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EPA delays UCMR reporting requirements
EPA will delay reporting requirements for the current round of List 1 monitoring required by the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) for about three months due to the unavailability of the agency's Internet-based reporting system.
Utilities should be able to begin reporting their UCMR data on EPA in September, 2001 -- not July 1 as originally expected -- and will likely be required to report any List 1 sampling completed in the first three quarters of 2001 by December 31, 2001.
Both laboratories and water utilities must register with EPA prior to submitting data. You can begin the registration process via the Internet at http://www.epadx.lmi.org.
Background
The UCMR (Federal Register, January 11, 2001, page 2,287), applies to all large and nontransient non-community water systems serving more than 10,000 people, as well as a nationally representative sample of small community and non-transient non-community water systems serving less than 10,000 people.
The rule requires utilities to report on any List 1 sampling completed in the first two quarters of 2001 by September 20, 1001, with the option of reporting as early as July 1.
However, the Internet-based electronic data reporting system developed by EPA for this requirement is not yet complete, leaving utilities unable to fulfill the reporting requirement as directed. Utilities still are allowed to collect and analyze samples as EPA's development of the reporting system continues.
Under the rule, laboratories analyzing samples for utilities must submit the data to EPA's web-based reporting system so as to prevent as many data entry errors as possible. After the initial submission by the lab, the utility in question must log-on to the web-based reporting system, review the data and then formally submit the data to the agency.