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UCMR 5 PUBLIC WEBINAR MEETINGS REGISTRATION REMINDER: March 16 and 17

UCMR 5 PUBLIC WEBINAR MEETINGS REGISTRATION REMINDER

Meeting Dates: March 16, 2022 & repeated March 17, 2022
RULE BACKGROUND
On December 27, 2021, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the final, fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 5) to establish nationwide monitoring for 29 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and lithium in drinking water (https://www.epa.gov/dwucmr/fifth-unregulated-contaminant-monitoring-rule). This action is essential to addressing the public health and environmental risks of PFAS in drinking water and marks a significant milestone in EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap (https://www.epa.gov/pfas/pfas-strategic-roadmap-epas-commitments-action-2021-2024). EPA uses UCMR to collect occurrence data for priority unregulated contaminants in drinking water every five years. 

The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), as amended by America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018 continues to require all public water systems (PWSs) serving greater than 10,000 people to participate in UCMR. It now also requires all PWSs serving between 3,300 and 10,000 people to participate in UCMR (subject to the availability of appropriations and sufficient laboratory capacity) and specifies that a representative sample of systems serving fewer than 3,300 people participate. As planned, UCMR 5 will significantly expand the number of small PWSs (those serving 10,000 or fewer people) participating in the program, which will provide more Americans with a better understanding of potential contaminants in their drinking water. The rule requires participating drinking water systems to collect samples from 2023-2025 and report final results through 2026.

 

PUBLIC WEBINAR MEETING DETAILS
EPA will hold a virtual stakeholder meeting by webinar on March 16, 2022, and repeat the meeting on March 17, 2022. The purpose of the meetings is to discuss key aspects of the UCMR 5 final rule (https://www.epa.gov/dwucmr/fifth-unregulated-contaminant-monitoring-rule), including a general introduction to the UCMR program and a review of the following: PWSs subject to UCMR 5 requirements; analytes to be monitored and analytical methods to be used; monitoring locations and frequency; reporting requirements; ground water representative monitoring plans (GWRMPs); the laboratory approval program; and the functions of the web-based UCMR data-reporting system (“SDWARS”). For more details on the meetings and to register, please visit https://www.epa.gov/dwucmr/unregulated-contaminant-monitoring-rule-ucmr-meetings-and-materials. EPA anticipates hosting additional meetings focused on SDWARS and sample-collection in fall 2022.

 

Registrants will receive confirmations and further webinar information via email. Questions regarding webinar registration should be emailed to [email protected].

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