THIRD DRINKING WATER CONTAMINANT CANDIDATE LIST (CCL3)

March 7, 2008

 EPA has published a draft list of contaminants which may require regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) for public review and comment.

This draft CCL 3 includes 93 chemicals or chemical groups and 11 microbiological contaminants which are known or anticipated to occur in public water systems. The list includes chemicals used in commerce, pesticides, biological toxins, disinfection byproducts, and waterborne pathogens.

 The CCL3 list identifies priority contaminants for regulatory decision making and information collection. The contaminants on the list are known, or anticipated to occur, in public water systems and may impact public health. However, they are currently unregulated by existing national primary drinking water regulations.  Some of the better known chemicals on the list are 1, 1-Dichloroethane, 1,3-Butadiene, Acetaldehyde, Formaldehyde, Methanol and Perchlorate.

EPA will evaluate all the contaminants on the CCL3 to decide which contaminants have sufficient information to allow the Agency to make a regulatory determination.  A regulatory determination is a formal decision on whether to initiate a process to develop a national primary drinking water regulation for a specific contaminant. The law requires that regulatory determinations for at least five contaminants from the most recent CCL be made every five years.

 For more information, EPA link