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PA Bulletin, Doc. No. 23-215

RULES AND REGULATIONS

Title 25—ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY BOARD

[ 25 PA. CODE CH. 109 ]

Safe Drinking Water PFAS MCL Rule; Correction

[53 Pa.B. 943]
[Saturday, February 18, 2023]

 An error occurred in the final-form rulemaking published at 53 Pa.B. 333 (January 14, 2023). Ellipses were inadvertently omitted in § 109.1003(b)(5)(i)—(v) (relating to monitoring requirements). Section 109.1003 is corrected in Annex A, with ellipses referring to the existing text of the regulation. The remainder of the final-form rulemaking is accurate as published.

Annex A

TITLE 25. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

PART I. DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

Subpart C. PROTECTION OF NATURAL RESOURCES

ARTICLE II. WATER RESOURCES

CHAPTER 109. SAFE DRINKING WATER

Subchapter J. BOTTLED WATER AND VENDED WATER SYSTEMS, RETAIL WATER FACILITIES AND BULK WATER HAULING SYSTEMS

§ 109.1003. Monitoring requirements.

 (a) General monitoring requirements. Bottled water and vended water systems, retail water facilities and bulk water hauling systems shall monitor for compliance with the MCLs, MRDLs and treatment techniques as follows, except that systems which have installed treatment to comply with a primary MCL shall conduct quarterly operational monitoring for the contaminant which the treatment is designed to remove:

 (1) Bottled water systems, retail water facilities and bulk water hauling systems, for each entry point shall:

*  *  *  *  *

 (xiv) Beginning April 28, 2018, a system that uses or obtains finished water from another permitted public water system using surface water or GUDI sources shall comply with the following requirements:

*  *  *  *  *

 (C) When the requirements of clause (A) or (B) cannot be achieved, the supplier shall initiate an investigation under the Department's direction to determine the cause, potential health risks and appropriate remedial measures.

 (xv) Beginning January 1, 2024, monitor for compliance with the MCLs for PFAS established under § 109.202(a).

 (A) Monitoring exemption. Systems that obtain finished water from another permitted public water system are exempt from conducting monitoring for PFAS if the public water system supplying the finished water performs the required monitoring at least annually and a copy of the analytical reports are received by the Department.

 (B) Initial monitoring. Initial monitoring shall consist of 4 consecutive quarterly samples at each entry point. Systems that add new sources to new or existing entry points on or after January 1, 2024, shall conduct initial monitoring according to this clause. An entry point with one or more new sources shall be monitored for 4 consecutive quarters, beginning the first full quarter the entry point begins serving the public.

 (C) Repeat monitoring. Repeat monitoring for entry points shall be conducted as follows:

 (I) For an entry point at which a PFAS is detected during initial monitoring or where a PFAS is detected anytime at a level in excess of its MCL, compliance monitoring for the detected PFAS shall be conducted quarterly. After analyses of four consecutive quarterly samples at an entry point, including initial quarterly monitoring samples, demonstrate that the PFAS level in each quarterly sample is reliably and consistently below the MCL, the required compliance monitoring is reduced to one sample per year at that entry point for the detected PFAS.

 (II) For an entry point at which a PFAS is not detected during the initial and subsequent repeat monitoring, repeat monitoring shall be one sample per year from that entry point.

 (D) Confirmation samples. A confirmation sample shall be collected and analyzed for each of the PFAS detected in exceedance of its MCL during annual monitoring. The confirmation sample shall be collected within 2 weeks of notification from the accredited laboratory performing the analysis of the MCL exceedance.

 (E) Repeat and performance monitoring for entry points with PFAS removal treatment. Compliance monitoring shall be conducted annually at entry points with PFAS treatment. Performance monitoring shall be conducted at least quarterly for the specific PFAS for which treatment is provided.

 (F) Invalidation of PFAS samples.

 (I) The Department may invalidate results of obvious sampling errors.

 (II) A sample invalidated under this clause does not count towards meeting the minimum monitoring requirements of this subparagraph.

 (G) Compliance determinations. Compliance with the PFAS MCLs shall be determined based on the analytical results obtained at each entry point. If one entry point is in violation of an MCL, the system is in violation of the MCL.

 (I) For systems monitoring more than once per year, compliance with the MCL is determined by a running annual average of all samples taken at each entry point.

 (II) If monitoring is conducted annually, the system is out of compliance if the level of a contaminant at any entry point is greater than the MCL. If a confirmation sample is collected as specified in clause (D), compliance is determined using the average of the two sample results.

 (III) If any sample result will cause the running annual average to exceed the MCL at any entry point, the system is out of compliance with the MCL immediately.

 (IV) If a system fails to collect the required number of samples, compliance with the MCL will be based on the total number of samples collected.

 (V) If a sample result is less than the MRL, zero will be used to calculate compliance.

 (2) Vended water systems shall monitor in accordance with paragraph (1) except that vended water systems qualifying for permit by rule under § 109.1005(b), for each entry point shall:

*  *  *  *  *

 (b) Sampling requirements.

*  *  *  *  *

 (3) Sampling and analysis shall be performed in accordance with analytical techniques adopted by the EPA under the Federal act or methods approved by the Department in accordance with § 109.304.

 (4) Compliance monitoring samples for VOCs, as required under subsection (a)(1)(iii), shall be collected by a person properly trained by a laboratory certified by the Department to conduct VOC or vinyl chloride analysis.

*  *  *  *  *

 (6) [Reserved].

 (c) Repeat monitoring for microbiological contaminants.

*  *  *  *  *

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 23-215. Filed for public inspection February 17, 2023, 9:00 a.m.]


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