[CPEO-BIF] [Fwd: RE: Illinois proposal for disclosure of water contamination]

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

From: Walsh, William <WALSHW@pepperlaw.com>


The Safe Drinking Water Act requires monitoring and reporting to the
drinking water user on a quarterly basis for chemicals for which there
is a drinking water standard and for certain other chemicals for which
there is no drinking water standard.  The information in the reports are
proscribed by regulation.  The required language typically lists the
likely sources of the chemical involved.  The report is required whether
the chemicals exceed a drinking water standard or not.

The reporter and monitorer pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water Act is
the public drinking water supplier, not the company which may be the
cause of the contamination (which may not be known until a detailed
study is performed).  I think that any supplier of more than 25 people
is covered.

I thought that public notification was typically required hazardous
waste site in Illinois, but I would need to check.

The question of whether any party is required to report is more complex.
CERCLA requires reporting of a release of reportable quantity (an amount
per unit of time) from your facility.  The facility can be anywhere the
chemical was spilled or deposited.  The reportable quantities vary
depending upon the toxicity of the chemical.  Whether the reportable
quantity (measure in pounds) is exceeded depends upon the concentration,
the rate of groundwater movement, and size of the plume.  As noted
above, often it is not as obvious what company is the cause of the
contamination.  For example, TCE is a degreaser, it historically was
used in cleaning of septic tanks.  Benzene is in gasoline and is present
under many parking lots.

Given the common law liability from a "failure to warn," there is even a
common motivation to warn.




William J. Walsh
Pepper Hamilton LLP
600 Fourteenth Street, NW
Suite 500
Washington, D.C.  20005
(202) 220-1424 -direct
(202) 220-1665 - fax
walshw@pepperlaw.com


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--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


> --- Begin Message ---
> [Doesn't federal law already require annual reporting of contamination 
> (even below drinking water standards) in public water systems of a 
> certain size? In most places, the debate seems to be over reporting 
> contaminated groundwater plumes that threaten to pollute private wells 
> or to enter homes as vapors, or requiring the sampling of private wells.
>
> In my view, any party aware of groundwater contamination above drinking 
> water standards should be required to report it to the relevant agency, 
> and that information should be actively disclosed to the impacted public 
> as well as registered on a public available information resource, such 
> as a web site. - Lenny]
>
>
>
> Proposed law aims to prevent another Crestwood
>
>
> BY NATHANIEL ZIMMER
> Southtown Star (IL)
> April 28, 2009
>
> An increasing number of elected officials are calling for legislation 
> that would make it harder for municipalities to get away with supplying 
> tainted water to residents, as Crestwood has been accused of doing.
>
> Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan on Monday became the latest to 
> add her name to the list, proposing that the Illinois Environmental 
> Protection Agency be required to directly notify residents by mail 
> within two weeks if "a threat of exposure to contaminated drinking water 
> exists." In certain situations, current state law requires notification 
> only of the owners and operators of a water supply system.
>
> Madigan's proposal does not change the existing standard for determining 
> what constitutes a threat to health and when notification must be made, 
> said Susan Hedman, environmental counsel in Madigan's office.
>
> State Rep. Bob Rita (D-Blue Island), who represents Crestwood, is 
> sponsoring Madigan's proposal in the House. "The people should have some 
> kind of notice," he said.
>
>
>
> ....
>
> For the entire article, see
> http://www.southtownstar.com/news/1547009,042809crestwood.article
>
> -- 
>
>
> Lenny Siegel
> Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
> a project of the Pacific Studies Center
> 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
> Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
> Fax: 650/961-8918
> <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
> http://www.cpeo.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- End Message ---
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