EPA News Release (Region 3): EPA Orders Sellersville to Reduce Arsenic Levels in Drinking Water

Contact:  David Sternberg, 215-814-5548 sternberg.david@epa.gov

 

EPA Orders Sellersville to Reduce Arsenic Levels in Drinking Water

 

(PHILADELPHIA – September 30, 2009)  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today it has issued an order to Sellersville Borough Water Works, in Sellersville, Pa., to comply with Safe Drinking Water Act standards for arsenic. 

 

The order, issued in consultation with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, requires Sellersville Borough Water Works to submit a detailed plan for achieving compliance with drinking water standards for arsenic, or develop an alternate water source.

 

Sellersville Borough must submit the plan to the EPA and PADEP within 30 days of its receipt of the order.  Failure to meet any of the terms of the order subjects Sellersville Borough to a civil penalty of up to $37, 500 per day of violation. 

 

EPA reduced the drinking water standard for arsenic from 50 parts per billion to 10 parts per billion in 2002. EPA lowered the standard to reduce the number of bladder, lung and other cancers, as well as non-cancerous adverse health effects resulting from long-term exposure to arsenic in drinking water.

 

 

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