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PA EPA RELEASES PLAN FOR REDIRECTING DRINKING WATER PROGRAM

Release Date: 06/07/96
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PA EPA RELEASES PLAN FOR REDIRECTING DRINKING WATER PROGRAM

FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1996

EPA RELEASES PLAN FOR REDIRECTING DRINKING WATER PROGRAM

EPA today released its strategy for redirecting the national drinking water program. The strategy calls for targeting resources to controlling the greatest public health risks, microbial contaminants such as cryptosporidium; the use of improved science and risk assessment methods and the development of a consumer awareness program. President Clinton and EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner first announced a reassessment of national drinking water program priorities in March l995 as part of the President's "regulatory reinvention" initiative and in Browner's drinking water "Agenda for Action." The redirection plan also calls for preventing contamination of drinking water sources; strong partnerships among state, local and tribal governments, drinking water suppliers, the public and EPA; encouraging affordable technologies for small water systems and regulatory streamlining for chemical monitoring. The comprehensive assessment was undertaken in response to various concerns raised within and outside of the Agency for many years. The final redirection plan was developed by EPA with input from a wide range of interested parties. Copies of the "National Drinking Water Program Redirection Strategy" are available from EPA's Drinking Water Hotline at l-800-426-4791.

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