The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) periodically requires water systems across the country to conduct monitoring for substances that may be present in drinking water to help understand their national occurrence as part of the process of deciding whether to regulate them.  Under the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments, EPA established the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule and is required once every five years to develop a list of up to 30 new contaminants that must be monitored during a three year period by public water systems that meet the criteria for sampling.  This monitoring is used by EPA to understand the frequency and level of occurrence of unregulated contaminants in the nation’s public water systems (PWSs).

EPA will collect and analyze data for all three years and from systems all across the country to develop an understanding of the occurrence, level and distribution of these substances in drinking water. That data, along with information on potential halth effects and water treatment effectiveness will be used by EPA to determine if any new regulations are needed.