Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1986

Summary

Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1985 - Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to make existing national interim primary drinking water regulations final. Directs the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), within varying time periods for specified contaminants, to simultaneously propose and then publish either maximum contaminant level goals and national primary drinking water regulations or else a determination that such regulations are not justified because the levels of such contaminant in the public water systems do not represent a threat. Directs the Administrator to publish maximum contaminant level goals and simultaneously promulgate national primary drinking water regulations for each other substance which may have an adverse effect on human health. Requires the Administrator to publish an annual list establishing priorities for the review of such substances, considering substances regulated as toxic water pollutants under the Clean Water Act and substances registered as pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. Directs the Administrator, within three years of each contaminant's being listed on such priority list, to simultaneously propose and then publish either maximum contaminant level goals and national primary drinking water regulations or else a determination that such regulations are not justified. Requires that each maximum contaminant level goal allow an adequate margin of safety and that each national primary drinking water regulation specify a maximum level which is as close to the goal as is feasible. Authorizes the Administrator to promulgate a national primary drinking water regulation that requires the use of an acceptable treatment technique in lieu of establishing a maximum contaminant level if it is not economically or technologically feasible to establish such a level. Directs the Administrator to propose and promulgate primary drinking water regulations specifying when public water systems using surface water as a source of supply must use filtration. Directs the Administrator to provide procedures for States or the EPA to use when determining which of such systems within its jurisdiction must use filtration. Requires States to prescribe compliance schedules and necessary regulations. Directs the Administrator to promulgate disinfection regulations applicable to all public water systems, including variances and technical assistance. Directs the Administrator to provide the Science Advisory Board an opportunity to comment prior to proposal of a maximum contaminant level goal and national primary drinking water regulation. Authorizes the Administrator to issue compliance orders as well as bring civil suits to enforce these provisions. Directs the Administrator to amend regulations to provide for varying types and frequencies of public notice of violations by a public water system, depending upon their frequency and seriousness. Requires a State to prescribe within one year a schedule of compliance and implementation of control measures at the same time it grants an exemption. Permits the primary enforcing authority (State or Administrator in the case of four States and the District of Columbia) to extend the exemption for up to three years after the issue date if a system in good faith cannot meet the standard without capital improvements, financial assistance, or has agreed to become part of a regional public water system. Permits exemption renewals for systems with 500 or fewer service connections. Authorizes the Administrator to take into consideration the size of a public water system and the contaminants likely to be found in its drinking water in requiring a system to monitor for unregulated contaminants. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations requiring every public water system to conduct a monitoring program for unregulated contaminants at least once every five years, unless the number of persons served or the likely contaminants require greater frequency. Authorizes the primary State enforcement authority to delete contaminants for an individual system after Administrator approval of the assessment. Authorizes the Administrator to provide technical assistance to small public water systems to enable them to comply with national drinking water standards. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1986 through 1989. Establishes criminal and civil penalties for tampering with a public water system. Extends to natural gas storage operations specified limitations on regulation of underground injection of brine or other fluids which are brought to the surface in connection with oil or natural gas production. Prohibits the disposal of hazardous waste by underground injection above or into a formation which contains an underground source of drinking water unless such injection is part of a required corrective or response action. Requires States with primary enforcement responsibility to enforce such prohibition. Directs the Administrator to require groundwater monitoring at all locations to detect fluid migration into underground drinking water sources from a class I injection well unless no potential for migration exists. Requires the Administrator to report to the Congress by September 1987 on State surveys of disposal wells which discharge nonhazardous waste into or above underground sources of drinking water. Directs the Administrator to issue a compliance order or commence a civil action if a State does not enforce violations of the underground injection control program. Quintuples the maximum per day penalty for violations. Revises other provisions relating to the imposition of civil penalties. Establishes procedures for the development, implementation, and assessment of demonstration programs designed to protect critical aquifer protection areas located within areas designated as sole or principal aquifers under specified provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Sets forth factors to be considered when identifying such critical areas, including the existence of recharge zones, the number of persons affected, alternate supplies, and the economic and ecological costs of inactivity. Authorizes the Administrator to enter into cooperative agreements with an applying State or local government to provide a 50 percent grant for the costs of developing and implementing a comprehensive management plan for the protection area. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1986 through 1989. Authorizes appropriations for FY 1985 through 1989 for the following programs under the Safe Drinking Water Act: (1) research, technical assistance, information, personnel training; (2) grants for State programs for supervision of public water systems; and (3) grants for State programs for underground water source protection. Provides that any need certifications or orders issued under provisions for assurances of availability of adequate supplies of water treatment chemicals shall remain in effect for up to one year.

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Documents

6 official files

• Public Law (PDF)

  Public Law · EN · 20 June 1986

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• Conference report filed in House

  summary · EN · 5 May 1986

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• Passed House amended

  summary · EN · 17 June 1985

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• Passed Senate amended

  summary · EN · 16 May 1985

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• Reported to Senate with amendment(s)

  summary · EN · 15 May 1985

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• Introduced in Senate

  summary · EN · 3 January 1985

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