February 8, 2006

The majority of Michigan's water utilities are meeting the more stringent arsenic standard for drinking water mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The revised standard, effective January 23, 2006, lowered the limit from 50 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion and applies to approximately 3,000 public water systems in the state.

The Department of Environmental Quality estimates that approximately 380 water systems, mostly small groundwater systems, were faced with making changes in their water sources or installing treatment to meet the new standard.

"This new standard exists to protect public health and reduce the exposure to arsenic for Michigan's citizens," said DEQ Director Steven E. Chester. "We look forward to continuing to work with public water systems to provide a safe and reliable supply of drinking water for Michigan residents."

Most systems with elevated arsenic levels have made significant progress to comply by submitting plans for an arsenic removal system, implementing a bottled water program for certain non-community systems, or by agreeing to a compliance schedule with the DEQ.

Since the U.S. EPA announced the lowering of the arsenic standard in 2001, the DEQ has been working with water systems to find ways to lower the levels in time to meet the 2006 compliance date. This partnership effort has included developing special sampling programs for potentially affected public water systems; outreach efforts through newsletters, seminars, workshops, and direct mailings; providing over 500 site visits and consultations at schools, child care centers, and small businesses; and developing an enforcement approach that allows the affected water systems reasonable time beyond the January 2006 deadline if they have demonstrated a good faith effort to achieve compliance.

In addition, the DEQ also offered free analytical services for private home owners in 2002-2003 to sample their wells so they may choose to reduce their exposure if the arsenic level is a concern. More than 6,800 samples were analyzed under this program, and the results were used to generate county maps that illustrate relative arsenic levels. These maps were distributed to local health departments for their evaluation and use.

The new standards affect community water systems such as municipalities, apartment complexes, and manufactured housing; and non-community water systems such as schools, child care centers, and businesses with their own well. Small systems that serve a transient population, or private homes served by individual wells are not subject to the new standard unless the local health department adopts this standard by local ordinance.

For more information on arsenic in drinking water, visit the U.S. EPA Web site at www.epa.gov/safewater/arsenic/, or call the U.S. EPA Drinking Water Hotline at 1-800-426-4791. Michigan-specific information is on the DEQ Web site at www.michigan.gov/deqnoncommunitywatersupply (for schools, child care centers and businesses on their own well), or call 517-241-1370.

Editor’s note: DEQ news releases are available on the department’s Internet home page at www.michigan.gov/deq.

“Protecting Michigan’s Environment, Ensuring Michigan’s Future”

Revised February 8, 2006 by Pat Watson