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The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, better known as Proposition 65, requires businesses to warn individuals before exposing them to chemicals that are "known to the State of California" to cause cancer or reproductive harm. The law endured for more than three decades without any successful free speech challenges to its compelled warnings. However, the legal landscape fundamentally changed in 2018 when the Supreme Court seemingly expanded First Amendment protections for professional speech in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra. Justice Thomas's majority opinion made clear that laws compelling commercial speech are subject to heightened scrutiny unless the compelled speech is purely factual, noncontroversial, and not unduly burdensome. Business groups, eternally opposed to placing cancer warnings on their products, seized upon the new legal framework and successfully challenged the warning requirements for two of Proposition 65's most controversial listed chemicals--acrylamide and glyphosate. This Note examines the fate of Proposition 65 in the aftermath of California Chamber of Commerce v. Council for Education & Research on Toxics, a 2022 Ninth Circuit case that affirmed a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the acrylamide cancer warning. While future First Amendment challenges may lead to injunctions against some existing warnings and restrict Proposition 65's ability to respond to chemicals of emerging concern, this Note concludes that the voter-enacted law will continue to play a significant role in safeguarding public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Essay reviews the recent development of environmental rights within U.S. constitutional law, advanced through a series of federal court decisions in the wake of the Flint water crisis. The residents of Flint were poisoned and lied to by their government for nearly two years. They experienced how American environmental governance has failed at the state and federal levels and how our environmental laws leave individuals and communities unprotected. And then Flint fought back, in the courts, for five years. Flint residents have been overwhelmingly successful, achieving some justice for themselves and advancing substantive rights and remedies within our constitutional framework for all Americans. Their legal victories established precedents for courts to use their equitable powers to order systemic remedies to environmental injustices, protect the right to bodily integrity--as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment's Substantive Due Process Clause--against involuntary pollution and toxic exposure, and hold the U.S. government accountable for inaction in administering our environmental laws. Flint's fight for environmental rights has turned the Flint water crisis into a breakthrough event in environmental and constitutional law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Safe Drinking Water Act Public Notification Rule requires that customers of public water systems (PWS) be informed of problems that may pose a risk to public health. Boil water advisories (BWA) are a form of communication intended to mitigate potential health risks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed guidance for BWAs. We examined how local US news media incorporate the CDC's guidelines when reporting on BWAs. A content analysis of 1040 local news media articles shows these reports did not consistently incorporate CDC guidelines. Overall, 89% of the articles communicated enough information for readers to determine if they were included in the impacted area. Articles that included at least some of the CDC's instructions for boiling water were likely (p <.001) to include other risk information, such as the functions for which water should be boiled (e.g., drinking, brushing teeth) and that bottled water could be used as an alternative source. However, this information was included in only 47% of the articles evaluated. Results suggest public notifications often do not serve the public need for clear risk communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the implications of state water quality regulatory heterogeneity for waste and drinking water violations in the continental US using Environmental Protection Agency data from 2007 to 2017. Using discrete regression analyses, we find some evidence that cumulative violations are higher when additional state water quality standards are introduced. However, one year after a new standard is implemented, cumulative violations seem to decline relative to the number of violations before introducing additional regulations. Compliance may improve after introducing new standards as operations and procedures are modified, the use of inputs like disinfectants is adjusted, or technologies are upgraded in response to new standards. Key Points: The study examines Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act compliance in terms of community sociodemographic characteristics and state water quality standardsNon‐compliance is heterogeneous across states and depends on the number of state water quality standardsNew state water quality standards lead to an increase in violations. However, violations decline a year after new standards are adopted [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonpoint source pollution is the biggest threat to water quality in the United States today. This Article argues for stronger federal controls over nonpoint source pollution. It begins by examining the history of water quality regulation in the United States, including the passage and amendment of the Clean Water Act and the evolving definition of "navigable waters over time. The Article then discusses recent rulemaking and litigation developments, including the Clean Water Rule, the Navigable Waters Protection Rule, and the County of Maui, Hawaii v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund case. It offers three recommendations. First. the Article calls for a congressional amendment to the Clean Water Act to require binding controls on nonpoint source pollution. Second, recognizing that an amendment to the Clean Water Act may not be politically viable, it offers an approach for controlling nonpoint source pollution through an amendment to the Safe Drinking Water Act. Finally. it identifies tools that interested states, local governments, and citizens' groups can utilize to take action on nonpoint source pollution under existing law. This Article concludes that reductions in nonpoint source pollution will lead to signifcant improvements in the water quality of our nation's lakes, rivers, wetlands, and coastal areas, to the benefit of human and environmental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers news brief related to May 2019 to April 2020. Topics discussed include state of West Virginia has settled its lawsuit against the opioid distributor McKesson; Insys Therapeutics, an opioid manufacturer, has agreed to pay fund to settle the federal government's criminal and civil investigations into the company's marketing practices and study from Environmental Justice Health Alliance on worst in the nation for violations of the U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).

