MONITORING AND INFORMATION GATHERING.

SEC. 125. MONITORING AND INFORMATION GATHERING. (a) Review of Existing Requirements.— Paragraph (1) of section 1445(a) (42 U.S.C. 300j-4(a)(1)) is amended to read as follows: 110 STAT. 1654 “(1) (A) Every person who is subject to any requirement of this title or who is a grantee, shall establish and maintain such records, make such reports, conduct such monitoring, and provide such information as the Administrator may reasonably require by regulation to assist the Administrator in establishing regulations under this title, in determining whether such person has acted or is acting in compliance with this title, in administering any program of financial assistance under this title, in evaluating the health risks of unregulated contaminants, or in advising the public of such risks. In requiring a public water system to monitor under this subsection, the Administrator may take into consideration the system size and the contaminants likely to be found in the system’s drinking water. “(B) Every person who is subject to a national primary drinking water regulation under section 1412 shall provide such information as the Administrator may reasonably require, after consultation with the State in which such person is located if such State has primary enforcement responsibility for public water systems, on a case-by-case basis, to determine whether such person has acted or is acting in compliance with this title. “(C) Every person who is subject to a national primary drinking water regulation under section 1412 shall provide such information as the Administrator may reasonably require to assist the Administrator in establishing regulations under section 1412 of this title, after consultation with States and suppliers of water. The Administrator may not require under this subparagraph the installation of treatment equipment or process changes, the testing of treatment technology, or the analysis or processing of monitoring samples, except where the Administrator provides the funding for such activities. Before exercising this authority, the Administrator shall first seek to obtain the information by voluntary submission. “(D) The Administrator shall not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this subparagraph, after consultation with public health experts, representatives of the general public, and officials of State and local governments, review the monitoring requirements for not fewer than 12 contaminants identified by the Administrator, and promulgate any necessary modifications.”. (b) Monitoring Relief.— Part B is amended by adding the following new section after section 1417 (42 U.S.C. 300g-6): “monitoring of contaminants “Sec. 1418. (a) Interim Monitoring Relief Authority.— “(1) In general.— A State exercising primacy enforcement responsibility for public water systems may modify the monitoring requirements for any regulated or unregulated contaminants for which monitoring is required other than microbial contaminants (or indicators thereof), disinfectants and disinfection byproducts or corrosion byproducts for an interim period to provide that any public water system serving 10,000 persons or fewer shall not be required to conduct additional quarterly monitoring during an interim relief period for such contaminants if— “(A) monitoring, conducted at the beginning of the period for the contaminant concerned and certified to the State by the public water system, fails to detect the presence of the contaminant in the ground or surface water supplying the public water system; and 110 STAT. 1655 “(B) the State, considering the hydrogeology of the area and other relevant factors, determines in writing that the contaminant is unlikely to be detected by further monitoring during such period. “(2) Termination; timing of monitoring.— The interim relief period referred to in paragraph (1) shall terminate when permanent monitoring relief is adopted and approved for such State, or at the end of 36 months after the date of enactment of the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996, whichever comes first. In order to serve as a basis for interim relief, the monitoring conducted at the beginning of the period must occur at the time determined by the State to be the time of the public water system’s greatest vulnerability to the contaminant concerned in the relevant ground or surface water, taking into account in the case of pesticides the time of application of the pesticide for the source water area and the travel time for the pesticide to reach such waters and taking into account, in the case of other contaminants, seasonality of precipitation and contaminant travel time. “(b) Permanent Monitoring Relief Authority.— “(1) In general.— Each State exercising primary enforcement responsibility for public water systems under this title and having an approved source water assessment program may adopt, in accordance with guidance published by the Administrator, tailored alternative monitoring requirements for public water systems in such State (as an alternative to the monitoring requirements for chemical contaminants set forth in the applicable national primary drinking water regulations) where the State concludes that (based on data available at the time of adoption concerning susceptibility use, occurrence, or wellhead protection, or from the States drinking water source water assessment program) such alternative monitoring would provide assurance that it complies with the Administrator’s guidelines. The State program must be adequate to assure compliance with, and enforcement of, applicable national primary drinking water regulations. Alternative monitoring shall not apply to regulated microbiological contaminants (or indicators thereof), disinfectants and disinfection byproducts, or corrosion byproducts. The preceding sentence is not intended to limit other authority of the Administrator under other provisions of this title to grant monitoring flexibility. “(2) Guidelines.— “(A) In general.— The Administrator shall issue, after notice and comment and at the same time as guidelines are issued for source water assessment under section 1453, guidelines for States to follow in proposing alternative monitoring requirements under paragraph (1) for chemical contaminants. The Administrator shall publish such guidelines in the Federal Register. The guidelines shall assure that the public health will be protected from drinking water contamination. The guidelines shall require that a State alternative monitoring program apply on a contaminant-by-contaminant basis and that, to be eligible for such alternative monitoring program, a public water system must show the State that the contaminant is not present in the drinking water supply or, if present, it is reliably and consistently below the maximum contaminant level. 