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This article discusses small-system variances (SSVs) that were created with the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments in response to requests by financially strapped small towns for relief from the mounting costs of complying with an aggressive 1986 rulemakingschedule directing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to regulateno fewer than 25 contaminants every threeyears. Unlike relatively short-lived exemptions,which require eventual compliance with a maximum contaminant level(MCL), SSVs allow utilities to avoid meetingan MCL for the lifespan of the variancetechnology, subject to state review everyfive years. Under national affordability criteriaestablished in 1998, USEPA has alwaysidentified affordable compliance technologiesfor the three categories and so has neveridentified any SSV technologies (SSVTs). The proposed revisionsto the affordability criteria, however,are intended to result in the identificationand use of SSVTs, starting with the recentlyfinalized Stage 2 Disinfectants/DisinfectionByproducts Rule (D/DBPR).

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Edition: Vol. 98 - No. 8 Published: 08/01/2006 Number of Pages: 9File Size: 1 file , 90 KB