In 1974, the Safe Drinking Water Act was enacted in order to protect the quality of drinking water in the United States. Like many pieces of environmental legislation at the time, it included a citizen suit provision, an avenue by which ordinary citizens could seek to ensure compliance with the Act and safeguard their ability to access safe drinking water. Yet despite the Act and its citizen suit provision, the Flint Michigan Water Crisis happened. This note explores how the crisis transpired, considers notions of environmental justice, and identifies opportunities within the Act to create more significant and effective citizen suits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two pilot-scale advanced water treatment plants using tertiary-treated biological nutrient removal wastewater effluent were operated simultaneously to demonstrate and compare treatment performances and process operations. Final effluent from both the plants was compared for its suitability to recharge a potable water supply aquifer. The two treatment approaches included a carbon-based treatment process (flocculation/sedimentation, ozone-biofiltration, granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption, ultraviolet (UV) disinfection; 20,000 L/day) and a membrane-based treatment process (ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, UV-hydrogen peroxide advanced oxidation; 160,000 L/day). Both processes were found to be reliable in producing water that met all United States Safe Drinking Water Act's primary maximum contaminant levels (MCLs). The carbon-based process often exceeded the secondary MCL for total dissolved solids due to background salinity in the source water. Results showed that both systems performed comparably with respect to removal of pathogens, fecal indicators, and contaminants of emerging concern. Total organic carbon (TOC) was removed to below 0.5 mg/L by the membrane-based process. For the carbon-based process, GAC media exhaustion over the course of the pilot operation resulted in an increase in finished water TOC from <0.5 to ∼4 mg/L. Disinfection byproducts, including trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids were not measured above their respective MCL after 8 h of free chlorine contact in a simulated distribution system test. N-nitrosodimethylamine was removed below 10 ng/L by the GAC with 20 min of empty bed contact time after 20,000 bed volumes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PFAS are commonly used chemicals now found throughout the environment. The chemical properties that make PFAS popular (they are resistant to oil, fire, and water) also make them hazardous because they accumulate in the environment and biodegrade very slowly. PFAS are particularly mobile in aquatic environments, and thus create a significant public health risk when they are present in drinking water. The EPA has stated its intention to use the Safe Drinking Water Act to set a legally enforceable limit for PFAS in drinking water. To do this, the EPA would need to go through a lengthy rulemaking process. This note argues that to bypass a full rulemaking process and set a legally enforceable limit quickly, the EPA should either use the Safe Drinking Water Act "Urgent Threat" provision or "Emergency Powers" provision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As drinking water community knowledge evolves, it's up to water professionals to use that knowledge to shape future drinking water regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trihalomethanes (THMs) are chemicals regulated by Environmental Protection Agency's first drinking water regulation issued after the passage of the Safe Drinking Water Act. Among THMs, iodotrihalomethanes (I-THMs) are produced by treating water containing iodides ion with chlorine or ozone. I-THMs are more carcinogenic and biotoxic than chlorinated or brominated THMs. The purpose of this study was to analyze of I-THMs in drinking water using the liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) method with various extraction solvents. The calibration curves ranged from 0.01 to 20 ng/mL and the correlation coefficient showed a good linearity of 0.99 or more. The method detection limit ranged from 0.01 to 0.10 ng/mL. The accuracy of the LLE method ranged from 99.43 to 112.40%, and its precision ranged from 1.10 to 10.36%. Good recoveries (71.35–118.60%) were obtained for spiked drinking water samples, demonstrating that the LLE method is suitable for the analysis of drinking water samples. Dichloroiodomethane, bromochloroiodomethane, and dibromoiodomethane were identified in drinking water collected from 70 places of water purification plants in Korea. The samples were classified by disinfection systems, regions, seasons, and water sources. The concentration of I-THMs in pre-/postchlorination facilities owing to excess chlorine usage was higher than in ozonization/postchlorination facilities. Moreover, the concentrations of I-THMs were high in the coastal region, because of the large amount of halide ions from the sea. There was no seasonal difference; however, the concentration of I-THMs in pre-/postchlorination facilities increased in spring and summer. The concentration of I-THMs in water sources was high in samples from the Geum River and the Yeongsan and Sumjin River. The concentration and detection frequency of I-THMs in Han River and Nakdong River were high in the coastal region, because of numerous pre-/postchlorination facilities and the abundance of halide ions from the ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on issues of water crises in the U.S. It mentions about techniques of infrastructural exclusion; addressing structural economic and racial inequalities in 21st-century American capitalism; and enactment of Safe Drinking Water Act for addressing issues of water in the country. It also mentions about Illinois Central Railroad Co. v. Illinois court case on the same.

