NDWAC Digs into PFAS, BIL; EPA Announces Roster for MDBP Rule Revisions Workgroup

EPA’s National Drinking Water Advisory Council (NDWAC) met on April 19 to discuss various topics but focused its time primarily on the Agency’s upcoming proposal for a National Primary Drinking Water Standard for PFAS. The NDWAC provided extensive feedback on questions posed by EPA related to PFAS treatment, monitoring, public communication, and PFAS mixtures. Additionally, the EPA’s Office of Water discussed the Agency’s key priorities for implementing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

At the end of the meeting, EPA staff discussed the upcoming convening of the NDWAC workgroup to discuss the Agency’s possible revisions to the suite of Microbial and Disinfection Byproducts Rules (MDBPs). EPA plans to convene this workgroup starting this spring and the members will continue to meet monthly, or bi-monthly, until the summer of 2023. The agency announced the finalized roster of the workgroup, which is included below:

• Lisa D. Daniels – Working Group Co-chair, Director, Bureau of Safe Drinking Water, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
• Andy Kricun, PE – Working Group Co-chair, Senior Fellow, US Water Alliance, Managing Director, Moonshot Missions
• Elin W. Betanzo, PE – Founder and Principal, Safe Water Engineering LLC
• D. Scott Borman – General Manager, Benton/Washington Regional Public Water Authority
• John Choate – General Manager, Tri County Regional Water Distribution District
• Kay Coffey, PhD, PE – Engineering Manager and Public Water Supply Group Project Adviser, Water Quality Division Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality
• Jeffrey K. Griffiths, MD, MPH&TM –  Professor of Public Health and Community Medicine, and of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine
• Michael Hotaling, MBA, PE – Facilities Manager (Retired), Newport News Waterworks Department
• Jolyn Leslie, PE – Regional Engineer, Office of Drinking Water, Northwest Regional Office, Washington State Department of Health
• Rosemary Menard – Water Director, City of Santa Cruz
• William F. Moody, PE, BCEE – Director, Bureau of Public Water Supply, Mississippi State Department of Health
• Erik D. Olson – Senior Strategic Director, Health & Food, Healthy People & Thriving Communities Program, Natural Resources Defense Council
• Benjamin J. Pauli, PhD – Associate Professor of Social Science, Kettering University
• Nancy A. Quirk, PE – General Manager, Green Bay Water Utility
• Lisa J. Ragain – Principal Water Resources Planner, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
• Alex Rodriguez – President & CEO, Diversity Consulting Group
• Lynn W. Thorp – National Campaigns Director, Clean Water Action, Clean Water Action/Clean Water Fund
• Gary Williams – Executive Director, Florida Rural Water Association

EPA has until July 31, 2024, to propose a rule, or to provide a formal decision to not propose amended rules. EPA can extend this timeline until July 31, 2025, if needed. If a rule is proposed, the Agency has until September 20, 2027, to finalize the rule, though EPA can delay this until September 20, 2028, if necessary. The slides from EPA’s presentations will be available online shortly, and a meeting summary will be available on the site at a later time.