PFAS Observer
The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) is the primary federal law that protects drinking water quality and authorizes the EPA to promulgate regulations to limit harmful contaminants in public water systems. Under § 1412(b)(1)(B)(i) of the SDWA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must publish a Contaminant Candidate List (CCL) every five years identifying emerging contaminants that are not yet subject to a Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) but that may pose a public health risk. CCLs are the first step in the SDWA regulatory process and are used to drive research into the listed contaminants to better understand health impacts, occurrence data, and risk levels. The CCL process is used to inform future regulatory action but does not impose any regulatory requirements in itself.