Adoption of amendments to Articles 1, 7, 9, 10, 11 and 13 of the Colorado Primary Drinking Water Regulations.
The Colorado Revised Statutes (CRS), § 25-1.5-202, provide specific authority for adoption of these regulatory amendments. The Commission also adopted, in compliance with § 24-4-103(4), CRS, the following statement of basis and purpose.
BASIS AND PURPOSE
All suppliers of drinking water in Colorado are subject to regulations adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Safe Drinking Water Act, (42 U.S.C. 300f et seq.) as well as by the Colorado Primary Drinking Water Regulations under the direction of the Water Quality Control Division (Division). Colorado has been granted primary enforcement responsibility (primacy) for the public water system supervision program under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. However, in order to maintain primacy, states must also promulgate new regulations that are no less stringent than those adopted by the federal government. As required by 40 CFR 142.12, the Division submitted a drinking water program primacy revision application for the Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule (LT2) and the Stage 2 Disinfectant and Disinfection Byproducts Rule (Stage 2). This application included the Colorado Primary Drinking Water Regulations effective 09/30/2007. EPA reviewed the Division's application and found instances where the Colorado Primary Drinking Water Regulations are less stringent than the federal language.
Additionally, Section 1.6.4 is a Colorado-specific requirement, not a provision of the federal regulation, nor is it a primacy requirement. 1.6.4(e) requires an original signature on all documents submitted to the Division and applies to paper documents as well as to information received electronically over the Internet. Eliminating this Colorado-specific provision will facilitate Colorado's implementation of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) - the submission of laboratory results, required reports and other data from private laboratories and public water systems via the Internet. Among other benefits, the implementation of EDI will improve the accuracy of compliance data entered into the Division's compliance database, offer regulated entities a streamlined reporting tool, and reduce the management of paper-based reports for the Division, laboratories and public water systems.
The Commission amends Articles 1, 7, 9, 10, 11 and 13 of the Colorado Primary Drinking Water Regulations to include:
- Items identified by EPA during review of the Division's primacy application for LT2 and Stage 2.
- Removal of 1.6.4(e).
- Numerous minor changes to correct spelling, typographical errors and provide clarity.
These amendments present no significant controversy and are either required by EPA, assistive to public water systems, or are minor changes.
The Colorado Primary Drinking Water Regulations are amended as follows:
5 CCR 1002-11.52