WATER & CHEMICAL REGULATIONS
There are four regulations that you need to know about to understand how the contamination of the Security–Widefield aquifer is being addressed. They are outlined below...
Enacted in 1972
This Act regulates pollutant discharge into the waters. The Act includes standards for wastewater treatment as well as recommendations for pollutants in surface waters. The Clean Water Act is a result of angry fisherman who saw a $3 million loss from the negative effects on the fish populations from water pollution.
Enacted in 1976
The TSCA authorizes EPA to issue rules and regulations regarding the use and disposal of certain chemicals and chemical mixtures. With the authority granted by TSCA the EPA can require reporting and record-keeping, implement testing requirements, and apply restrictions relating to the manufacture, use, and disposal of chemicals. In 1975, Quarrels testified to control toxic substances based on the impacts of vinyl chloride across the country, which catalyze the ratification of this Act.
Amended in 1996
In 1996, EPA amended the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) to include a clause that tasks EPA with releasing a list of no more than 30 chemicals to be monitored as potentially dangerous substances in drinking water. PFOS and PFOA were both on the lift of potentially dangerous chemicals in UCMR3.
Issued in 2016
Health advisories provide information on contaminants that can cause human health effects and are known or anticipated to occur in drinking water. EPA's health advisories are non-enforceable and non-regulatory and provide technical information to states agencies and other public health officials on health effects, analytical methodologies, and treatment technologies associated with drinking water contamination.
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
Click on the map below to learn more
The Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment ruled to set a maximum limit of 70 parts per trillion of PFAS in the Security – Widefield area. The interactive map below includes examples of other states that have gone beyond the EPA’s health advisory. Click on the map for more information.