110 STAT. 1656 “(B) Definition.— For purposes of subparagraph (A), the phrase ‘reliably and consistently below the maximum contaminant level’ means that, although contaminants have been detected in a water supply, the State has sufficient knowledge of the contamination source and extent of contamination to predict that the maximum contaminant level will not be exceeded. In determining that a contaminant is reliably and consistently below the maximum contaminant level, States shall consider the quality and completeness of data, the length of time covered and the volatility or stability of monitoring results during that time, and the proximity of such results to the maximum contaminant level. Wide variations in the analytical results, or analytical results close to the maximum contaminant level, shall not be considered to be reliably and consistently below the maximum contaminant level. “(3) Effect of detection of contaminants.— The guidelines issued by the Administrator under paragraph (2) shall require that if, after the monitoring program is in effect and operating, a contaminant covered by the alternative monitoring program is detected at levels at or above the maximum contaminant level or is no longer reliably or consistently below the maximum contaminant level, the public water system must either— “(A) demonstrate that the contamination source has been removed or that other action has been taken to eliminate the contamination problem; or “(B) test for the detected contaminant pursuant to the applicable national primary drinking water regulation. “(4) States not exercising primary enforcement responsibility.— The Governor of any State not exercising primary enforcement responsibility under section 1413 on the date of enactment of this section may submit to the Administrator a request that the Administrator modify the monitoring requirements established by the Administrator and applicable to public water systems in that State. After consultation with the Governor, the Administrator shall modify the requirements for public water systems in that State if the request of the Governor is in accordance with each of the requirements of this subsection that apply to alternative monitoring requirements established by States that have primary enforcement responsibility. A decision by the Administrator to approve a request under this clause shall be for a period of 3 years and may subsequently be extended for periods of 5 years. “(c) Treatment as NPDWR.— All monitoring relief granted by a State to a public water system for a regulated contaminant under subsection (a) or (b) shall be treated as part of the national primary drinking water regulation for that contaminant. “(d) Other Monitoring Relief.— Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the authority of the States under applicable national primary drinking water regulations to alter monitoring requirements through waivers or other existing authorities. The Administrator shall periodically review and, as appropriate, revise such authorities.”. (c) Unregulated Contaminants.— Section 1445(a) (42 U.S.C. 300j-4(a)) is amended by striking paragraphs (2) through (8) and inserting the following: 110 STAT. 1657 “(2) Monitoring program for unregulated contaminants.— “(A) Establishment.— The Administrator shall promulgate regulations establishing the criteria for a monitoring program for unregulated contaminants. The regulations shall require monitoring of drinking water supplied by public water systems and shall vary the frequency and schedule for monitoring requirements for systems based on the number of persons served by the system, the source of supply, and the contaminants likely to be found, ensuring that only a representative sample of systems serving 10,000 persons or fewer are required to monitor. “(B) Monitoring program for certain unregulated contaminants.— “(i) Initial list.— Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 and every 6 years thereafter, the Administrator shall issue a list pursuant to subparagraph (A) of not more than 30 unregulated contaminants to be monitored by public water systems and to be included in the national drinking water occurrence data base maintained pursuant to subsection (g). “(ii) Governors’ petition.— The Administrator shall include among the list of contaminants for which monitoring is required under this paragraph each contaminant recommended in a petition signed by the Governor of each of 7 or more States, unless the Administrator determines that the action would prevent the listing of other contaminants of a higher public health concern. “(C) Monitoring plan for small and medium systems.— “(i) In general.— Based on the regulations promulgated by the Administrator, each State may develop a representative monitoring plan to assess the occurrence of unregulated contaminants in public water systems that serve a population of 10,000 or fewer in that State. The plan shall require monitoring for systems representative of different sizes, types, and geographic locations in the State. “(ii) Grants for small system costs.— From funds reserved under section 1452(o) or appropriated under subparagraph (H), the Administrator shall pay the reasonable cost of such testing and laboratory analysis as are necessary to carry out monitoring under the plan. “(D) Monitoring results.— Each public water system that conducts monitoring of unregulated contaminants pursuant to this paragraph shall provide the results of the monitoring to the primary enforcement authority for the system. “(E) Notification.— Notification of the availability of the results of monitoring programs required under paragraph (2)(A) shall be given to the persons served by the system. 110 STAT. 1658 “(F) Waiver of monitoring requirement.— The Administrator shall waive the requirement for monitoring for a contaminant under this paragraph in a State, if the State demonstrates that the criteria for listing the contaminant do not apply in that State. “(G) Analytical methods.— The State may use screening methods approved by the Administrator under subsection (i) in lieu of monitoring for particular contaminants under this paragraph. “(H) Authorization of appropriations.— There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this paragraph $10,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 1997 through 2003.”. (d) Screening Methods.— Section 1445 (42 300j-4) is amended by adding the following after subsection (h): “(i) Screening Methods.— The Administrator shall review new analytical methods to screen for regulated contaminants and may approve such methods as are more accurate or cost-effective than established reference methods for use in compliance monitoring.”.