Follow-up to previous posting, Perchlorate and TCE in the Nations Waters, this news release: “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency conducted extensive review of scientific data related to the health effects of exposure to perchlorate from drinking water and other sources and found that in more than 99 percent of public drinking water systems, perchlorate was not at levels of public health concern. Therefore, based on the Safe Water Drinking Act criteria, the agency determined there is not a “meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction” through a national drinking water regulation. While fewer than one percent of the drinking water sources have perchlorate levels above the health reference level, EPA is committed to working with states and localities to ensure public health is protected. States have the right to establish and enforce drinking water standards and EPA encourages state-specific situations to be addressed at the local level. EPA intends to issue a health advisory at the time it issues its final regulatory determination for perchlorate, to assist states with their local response.”
- October 2008 Preliminary Regulatory Determination for Perchlorate (81 pages, PDF)
- Washington Post: EPA Makes No Rule On Chemical in Water: “Last month, The Washington Post reported that White House officials had extensively edited the EPA’s perchlorate rule-making documentation to remove scientific data highlighting some of the risks associated with the chemical, which has been found in water in 35 states. The Defense Department and Pentagon contractors who face legal liability stemming from rocket fuel contamination have lobbied for six years to avoid a federal drinking-water standard for perchlorate. In the document released yesterday, the EPA assumes that the maximum safe perchlorate contamination level is 15 times higher than what the agency suggested in 2002. By that standard, the EPA estimates that more than 16 million Americans are exposed to the chemical at a level that is unsafe.”
- See also, EPA – Ground Water & Drinking Water
