PERCHLORATE UPDATE

1
PERCHLORATE UPDATE

• Regulatory History
• 1986
• January 26, 1986, Federal Centers for Disease
  Control (Atlanta) provides EPA with guidance on
  potential health effects of perchlorate.
• 1992
• Citing a 1952 study on perchlorate's effect on
  thyroid-hormone production, EPA issues first
  health assessment of perchlorate proposing an
  initial reference dose of 4 ppb in drinking
  water.

2
Regulatory History

• 1999
• EPA issues guidance for setting (CERCLA/RCRA)
  interim cleanup goals for perchlorate.
  Recommended range is 4-18 ppb.
• August Large public drinking water systems are
  required (serving over 10,000) to monitor for 12
  currently unregulated contaminants. The 12
  contaminants were drawn from the Agency's first
  Contaminant Candidate List ("CCL") published in
  February, 1998. Perchlorate is added to the
  list.

3
Regulatory History

• 2001
• January - In a January 11, 2001 final rule, EPA
  organized the Agency's Contaminant Candidate List
  ("CCL") of 37 contaminants into three sublists
  (66 Fed. Reg. 2273). List 1, the required
  monitoring list, contains 12 contaminants.
  Perchlorate is a List 1 contaminant.
• EPA will use the List 1 data, which will be
  collected and reported from 2001 to 2005, as a
  basis for possible future rulemaking.
•  

4
Regulatory History

• 2002
•  
• January - EPA released for public review and
  comment its revised draft toxicity assessment on
  perchlorate. "Perchlorate Environmental
  Contamination Toxicological Review and Risk
  Characterization". The draft assessment
  recommended a reference dose of 1 ppb.
• The draft risk estimate is not a drinking water
  standard, but is the first step in a lengthy
  process to determine if the agency should set a
  federal drinking water standard for this
  contaminant. 

5
Regulatory History

• 2002
• March - California environmental officials
  publish a draft public health goal of 6 ppb in
  drinking water. The Department of Health
  Services reported finding perchlorate in 44
  public drinking water systems, 23 of them at
  levels greater than 18 ppb.
•  September Gov. Gray Davis signs a law
  requiring California's Office of Environmental
  Health Hazard Assessment ("OEHHA") to adopt a
  final drinking water goal by January 1, 2003.
  The Department of Health Services ("DHS") must
  issue a drinking water standard by January 1,
  2004. After that date, no water district will be
  permitted to sell water with perchlorate levels
  that violate the standard.

6
Regulatory History

• 2002
• October
• OEHHA adds perchlorate to the December 4, 2002
  Developmental and Reproductive Toxicant ("DART")
  agenda to consider recommending the chemical for
  listing at OEHHA's next meeting, likely in late
  2003. DART is the science committee that
  evaluates chemicals for listing on California's
  Proposition 65 list.

7
Recent Developments

• 2003
•  
• January - EPA National Assessment Center proposed
  a draft risk assessment "reference dose" for
  perchlorate in drinking water of 1ppb. The
  recommendation will be presented to EPA's Office
  of Water.  
• EPA Assistant Administrator issues a memo
  instructing regions and states to use 1999
  CERCLA/RCRA guidance as an interim cleanup goal
  for perchlorate until a final risk assessment is
  issued.
• Final risk assessment expected by the end of
  2003.
• Memo reaffirms the 1999 guidance with the added
  proviso to "carefully consider the low end of the
  provisional 4-18 ppb range."

8
Recent Developments

• March - Senator Barbara Boxer introduces a bill
  to require the EPA to move faster in setting a
  perchlorate standard. Boxer's bill would require
  EPA to set a standard by July 1, 2004, two years
  earlier than the agency's current deadline.
• April - Second Boxer bill (S. 820)
• Entities that have stored or transported more
  than 375 pounds of perchlorate from Jan. 1, 1950,
  to the present would be required to report to
  EPA. Would not apply to facilities that store
  perchlorate or to law-enforcement activities.
• Entities that discharge perchlorate into water
  would be required to report the discharge to EPA,
  its volume, monitoring methods, and remedial
  actions.

9
Recent Developments

• In cooperation with the White House, EPA has
  imposed a gag order on its scientists and
  regulators, prohibiting them from commenting on
  perchlorate until the National Academy of
  Sciences ("NAS") completes a review of the
  chemical.
• OMB asked NAS last month to review the chemical.
  OMB asked EPA to refrain from any regulatory
  action until after the completion of that study,
  which could take another 6 to 18 months.

10
Recent Developments

• In a May 13 letter, Reps. John Dingell (D-Mich.)
  and Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) asked the General
  Accounting Office ("GAO") to investigate cleanup
  issues at Department of Defense ("DoD")
  facilities.
• The Senate Armed Services Committee approved
  legislation that would require the Department of
  Defense (DoD) to pay for an independent
  epidemiological study of exposure to perchlorate
  in drinking water, and for a review of existing
  data on the human health effects of the chemical.

11
Recent Developments

• DOD policy prevents military bases from even
  testing for the presence of perchlorate, unless
  there is a reasonable basis to suspect both a
  potential presence of perchlorate and a pathway
  on an installation where it could threaten
  public health.
• Two California lawmakers introduce a bill in the
  state Senate that would require firms to report
  by 2005 whether they have kept 500 or more pounds
  of perchlorate in California since 1950. The
  bill would also require companies that currently
  store perchlorate to pay fees and impose criminal
  and civil liability on any company that fails to
  report releases.

12
Recent Developments

• The House and Senate defense authorization bills
  approved May 22 include provisions requiring a
  new independent study of the health risks
  associated with perchlorate.
• The study would focus on perchlorate's effects on
  the endocrine system and thyroid function. It
  must be completed no later than June 1, 2005, by
  the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
  the National Institutes of Health, or another
  federal agency with expertise in environmental
  toxicology.

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PUBLICATIONS

• PERCHLORATE TREATMENT TECHNOLOGY FACT SHEET
  BIOREACTORSAir Force Center for Environmental
  Excellence, 2 pp, Aug 2002
• PERCHLORATE TREATMENT TECHNOLOGY FACT SHEET ION
  EXCHANGEAir Force Center for Environmental
  Excellence, 2 pp, Aug 2002

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PUBLICATIONS

• PERCHLORATE TREATMENT TECHNOLOGY FACT SHEET
  PERMEABLE REACTIVE BARRIERSAir Force Center for
  Environmental Excellence, 3 pp, Aug 2002
• PERCHLORATE TREATMENT TECHNOLOGY FACT SHEET
  PHYTOREMEDIATIONAir Force Center for
  Environmental Excellence, 2 pp, Aug 2002

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PUBLICATIONS

• IN-SITU AND EX-SITU BIOREMEDIATION OPTIONS FOR
  TREATING PERCHLORATE IN GROUNDWATERHatzinger,
  Paul B. (Envirogen, Lawrenceville, NJ) M.C.
  Whittier M.D. Arkins C.W. Bryan W.J.Guarini.
  Remediation, Vol 12 No 2, p 69-86, 2002