To simplify monitoring of an ever-increasing number of contaminants, the US Environmental Protection Agency established the "standardized monitoring framework." This framework synchronizes Phase I volatile organic contaminant monitoring with Phase II monitoring requirements. The standardized monitoring framework was developed for source-related contaminants associated with chronic health effects: volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), pesticides, radionuclides, and most inorganic chemicals. All public water systems will be subject to a nine-year compliance cycle, divided into three-year compliance periods. States will assign starting dates to various systems, based on criteria such as system size, vulnerability, and so forth. States must schedule about one third of the total water systems to monitor during each year of the initial three-year compliance period. This article describes the schedule in detail. Includes 4 references, figures.