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Evaluations of the costs and benefits of US drinkingwater standards typically consider only a singlecontaminant or class of contaminants. However,the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) is inthe process of formulating and implementing multiplenew regulations, and drinking water systems will beexpected to comply with all of them simultaneously.The joint effects of different regulations are not necessarilythe sum of the effects of the individual regulations.In some cases, treating for one contaminant mayremove other contaminants. In other instances, treatingfor one contaminant (e.g., pathogens) may make itmore difficult to comply with regulations for othercontaminants (e.g., disinfection byproducts).A simulation model was developed to assess thenational costs and benefits of compliance with multipledrinking water standards. For each of the approximately55,000 US community water systems, concentrationsof raw water constituents, treatment type,and removal efficiencies were sampled from statisticalmodels and used to compute finished waterconcentrations.Modeling the effects of different regulations at thesame time and using the same modeling assumptionsallowed the cost-effectiveness of alternative regulationsto be compared on an equal basis. For example, thisstudy found that the revised arsenic maximum contaminantlevel (MCL) is more cost-effective than the uraniumMCL at reducing cancer risk.By facilitating more direct comparison of the cost-effectivenessof different regulations, an integratedmodel can help utilities prioritize their regulatoryoptions. In addition, a better understanding of the jointeffects of different regulations may help USEPA andother stakeholders to design more effective overallregulatory programs. Includes 55 references, tables, figures.

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Edition: Vol. 96 - No. 3 Published: 03/01/2004 Number of Pages: 13 File Size: 1 file , 430 KB