Purpose


The Department is adopting the Short Term Rule Revisions to Title 40, Code of Federal Regulations Part 141, Subpart I-Control of Lead and Copper because it is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) primacy requirement for the Department’s public water system supervision program. These amendments will bolster the implementation of the Lead and Copper Rule for monitoring, treatment processes, public education, customer awareness, and lead service line replacement for public drinking water systems. Community water systems and non-transient, non-community water systems are required to optimize corrosion control treatment such that lead and copper concentrations at consumers’ taps are minimized while ensuring that the corrosion control treatment does not cause the violation of any national primary drinking water regulation. On October 10, 2007, EPA revised and clarified the federal lead and copper rule. The Department intends to adopt the Short Term Rule Revisions by reference with the addition of clarifications (in the federal rule the term “State” shall mean “Department”) and from 40 CFR 141.85 to disallow time extension to conduct public education requirements following a lead action level exceedance for community water systems and non-transient non-community water systems. The major changes in the federal Short Term Revisions Rule include clarification of the minimum number of lead and copper tap samples required and an alternative sampling schedule for systems collecting the minimum number of samples, clarification of the timing of actions following an action level exceedance including the timing of public education requirements and water quality parameter monitoring, modification of the requirements for systems on a reduced monitoring schedule to include meeting both the optimal water quality parameters and the lead and copper action levels, modification of the requirements for systems on a reduced monitoring schedule to include advance notification to the state of any long-term change in water treatment or the addition of a new source of water, requirement to notify occupants of homes and buildings participating in a system’s monitoring program of their tap sampling results, revision of public notification message content, modification of public notification delivery and timing, modification of Consumer Confidence Report requirements, and modification of the methodology used to deem lead service lines replaced through testing under lead service line replacement requirements.