may not receive health benefits from reduced radon in drinking
water and/or indoor air
- Concern regarding the impact of the rule on private well owners
- Need to minimize the complexity of the multimedia mitigation guidelines
to increase flexibility
Stakeholder Involvement Processes
- Suggestions for improved outreach to and participation from small
systems included newsletters, smaller documents for mailings, sufficient
advance notice of meeting
- Sources for additional stakeholders: public health community, senior
citizens (AARP), US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
- Request that EPA and others make efforts to solicit input from consumers
of drinking water
Other Issues
- How do public water systems communicate the risks of radon in water
and indoor air to their customers?
III. Next Steps
The October 30, 1997 stakeholders meeting in Boston, MA was the
last of our initial series of meetings. There will be additional opportunities
in Spring of 1998 for stakeholder input on new analyses and EPA's progress
in developing the proposed rule for radon. The Agency is now evaluating
comments and materials provided by stakeholders, and will proceed to incorporate
this information into analyses to support development of the Health Risk
Reduction and Cost Analysis (to be published for public comment in February
1999) and the proposed rule (August 1999). EPA will prepare a more in-depth
meeting summary on the Boston meeting in the next several weeks after
receipt of additional written comments from stakeholders at the meeting.
IV. Contact
For general questions on radon in drinking water, please contact
the Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791. For more detailed information
or to provide information for consideration in development of the radon
in drinking water regulation, please contact: Jennifer Wu, Office of Ground
Water and Drinking Water, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M
St., S.W., 4607, Washington, D.C. 20460, or by e-mail at wu.jennifer@epamail.epa.gov
V. Related Links: A more detailed summary is available
at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/ndwac/sum_rdws3b.html
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