Nomination of additional PFAS compounds for regulation under the UCMR program

Nominations have been made to include additional per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) for regulation under the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule 5 (UCMR 5) among other contaminants. PFOA and PFOS were the only compounds being considered currently to be regulated under UCMR 4. The regulations should be expected either late this year or beginning of next year.

The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Amendments of 1996 provide for monitoring no more than 30 contaminants every 5 years. The monitoring consists of large systems and a representative small public water system serving less than or equal to 10,000 people. The analytical data from the monitoring are stored in the National Contaminant Occurrence Database.

Occurrence data are collected through UCMR to support the Administrator’s determination of whether to regulate contaminants in the interest of protecting public health. US EPA’s selection of contaminants for a particular UCMR cycle is based on a review of the Contaminant Candidate List (CCL). The CCL is a list of contaminants that are not currently regulated by US EPA under the national drinking water regulations. These contaminants are the ones that occur in the public water systems and may warrant regulations.

The CCL 5 list contains additional compounds under the UCMR 5 other than PFAS as listed on the table below.