Announcement of Public Workshop for Proposed Public Health Goals for 12 Chemicals in Drinking Water

Oct 8, 1999

The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) of the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) announces a public workshop to discuss the scientific basis and recommendations in 12 draft technical support documents for Public Health Goals (PHGs) for chemicals in drinking water. This one-day workshop will be held November 5, 1999 at the auditorium in the Elihu Harris Building, 1515 Clay Street, First Floor, Oakland, California 94612. The workshop will begin at 9:30 a.m. and will last until all business for the day is concluded or 4:30 p.m. OEHHA follows the requirements set forth in Health and Safety Code Section 57003(a) for this workshop and public input. To facilitate discussion at the workshop, OEHHA is also providing the draft documents for preview. These are posted on the OEHHA web site.

PHGs proposed for the following 12 chemicals will be discussed at the workshop: aluminum, benzene, carbofuran, carbon tetrachloride, dichloromethane, diquat, nickel, simazine, tetrachloroethylene, thiobencarb, uranium, and vinyl chloride. Note: the draft Public Health Goals for benzene and carbofuran are unavailable.

The workshop is planned to encourage a dialogue between OEHHA scientists and the public, to discuss the PHG recommendations and to receive comments. Following the workshop, OEHHA will revise the documents as appropriate, and make them available for a 30-day public review and scientific comment period. This second review and comment period will be published in the California Regulatory Notice Register and posted on the OEHHA web site.

The PHG technical support documents provide information on the health effects from contaminants in drinking water. PHGs are levels of drinking water contaminants at which adverse health effects are not expected to occur from a lifetime of exposure. The California Safe Drinking Water Act of 1996 (Health and Safety Code Section 116365) requires OEHHA to adopt PHGs based exclusively on public health considerations. PHGs adopted by OEHHA will be considered by the California Department of Health Services in establishing drinking water standards (State Maximum Contaminant Levels, or MCLs).

Oral and written comments received at the workshop will be considered during revision of the documents. Written comments must be received at OEHHA by 5:00 p.m. November 5, 1999, to be considered during the revision of the documents. If you would like to receive further information on this workshop or have questions, please contact our office at (510) 622-3200 or the address below. Written comments should be addressed to:

Cal/EPA-OEHHA-PETB
Water Toxicology
P.O. Box 4010
Sacramento, CA 95812-4010
(916) 324-7572

[Update] Draft PHG Technical Support Documents have been finalized and can be found here.