Th is article analyzes the EPA’s relationship with Native Americans, which has been neglected by historians. It seems like the EPA, a federal agency born during the self- determination era, would be open to new approaches in federal Native American policy, but this was not the case in 2005. Republican senator James Inhof of Oklahoma added a rider to an otherwise benign transportation bill making it illegal for tribes residing within Oklahoma to operate environmental protection programs without first negotiating with the state government of Oklahoma. Th e rider eroded the federal trust relationship and infringed on Native self-determination. Oklahoma’s tribes and Native American leaders from around the nation worked to get the new law overturned, but the EPA decided to help tribes work within the confines of the new law. Despite the EPA’s stance on the law, the tribes continued to challenge it as they had in the past when hurt by paternalistic federal policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Past research yields inconsistent evidence of disparities in environmental quality by socioeconomic status (SES), race, and/or ethnicity. Since the political significance of race/ethnicity may be contingent upon SES, this study advances environmental justice research by examining interactively the effects of race, ethnicity, and SES on environmental quality. Methods: We match 2010–2013 Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) compliance records with demographic and economic data for U.S. local government water utilities serving populations greater than 1,000. Statistical regression isolates direct and interactive relationships between communities’ racial/ethnic populations, SES, and SDWA compliance. Results: We find that community racial/ethnic composition predicts drinking water quality, but also that SES conditions the effect; specifically, black and Hispanic populations most strongly predict SDWA violations in low‐SES communities. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the importance of analyzing race, ethnicity, and SES interactively in environmental justice research. Results also carry troubling implications for drinking water quality in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tribal Nations in the United States are afflicted by a number of disparities including health, socioeconomics, education, and contaminant exposure to name a few. To understand drinking water quality disparities, we analyzed Safe Drinking Water Act violations in Indian Country found in the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) and compared them to violations in non-tribal areas of the same state for the time period 2014 - 2017. The violations assessed were total point accumulations per year per 1,000 customers, health-based maximum contaminant limit (MCL), reporting and monitoring, and public notice for each state reporting tribal data. Violation point disparities were evident, as tribal facilities acquired nearly six times the points of the national average. In some states, health-based tribal water quality was better than in non-tribal communities, however Arizona, Iowa, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming had MCL violations affecting a greater percentage of tribal populations than non-tribal. Nation-wide, monitoring and reporting violations affected tribal communities at nearly twice the rate of non-tribal customers. Public notice reporting was high and comparable for both tribal and non-tribal facilities. Finally, a comparison of small drinking water facilities, under which ~97% of the surveyed tribal drinking water falls, confirmed state-wide disparities. Solutions for the apparent disparities in Indian Country and on non-tribal lands may be as simple as rectifying monitoring and reporting violations, though this correction will not shift the overall water quality difference. Addressing MCL and treatment violations is the next step to reduce the disparity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background In 2001, the United States revised the arsenic maximum contaminant level for public drinking water systems from 50 µg/L to 10 µg/L. This study aimed to examine temporal trends in urinary arsenic concentrations in the U.S. population from 2003 to 2014 by drinking water source among individuals aged 12 years and older who had no detectable arsenobetaine - a biomarker of arsenic exposure from seafood intake. Methods We examined data from 6 consecutive cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2003–2014; N=5848). Total urinary arsenic (TUA) was calculated by subtracting arsenobetaine’s limit of detection and detectable arsenocholine from total arsenic. Additional sensitivity analyses were conducted using a second total urinary arsenic index (TUA2, calculated by adding arsenite, arsenate, monomethylarsonic acid, dimethylarsinic acid). We classified drinking water source using 24-h dietary questionnaire data as community supply (n=3427), well or rain cistern (n=506), and did not drink tap water (n=1060). Results Geometric means (GM) of survey cycles were calculated from multivariate regression models adjusting for age, gender, race/ethnicity, BMI, income, creatinine, water source, type of water consumed, recent smoking, and consumption of seafood, rice, poultry, and juice. Compared to 2003–2004, adjusted TUA was 35.5% lower in 2013–2014 among the general U.S. population. Stratified analysis by smoking status indicated that the trend in lower TUA was only consistent among non-smokers. Compared to 2003–2004, lower adjusted TUA was observed