Recently, the GAO (Government Accountability Office) released two reports evaluating the performance of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) on its efforts to protect American drinking water. These reports pointed out several glaring issues with the way the EPA collects accurate information and processes the proper procedures for regulation.
The first report explained that part of the problem was found to lie in the underreporting of drinking water violations by the states. About 26 percent of health-related violations and 84 percent of monitoring violations of the SDWA (Safe Drinking Water Act) were inaccurately reported or not reported at all by the states. These inaccuracies were not isolated incidents as they were found in more than one year. The GAO speculated that there are several factors that could have had a hand in this issue, some of which include inadequate training, staffing, and funding. This misinformation severely limits the EPA's ability to enforce its own rules and regulations.
Included in the second report was a study which determined "systemic limitations" to the EPA's abilities to regulate contaminants. The EPA does not have a set criteria by which to determine the contaminants which pose the greatest risk to public health, and the study noted a significant problem in the EPA's inability to assess the effects of a contaminant on children's health. Perchlorate was also noted as an issue of significance, as though there were warnings as early as 1998, a formal decision was not made until 2008 and a regulation standard was not put in place until 2011.
Read more at:
http://www.ombwatch.org/node/11787
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