The Bush administration, which prompted an outcry by suspending a Clinton proposal on acceptable levels of arsenic in drinking water, has now decided to adopt the proposed Clinton level after all.
Christie Whitman, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, said today in a letter to Congress that the agency would allow a standard of 10 parts per billion, the equivalent of one teaspoon per 1.3 million gallons of water. The new standard substantially reduces the acceptable level from the current 50 parts per billion.
''Throughout this process, I have made it clear that E.P.A. intends to strengthen the standard for arsenic by substantially lowering the maximum acceptable level from 50 parts per billion, which has been the lawful limit for nearly half a century,'' Mrs. Whitman wrote. ''This standard will improve the safety of drinking water for millions of Americans and better protect against the risk of cancer, heart disease and diabetes.''
The level of 10 parts per billion was proposed by the Clinton administration in January but blocked in March by the Bush administration. Mr. Bush has since admitted that it was one of the worst moves of his young administration because it allowed environmentalists and others to portray him as favoring arsenic, which for the most part has natural sources, in drinking water.
The administration's decision to accept the Clinton standard could remove a political irritant for Mr. Bush, but some environmentalists, citing studies that have come out since Mr. Clinton left office, say that 10 parts per billion, to go into effect in 2006, is still too high.Continue reading the main story
The Natural Resources Defense Council sued the Clinton administration in May 2000 to lower the level from 50 parts per billion, a level set during World War II. The Clinton administration initially proposed 5 parts per billion, but after mining and wood-preserving industries and municipal water authorities objected, it proposed a level of 10 parts per billion just days before Mr. Bush took office in January.
In March, Mrs. Whitman suspended that level and directed the environmental agency to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of new standards, ranging from 3 parts per billion to 20 parts per billion.
In settling on 10 parts per billion, the administration appears to have been influenced in part by testimony before Congress this month that lowering the standard below 10 would cost too much to justify a minimal health benefit.
The National Rural Water Association, which represents more than 20,000 small communities, estimated that a standard of 10 parts per billion could cost households $100 to $500 a year.
But a report by the National Academy of Sciences issued on Sept. 11 said that arsenic was ''more hazardous than earlier thought'' and that even tiny amounts could lead to an increased risk of lung and bladder cancer.
Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, said today that 10 parts per billion was ''still too high, but in light of where they were before, it's a big improvement.'' Of the expense of further lowering the level, Ms. Boxer said, ''It costs something to prevent cancer, and we spend a billion dollars a year on cancer.''
She noted that the agency's own studies set a goal of one cancer death per 1,000 people and that 10 parts per billion would allow for three cancer deaths per 1,000. ''The E.P.A. is not meeting its own guidelines,'' she said, vowing to try to push the level down to 3 parts per billion.
This summer, the House, with strong Republican support, passed a bill calling for a level no higher than 10 parts per billion. The Senate did not specify a level but said the administration immediately needed to set a standard that protected vulnerable groups, including children, pregnant women and the elderly. The two chambers are in the process of reconciling their approaches and appeared likely to order the agency to adopt a standard of nothing higher than 10, if not lower.
''That's what triggered this announcement, that they were trying to head this off,'' said Erik D. Olson, a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The report by the National Academy of Sciences led to speculation that the agency would set the limit lower than 10.
Mike Keegan, an analyst for the National Rural Water Association, said that of the nation's 60,000 community water systems, about 4,000, serving less than 10,000 people each, would have to comply with the new rule, at onerous cost.
''It's going to be real problematic in rural America,'' Mr. Keegan said. ''It won't be uncommon to see $500-a-year rate increases.''
Mrs. Whitman said her agency would provide technical assistance to the towns as well as grants to help them come into compliance.
Mr. Keegan predicted that some towns would sue the federal government for trying to tell them what to do. ''When people get a letter telling them how much it will cost and how little benefit there will be,'' he said, ''you'll see a grass-roots backlash.''Continue reading the main story