1 / 11

Protecting Drinking Water: The Safe Drinking Water Act

Protecting Drinking Water: The Safe Drinking Water Act. Chapter 16. SDWA is tougher than CWA to ensure the safety of drinking water . 1. Overview of Policy. _________________________ (SDWA) of 1974 Authorized EPA to set standards (shifted responsibility from the Public Health Service)

jaguar
Download Presentation

Protecting Drinking Water: The Safe Drinking Water Act

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Protecting Drinking Water:The Safe Drinking Water Act Chapter 16 SDWA is tougher than CWA to ensure the safety of drinking water

  2. 1. Overview of Policy • _________________________(SDWA) of 1974 • Authorized EPA to set standards (shifted responsibility from the Public Health Service) • Allcontaminants were addressed, not just bacteria • SDWA Amendments of 1986 • Accelerated standard-setting; imposed “lead ban”; improved protection of groundwater; listed 83 contaminants • SDWA Amendments of 1996 • Adds risk assessment and benefit-cost analysis to standard-setting; establishes a Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF); promotes prevention

  3. Bottled Water • Not directly regulated under SDWA • Controlled by ____________________________ (FDA), not EPA • FDA must adopt EPA’s standards for drinking water • FDA has own standards for aesthetics and health

  4. 2. Setting Standards: National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWR) • Aimed at protecting human health • Uniformly applied to all public water systems • Each NPDWR has three parts • Maximum contaminant level goal (MCLG) • level at which no known or expected adverse health effects occur with margin of safety; not enforceable • Maximum contaminant level (MCL) • highest level permitted; as close to MCLG as feasible; enforceable • Best available technology (BAT) • treatment technology that makes MCL achievable

  5. 3. Economic Analysis: Standard-Setting • MCLGs are __________________ • Before 1996 SDWA, MCLs also were benefit-based, since MCLs link to MCLGs • 1996 SWDA amendments requires EPA to conduct an Economic Analysis (EA) for any proposed NPDWR • Must determine whether benefits of a new MCL justify costs • Important because ignoring costs means MCLs could be set to maximize benefits, causing _____________________

  6. overregulation Benefit-based MCL (at AB) $ TSC Maximum TSB TSB 0 AB A Ae

  7. Total social benefits (TSB) are maximized at the abatement level where MSB = 0 Net social benefits (= TSB - TSC) are maximized at the abatement level where MSB = MSC MSB = the slope of TSB = the first derivative of TSB = d(TSB)/dA MSC = the slope of TSC = the first derivative of TSC = d(TSC)/dA

  8. 4. Pricing WaterDoes Price Matter? • Some evidence suggests that consumption of water issensitive to ________ • Comparing domestic with international data • US water consumption is relatively _______ • US water prices are relatively _______ • Suggests that pricing water can influence conservation

  9. Local Pricing PracticesSurvey Data a 200 survey of community water systems • ___________________: (29.3%) • price is independent of use; marginal price = 0 • efficient only if MC = 0 • ______________________: (50.6%) • charge increases with higher use at constant rate • efficient only if MC were constant at same rate • ____________________: (30.6%) • declining block and increasing block Source: U.S. EPA, Office of Water (December 2002), p. 29.

  10. $ Price Q of water use Declining Block • Price falls as Q rises • Intent is to encourage consumption so that scale economies can be achieved • Inefficient because it uses average cost pricing vs. marginal cost pricing

  11. Price $ Q of water use Increasing Block • Price rises as Q rises • Provides incentive for conservation • Efficient since it considers rising MC along with MB of consumption

More Related