in 2013–2014 among non-smoking participants who used community water supplies (1.98 vs 1.16 µg/L, p <0.001), well or rain cistern users (1.54 vs 1.28 µg/L, p <0.001) and who did not drink tap water (2.24 vs 1.53 µg/L, p <0.001). Sensitivity analyses showed consistent results for participants who used a community water supplier and to a lesser extent those who did not drink tap water. However, the sensitivity analysis showed overall exposure stayed the same or was higher among well or rain cistern users. Finally, the greatest decrease in TUA was among participants within the highest exposure percentiles (e.g. 95th percentile had 34% lower TUA in 2013/2014 vs 2003/2004, p <0.001). Conclusions Overall, urinary arsenic levels in the U.S. population declined over a 12-year period that encompassed the adoption of the revised Arsenic Rule. The most consistent trends in declining exposure were observed among non-smoking individuals using public community water systems. These results suggest regulation and prevention strategies to reduce arsenic exposures in the U.S. may be succeeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, the US Environmental Protection Agency requires monitoring every five years for up to 30 unregulated contaminants under the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR). Results include analyte concentrations and additional metadata. The third iteration of the UCMR (UCMR 3) is as unique as the first, with a variety of detection frequencies, from <0.1% to nearly 100%. Groundwater systems are required to sample twice, five to seven months apart. A detailed analysis of results for groundwater systems in UCMR 3 demonstrates that other than for chlorate, a disinfection byproduct, there is no significant difference in either concentrations or overall occurrence frequency between the two events. For future UCMRs, depending on the selected contaminants, a single sample would generate the same information for overall distributions, even if individual locations might have differences between events. There are differences in occurrence as a function of population for most contaminants. Either fewer sample events and/or stratified sampling could save utilities as much as $10–20 million over the course of the UCMR three‐year monitoring period without changing the overall conclusions regarding occurrence frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ensuring safe water supply for communities across the United States is a growing challenge in the face of aging infrastructure, impaired source water, and strained community finances. In the aftermath of the Flint lead crisis, there is an urgent need to assess the current state of US drinking water. However, no nationwide assessment has yet been conducted on trends in drinking water quality violations across several decades. Efforts to reduce violations are of national concern given that, in 2015, nearly 21 million people relied on community water systems that violated healthbased quality standards. In this paper, we evaluate spatial and temporal patterns in health-related violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act using a panel dataset of 17,900 community water systems over the period 1982-2015. We also identify vulnerability factors of communities and water systems through probit regression. Increasing time trends and violation hot spots are detected in several states, particularly in the Southwest region. Repeat violations are prevalent in locations of violation hot spots, indicating that water systems in these regions struggle with recurring issues. In terms of vulnerability factors, we find that violation incidence in rural areas is substantially higher than in urbanized areas. Meanwhile, private ownership and purchased water source are associated with compliance. These findings indicate the types of underperforming systems that might benefit from assistance in achieving consistent compliance. We discuss why certain violations might be clustered in some regions and strategies for improving national drinking water quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel method using a micro-ion-selective electrode (micro-ISE) technique was developed for in situ lead monitoring at the water-metal interface of a brass-leaded solder galvanic joint in a prepared chlorinated drinking water environment. The developed lead micro-ISE (100 µm tip diameter) showed excellent performance toward soluble lead (Pb2+) with sensitivity of 22.2 ± 0.5 mV decade-1 and limit of detection (LOD) of 1.22 x 10-6 M (0.25 mg L-1). The response time was less than 10 s with a working pH range of 2.0-7.0. Using the lead micro-ISE, lead concentration microprofiles were measured from the bulk to the metal surface (within 50 µm) over time. Combined with two-dimensional (2D) pH mapping, this work clearly demonstrated that Pb[sup 2+] ions build-up across the lead anode surface was substantial, nonuniform, and dependent on local surface pH. A large pH gradient (ΔpH = 6.0) developed across the brass and leaded-tin solder joint coupon. Local pH decreases were observed above the leaded solder to a pH as low as 4.0, indicating it was anodic relative to the brass. The low pH above the leaded solder supported elevated lead levels where even small local pH differences of 0.6 units (ΔpH = 0.6) resulted in about four times higher surface lead concentrations (42.9 vs 11.6 mg L-1) and 5 times higher fluxes (18.5 x 10-6 vs 3.5 x 10-6 mg cm-2 s-1). Continuous surface lead leaching monitoring was also conducted for 16 h. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]