EDITORIAL Safe Drinking Water Act Editor: Russell F. Christman Associate Editor: Charles R. O’Melia WASHINGTON EDITORIAL STAFF Managing Editor: Stanton S. Miller Associate Editor: Julian Josephson Assistant Editor: Lois R. Ember MANUSCRIPT REVIEWING Manager: Katherine I. Biggs Assistant Editor: David Hanson Editorial Assistant: Karen A. McGrane MANUSCRIPT EDITING Associate Production Manager: Charlotte C. Sayre Assistant Editor: Nancy J. Oddenino Assistant Editor: Gloria L. Dinote GRAPHICS AND PRODUCTION Production Manager: Leroy L. Corcoran Art Director: Norman Favin Artist: Linda M. Mattingly ~~~~
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Advisory Board: Robert J. Charlson, Arthur A. Levin, Roger A. Minear, James J. Morgan, Sidney R. Orem, Frank P. Sebastian. C. Joseph Touhill, Charles S. Tuesday, William E. Wilson, Jr. -~
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Please send research manuscripts to Manuscript Reviewing. feature manuscripts to Managing Editor For author’s guide and editorial policy, see June 1976 issue, page 553, or write Katherine I. Biggs, Manuscript Reviewing Office ESBT
Section 1401 of the Safe Drinking Water Act requires that the Administrator of EPA regulate contaminants that “may have any adverse effect on the health of persons.” Furthermore the Act prescribes that the form of the regulation be the establishment of a maximum contaminant level (MCL) unless it is not possible to analytically monitor for that contaminant. In such cases the administrator is required to regulate anyway by prescribing a mandatory treatment process. Among major pieces of environmental legislation P.L. 93523 is unique in the lack of flexibility given to the regulatory agency with regard to either the selection of contaminants to be regulated or the manner in which they should be regulated. Congress intended to control drinking water quality immediately by requiring the adoption of Primary Regulations to be based upon the 1962 PHS standards and the 1973 “Blue Book” standards. The Act provides for discarding these standards, and not including among new standards those hazardous contaminants about to be designated by the National Academy of Sciences, only when the administrator can show that no adverse health effect exists. Thus, the Act places as much or more pressure on EPA to substantiate not formulating regulations as it does on formulating them. The form of the Act, which was signed into law on December 1974, was a compromise between several different programs that were extensively debated during Congressional hearings. Plenty of arguments were presented against uniform federal standards, as Thomas Douglas has noted in his history of the development of this legislation. The 1974 National Conference of Governors opposed it on the grounds it would preempt staff responsibility; the Republican administration opposed federal enforcement and federal financial assistance to the states; the oil and gas industry opposed the provisions for underground injection control; and water works groups opposed federal prescription for plant operation and maintenance standards. Spokesman for the latter stated that . . innovation and flexibility have been the secret weapon of the industry . . .” Congress obviously felt that the secret was well kept. Putting the complaints of vested interests aside, this Act is one more indication of the growing federal tendency to limit the freedom of their own agencies. This is understandable, but may be destructive of innovation in the long run, increase implementation costs, and decrease research incentive. Most importantly, this overregulation strikes at the will and integrity of an educated bureaucracy. ‘ I .
V o l u m e 11, Number 4, April 1977
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