Public Water Systems

Details

Type: Legislative Rule
Agency: Health
CSR Number: 64-03
Effective Date: April 1, 2015

Summary

The West Virginia Bureau for Public Health believes that two provisions of W.Va. Code R. §§ 64-3-1 et seq. (Public Water Systems) are more stringent than its federal regulatory counterpart.

I. Subsection 8.1

W.Va. Code R. § 64-3-8.1., provides that public water systems must ensure that average concentrations of fluoride in the drinking water of a public water system that artificially adjusts fluoride levels, “shall be no less than 0.6 milligrams per liter and no higher than 0.8 milligrams per liter. The optimum level for artificially adjusted fluoride is 0.7 milligrams per liter.” It is important to note that this rule does not require public water systems to artificially adjust fluoride levels, but instead provides that once a public water system does initiate a program of artificially introducing fluoride into the public water system, it must maintain those levels as prescribed by the legislative rule and may not make long term changes in the method being used to artificially adjust fluoride levels, such as a change in the chemical composition or the dosage rate, without first notifying the Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health prior to implementing the proposed change. W.Va. Code R. § 64-3-8.2.

Under federal law the current enforceable drinking water standard for fluoride is 4.0 mg/L. This is the maximum amount that is allowed in water from public water systems. 40 C.F.R. § 141.51(b). It is set to meet the current public health goal for protection against increased risk of crippling skeletal fluorosis, a condition characterized by pain and tenderness of the major joints. Federal law does provide a non-enforceable secondary standard for fluoride of 2.0 mg/L, which is recommended to protect children against the tooth discoloration and/or pitting that can be caused by excess fluoride exposures during the formative period prior to eruption of the teeth. 40 C.F.R. § 143.3. Although water systems are not required to comply with secondary standards, for fluoride, federal regulations do require that systems notify customers if the average water levels exceed the secondary standard. 40 C.F.R. § 141.208.

Because federal regulations do not require public water systems to maintain average concentrations of fluoride in the drinking water of a public water system that artificially adjusts fluoride levels, once a public water system initiates a program of fluoridation, the state’s rule regulating public water systems is more stringent than its federal counterpart.

II. Subsection 7.6.

Section 7 of the rule addresses public water system disinfection requirements. Subsection 7.6 requires all public water systems, including those that use only ground water, to maintain at least 0.2 mg/l of total chlorine residual throughout the distribution system at all times.

Subsection 10.1 of the rule adopts the provisions of the federal National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (40 CFR Part 141) with exceptions to requirements contained in 40 C.F.R. 141.854 & 855 that relate to the routine monitoring requirements for non-community water systems serving 1,000 or fewer people using only ground water. These exceptions remove from the rule provisions of the federal regulations adopted by reference that are somewhat less stringent than the state rule. Consequently, exceptions to the federal regulations, in combination with the requirement contained in § 7.6, result in the state rule being more stringent than its federal counterpart.

Submitter Details

Name: Heather McDaniel
Email: Heather.J.McDaniel@wv.gov
Phone: 304-558-5965

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