EPA improving troubled contaminant program, but more work needed -- GAO

摘要

U.S. EPA has boosted its efforts to identify and regulate contaminants in water systems since a harshly critical 2011 government watchdog assessment, but additional steps are needed that may require congressional action, a new Government Accountability Office report says. EPA uses its Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Program to gather data on contaminants that it suspects are present in drinking water but that do not yet have mandated standards under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Under amendments to the law enacted in 1996, EPA is required to select at least five potentially harmful contaminants but is not allowed to monitor more than 30 contaminants. The agency also is required to use a representative sample of public water systems that serve fewer than 10,000 people for the program and update the list every five years.