| (ii) A system that serves 50,000 or fewer people that
meets the lead and copper action levels during three consecutive years
of monitoring may reduce the frequency of monitoring for lead and
copper from annually to once every three years.
(iii) A system with approved OWQP ranges must operate
within those ranges to remain eligible for reduced three-year monitoring.
(iv) Samples collected once every three years shall
be collected no later than every third calendar year.
(v) Systems on reduced three-year monitoring that have
been collecting samples during the months of June through September,
and receive approval from the executive director to alter the sampling
collection period as per subparagraph (E) of this paragraph must collect
their next round of samples during a time period that ends no later
than 45 months after the previous round of sampling.
(D) Reduced nine-year tap sampling. Systems that meet
the requirements of the United States Environmental Protection Agency's
(EPA's) Lead and Copper Rule Minor Revisions as described in 40 Code
of Federal Regulations §141.86, and serve 3,300 or fewer people
shall be eligible for reduced nine-year tap sampling. Systems on reduced
monitoring shall collect tap samples at the number of sites in the
table entitled "Required Number of Lead and Copper Tap Sample Sites"
in paragraph (1) of this subsection. Systems shall collect samples
at the sites approved by the executive director and documented in
the monitoring plan. Reduced nine-year tap sampling shall be performed
during June, July, August, or September, unless the executive director
has designated a different four-month period under subparagraph (E)
of this paragraph. The executive director shall notify a system that
it is eligible for reduced monitoring.
(i) Initiation of reduced nine-year tap sampling. The
first round of reduced nine-year tap sampling shall be completed no
later than nine years after the last time the system monitored for
lead and copper at the tap.
(ii) Materials requirement for reduced nine-year tap
sampling. In order to be eligible for reduced nine-year tap sampling,
a system must provide the executive director with an updated materials
survey certifying that the system meets the requirements of this clause.
(I) The water system must demonstrate on the Materials
Survey and Lead/Copper Sample Site Selection form (TCEQ Form Number
20467) that its distribution system, service lines, and all drinking
water supply plumbing, including plumbing conveying drinking water
within all residences and buildings connected to the system, are free
of lead-containing materials and/or copper-containing materials to
demonstrate the risk from lead and/or copper exposure is negligible
throughout the water system.
(II) To qualify for reduced nine-year tap sampling,
the water system must certify in writing and provide supporting documentation
that the system is free of all lead-containing materials. The system
must contain no plastic pipes that contain lead plasticizers, or plastic
service lines that contain lead plasticizers. The system must be free
of lead service lines, lead pipes, lead soldered pipe joints, and
leaded brass or bronze alloy fittings and fixtures, unless such fittings
and fixtures meet the specifications of any standard established pursuant
to 42 United States Code, §300g-6(e) (Safe Drinking Water Act, §1417(e)).
(III) To qualify for reduced nine-year tap sampling
the water system must provide certification and supporting documentation
to the executive director that the system contains no copper pipes
or copper service lines.
(IV) The executive director shall not issue any "partial
waivers" for lead and copper monitoring.
(iii) Lead and copper levels for reduced nine-year
tap sampling eligibility. To qualify for reduced nine-year tap sampling,
the public water system must have completed at least one six-month
period of initial tap water monitoring. Also, all of the system's
90th percentile lead and copper levels must have been less than or
equal to 0.005 mg/L for lead and 0.65 for copper in all sampling performed
by the system.
(iv) Conditions for reduced nine-year tap sampling
eligibility. As a condition of the reduced nine-year tap sampling
schedule, the executive director may require the system to perform
specific activities to avoid the risk of lead or copper concentration
of concern in tap water. For example, additional monitoring, periodic
outreach to customers to remind them to avoid installation of materials
that might void the reduced nine-year tap sampling schedule, or other
activities may be required.
(v) Reduced nine-year tap sampling revocation. If a
water system with a nine-year tap sampling schedule adds a new source
of water, changes any water treatment, or no longer meets the requirements
of this subparagraph, the water system must notify the executive director
in writing within 60 days of the change as required by §290.39(j)
of this title (relating to General Provisions). The executive director
has the authority to modify the reduced nine-year tap sampling schedule
to address changes.
(vi) Notification of change in lead or copper materials.
If a system on reduced nine-year tap sampling becomes aware that the
system is no longer free of lead-containing or copper-containing materials,
the system shall notify the executive director in writing no later
than 60 days after becoming aware of such a change. If the system
met both the lead and the copper action levels in all previous lead
and copper tap sampling results, the system must return to three-year
tap sampling schedule contained in subparagraph (C) of this paragraph.
(vii) Tap sampling frequency sequence. Subsequent rounds
of sampling, after a return to routine monitoring, must be collected
once a year, every three years, or every nine years, as required by
this section.
(E) Alternate months for reduced lead and copper tap
sampling. The executive director may approve a different period, other
than June through September, for systems conducting reduced lead and
copper tap sampling. Such a period shall be no longer than four consecutive
months and must represent a time of normal operation where the highest
levels of lead are most likely to occur. For a nontransient, noncommunity
water system that does not operate during the months of June through
September, and for which the period of normal operation where the
highest levels of lead are most likely to occur is not known, the
executive director shall designate a period that represents a time
of normal operation for the system. This sampling shall begin during
the period designated by the executive director in the calendar year
immediately following the end of the second consecutive six-month
monitoring period for systems initiating annual monitoring and during
the three-year period following the end of the third consecutive calendar
year of annual monitoring for systems initiating three-year reduced
monitoring.
(F) Tap sampling monitoring period. For systems on
annual or less frequent schedules, the end of the monitoring period
is September 30 of the calendar year in which the sampling occurs,
or if the executive director has established an alternate monitoring
period, the last day of that period.
(G) Return to initial/routine tap sampling frequency.
The executive director shall determine whether a system continues
to meet the requirements to remain on reduced annual, three-year,
or nine-year monitoring. A system on reduced monitoring may be required
to return to routine monitoring as described in subparagraph (A)(i)
of this paragraph. Systems required to return to routine monitoring
shall sample at the number of routine sites listed in the table entitled
"Required Number of Lead and Copper Tap Sample Sites" under paragraph
(1) of this subsection.
(H) Replacement tap samples. The water system must
collect replacement samples for any samples invalidated under subsection
(h) of this section. Any such replacement samples must be collected
as soon as possible, but no later than twenty days after receiving
notification of sample invalidation approval from the executive director.
If a water system discovers that a sample has been collected at an
inappropriate sampling site, the water system may request in writing
that the sample be invalidated. The replacement samples shall be taken
at the same locations as the invalidated samples or, if that is not
possible, at locations other than those with valid results for the
monitoring period.
(I) Nontransient, noncommunity systems with less than
five taps. A nontransient, noncommunity system that has fewer than
five drinking water taps meeting the sample site criteria of this
paragraph must collect at least one sample from each tap and then
must collect additional samples from those same taps on different
days during the monitoring period to meet the required number of samples
unless the system has received a five-tap waiver from the executive
director under paragraph (1)(F) of this subsection.
Cont'd... |
