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Resolution No. 2006 -7 - -- SAFE DRINKING WATER SUPPLIES <br />When considering the establishment and enforcement of regulations and Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCL), <br />CRWUA urges the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to: <br />a. Allow public water suppliers adequate flexibility to achieve the optimum level of health protection at a <br />reasonable cost; <br />b. Recognize that the public and private water suppliers are responsible for water quality only in their <br />distribution system and have no control over contamination of drinking water caused by the consumers' <br />plumbing systems; and, <br />C. Support federal, state and local consumer awareness and education programs regarding the safe drinking <br />water requirements and related health protection. <br />2. CRWUA further urges the EPA to actively pursue protection of drinking water supplies in the following areas: . <br />a. Lead: Provide effective technical and financial assistance for implementing the congressional ban on use <br />of lead bearing solder, pipes, or fittings in drinking water plumbing systems, while focusing corrosivity <br />control requirements in areas with a high potential for lead leaching. <br />b. Radon: Provide effective technical and financial assistance for public education programs for the <br />detection and control of radon in residential homes and buildings, while avoiding adoption of any radon <br />standard where implementation costs are disproportionate to health benefits. <br />C. Perchlorate: Encourage and expedite the necessary research to establish a MCL for perchlorate in <br />drinking water supplies. Encourage and help fund the inventory of sites throughout the United States that <br />have used perchlorate and support an assessment of potentially impacted drinking water supplies and <br />encourage the clean -up of perchlorate- contaminated supplies. <br />d. Solid Waste Disposal: In cooperation with state and local agencies, continue to enforce limitations on <br />siting or expanding solid waste disposal sites in areas where leachate from the disposal sites may threaten <br />community water supplies used as a source for public drinking water. <br />e. Source Water Quality Protection Plans: Encourage efforts by Colorado River Basin states to work <br />together to establish source water quality protection plans for both ground and surface water. Provide <br />funding for improvements through state revolving funds and to keep the public informed on the quality of <br />its drinking water. <br />f. Drinking Water State Revolving Funds and Financial Assistance: Administer drinking water state <br />revolving funds with appropriate flexibility for the states and allow financial assistance to be provided for <br />the construction and rehabilitation of dams or reservoirs, the purchase of necessary land, and the purchase <br />or acquisition of required water rights, when such actions have been determined to be the most cost - <br />effective alternative and environmentally sound solution for providing a safe and reliable supply of <br />drinking water. <br />Position Statement - -- Safe Drinking Water Supplies - -- (Resolution No. 2006 -7) <br />Protection of safe public drinking water supplies is of primary importance to the members of this Association as <br />well as to the nation generally. Congress enacted the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in 1974, directing the <br />Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set national drinking water quality standards (42 U.S.C. <br />Sec. 300f, et seq.); amended that Act in 1986 (PL 99 -339) by directing the Administrator to, among other things, set <br />maximum contaminant level goals; and reauthorized the Act in 1996 with major improvements and changes. <br />Lead has been used in such products as paint and gasoline for many years. EPA, through its ban on lead in <br />gasoline, paint and solders, has significantly reduced environmental lead exposure. Nationally, lead in water makes up less <br />than 10 percent of an adult's lead intake. In the continuing effort to assure safe drinking water supplies, EPA and others are <br />developing more stringent methods to protect against lead contamination. Most lead contamination in water occurs as a <br />11 <br />