EPA is developing a new approach to managing drinking water and is currently seeking comments by the public and stakeholders, including utilities, rural communities, and states.

The new approach will focus on four areas:

• Address contaminants as a groups rather than one at a time so that enhancement of drinking water protection can be achieved cost-effectively.
• Foster development of new drinking water technologies to address health risks posed by a broad array of contaminants.
• Use the authority of multiple statutes to help protect drinking water.
• Partner with states to develop shared access to all public water systems (PWS) monitoring data.

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The EPA aims to reduce air emissions from certain stationary diesel engines and issued their first standards on February 17, 2010. The rule will help reduce formaldehyde, benzene, acrolein and other toxic air pollutants from diesel powered stationary reciprocating internal combustion engines (RICE), also known as compression ignition (CI) engines. The toxic air pollutants, also referred to as hazardous air pollutants or air toxics, are suspected of causing cancer and other serious health effects as well as environmental damage.

EPA estimates that the rule will reduce annual toxic air emissions by 1,000 tons, particle pollution by 2,800 tons, carbon monoxide emissions by 14,000 tons, and organic compound emissions by 27,000 tons when fully implemented in 2013.

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