Question:
Under the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act -- first passed in 1974and amended most recently in 1986 -- the Environmental ProtectionAgency (EPA) is responsible for establishing national drinkingwater standards to govern the quality of the water delivered at thetap.

These standards -- though they apply under the Act only to publicdrinking water systems serving 25 people or more -- are criticallinchpins in a variety of environmental programs. They serve as astarting point, for example, for answering the question of howclean is clean in Superfund and other cleanup programs. They arealso critical reference points for selecting controls on activitiessuch as landfilling, pesticide application or waste injection whichmay threaten water sources; they come into play when regulators setlimits for wastewater dischargers and hazardous waste handlers. IFDRINKING WATER STANDARDS ARE WEAKENED, ALL OUR OTHER ENVIRONMENTALREQUIREMENTS STAND TO BE WEAKENED AS WELL.

Answer: Today there is a move afoot to roll back some of the existingstandards and to weaken the standard-setting process. For manyyears, people in the environmental community argued that EPA hadset far too few of these standards. And on many occasions,environmental advocates have argued that EPA has not been toughenough in setting these standards. But right now, those sentimentsare being drowned out by a loud and insistent refrain from otherquarters that EPA has been too tough and that the national approachto setting drinking water standards should be scrapped in favor ofcost/benefit analysis. Some argue that rather than seeking toachieve the greatest protection from cancer-causing agents thataffordable technology can provide, we should seek only to protectpeople from cancer risks greater than 1 in 10,000. That refrain iscoming from state regulators and officials and from water utilityoperators -- including municipalities and other governmental bodiesthat provide water to consumers.

We need your help in our effort to make sure that decision-makersin Washington know that the public -- though it wants affordablewater -- still values safe water. We hope to enlist you in ourcampaign to Save the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Please, call your senators today. Ask your senator to opposeweakening of the standard-setting provisions of the safe drinkingwater act. Ask them to oppose amendments which replace the currenttechnology-driven standards with risk-ranges or cost-benefitderived standards. In the House of Representatives, theSlattery/Bliley bill weakens standards and other provisions of theAct. Senator Pete Domenici is expected to sponsor a Senate versionof that bill and Senator Dirk Kempthorne may offer that bill as anamendment when the Senate Environment and Public Works Committeevotes on Act on March 17. (The markup may be delayed a week but itcould be as early as the 17th.) If your Senator is on thatCommittee, it is urgent that you contact that office and voice youropposition to Slattery/Bliley or any other weakening of currentstandard-setting language. Environmentalists have, however,supported changes to other provisions of the law, including changesthat will provide more time for construction of treatment plants,more flexibility to small systems and federal monies for a drinkingwater revolving loan fund.