U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Water (4304T)

The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), as amended in 1996, requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a list of contaminants to aid the Agency in regulatory priority setting for the drinking water program. In addition, the SDWA requires EPA to make regulatory determinations for no fewer than five contaminants by August 2001 and every five years thereafter. The criteria used to determine whether or not to regulate a chemical on the Contaminant Candidate List (CCL) are the following: • The contaminant may have an adverse effect on the health of persons. • The contaminant is known to occur or there is a substantial likelihood that the contaminant will occur in public water systems with a frequency and at levels of public health concern. • In the sole judgment of the Administrator, regulation of such contaminant presents a meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction for persons served by public water systems. The Agency’s findings for all three criteria are used in making a determination to regulate a contaminant. The Agency may determine that there is no need for regulation when