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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2001

After holding back a strict arsenic in drinking water standard finalized during the last months of the Clinton administration, the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced it was restoring the limit to a level key Republicans have criticized as costly and difficult to implement.

In a letter sent to members of a joint House-Senate committee finalizing work on the fiscal year 2002 budget, EPA Administrator Christie Whitman said she would lower the acceptable level of arsenic from 55 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion. All communities will have to adhere to the standard by 2006, the same date the Clinton administrated targeted for compliance, she said.

"This standard will improve the safety of drinking water for millions of Americans, and better protect against the risk of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes," she wrote. "I look forward to working with Congress; my colleagues in the Administration; state, local and tribal governments; and other interested parties as we move forward with this protective standard."

Whitman's decision comes seven months after the Bush administration announced it would review the limit. The action caused an uproar among environmentalists, who pointed out that the standard hadn't been changed for 50 years and that other countries had tougher policies.

But to critics of the Clinton administration, Whitman's move was a step in the right direction. Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) -- whose state has naturally occurring arsenic that contributes to incredibly high levels in the drinking water -- had been a chief opponent of the original limit because he said it would hurt rural communities the most.

Upon learning of EPA's backing of the 10 ppb level, Domenici yesterday was not alarmed. To allay his concerns, he and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) drafted a compromise with the agency to set a new limit but also to provide $1.9 billion in funding for communities.

"The big question we now face is just how much time communities will have to comply with the new standard," Domenici said in a statement.

Domenici also noted there was another challenge. While both the House and the Senate directed the EPA to develop a standard, only the House specified a 10 ppb limit -- a difference Domenici, a member of the joint committee, said he will be working to resolve.

Arsenic can cause bladder, lung and skin cancer, and might cause liver and kidney cancer, according to a 1999 study conducted by the National Academy of Sciences. The report, however, did not provide a formal risk assessment of arsenic in drinking water.

Three new studies Whitman authorized sought to update that report. The National Academy of Sciences, the National Drinking Water Advisory Council EPA's Science Advisory Board contributed research -- all of which solidified the risks of arsenic, and could have led to an even stricter limit.

In her letter to Congress, Whitman said that almost 97 percent of water systems affected by the standard are located in communities that serve less than 10,000 users. Domenici said about 25 percent of water in his state will be affected, and the new standard will cost New Mexicans between $400 million and $500 million just to begin work, and anywhere from $16 million and $21 million to comply every year.

Isleta Pueblo, located downstream from Albuquerque, the largest city in the state, has been seeking a tough arsenic standard. Tribal members use water from the Rio Grande for religious and cultural purposes and have forced the city to develop strict water policies.

Get Whitman's Letter:
EPA Announces Arsenic Standard For Drinking Water Of 10 Parts Per Billion (10/31)

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