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CARAT Background Documents for the October 11-12, 2000 Meeting
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Note: This information is provided for reference purposes only. Although the information provided here was accurate and current when first created, it is now outdated. |
Agenda for CARAT Meeting (October 11-12)
At the October 12 CARAT session, scientists from OPP and the United States Geological Survey will present information on the occurrence of pesticides in drinking water and how OPP conducts drinking water assessments. This topic has been the subject of many FIFRA Scientific Advisory Panel meetings and technical workshops since 1996.
In preparation for the Office of Pesticide Program's upcoming briefing on our drinking water assessment process, we are enclosing several background documents for your information. During this presentation, we will briefly describe the evolution of our drinking water assessment and provide an overview of our current activities, approaches and improvements, and future plans for providing drinking water assessments for use in aggregate human health exposure assessments. The following documents are intended to supplement our presentation.
(1) Estimating Pesticide Concentrations in Drinking Water: OPP's Current Approach to Drinking Water Assessments (26KB, PDF)
This describes OPP's current drinking water assessment process and how estimated pesticide concentrations in drinking water are factored into the aggregate human health exposure assessment. The current approach provides the baseline for future improvements. These areas for improvement are listed in the document and will be described further in the presentation. Most notably, OPP and USGS are working on the development of a method that is expected to allow us in the future to reliably estimate pesticide concentrations at drinking water intakes for use in quantitative risk assessment. In addition, EPA, USGS, USDA and ACPA have all recently reached agreement on organizing and focusing our efforts on gathering the monitoring data and other information necessary to most rapidly advance the development of this approach.
(2) Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) Coverage of Pesticides (10KB, PDF)
One of the first questions typically asked when people discuss the issue of the occurrence of pesticides in drinking water is how pesticides are or are not regulated under the SDWA. The regulatory history of pesticides covered by the SDWA is summarized, including information on monitoring requirements under the SDWA for pesticides currently regulated under this statute.
(3) Summary of Pesticide Removal/ Transformation Efficiencies from Various Drinking Water Treatment Processes (20KB, PDF)
As a part of OPP's efforts to improve it's drinking water screening assessment, we conducted a literature review of the impacts of drinking water treatment technologies on pesticide concentrations in drinking water. This document provides a brief summary of the conclusions of that literature review and includes summary tables that illustrate the removal efficiencies of various treatment processes. The literature review establishes the technical foundation for an interim policy on how treatment impacts might be factored into drinking water assessments under FQPA.
(4) Overview of USGS-EPA Pilot Reservoir Monitoring Program (20KB, PDF)
In an effort to learn more about the potential occurrence of pesticides in drinking water reservoirs, the USGS is conducting a reservoir monitoring study in cooperation with OPP. This summarizes the goals and preliminary results of the first year of this program.
(5) Overview of the USGS Larson-Gilliom Regression Model Approach for Estimating Pesticide Concentrations in Drinking Water (11KB, PDF)
Recent efforts by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) show promise in providing OPP with a needed tool in its risk assessment process for those pesticides which may potentially exceed concentrations of concern in drinking water. This document provides an update on the status of this model development, including preliminary results for its application to atrazine.
(6) Formation of Inter-Governmental Steering Committee and Scientific Working Groups to Further Drinking Water Regression Model Development (8KB, PDF)
EPA, USGS, USDA and American Crop Protection Asssociation (ACPA) have reached agreement on the need focus their efforts on advancing the development and validation of more refined predictive regression-based models. This document describes the framework of an inter-governmental steering committee and working groups to advance this effort.