Officials contemplating new requirements for potentially toxic drinking water contaminants

June 17, 2013

NEW CASTLE, Del. — A recent discovery in a new public well has led to Delaware public health officials to consider new utility disclosure requirements.

NEW CASTLE, Del. — A recent discovery in a new public well near New Castle, Del. has led to Delaware public health officials to consider new utility disclosure requirements for unregulated but potentially toxic drinking water contaminants, according to Delaware Online News.

Edward G. Hallock, state Office of Drinking Water program administrator, said the agency will release details of its proposal and then the public will be allowed to comment, stated the article.

The agency is hoping to have the new requirements in place by this fall.

Hallock said utilities will be required to list any chemical on the Environmental Protection Agency’s annual “Drinking Water Standards and Health Advisories” list in its annual customer “confidence reporters.”

As of now utilities are only required to report chemicals for which federal maximums exists, noted the article.

“We’re doing it for public notification,” Hallock said. “We’re not setting a standard” for maximum levels of unregulated pollutants, however.

Read the entire article here.