All Safe Drinking Water Act regulations require
state implementation and state interpretation of the
rule language. The final Ground Water Rule (GWR)
relies on states to discern decision criteria essential to
rule elements. Currently, no states have primacy for the
GWR, and less than two years remain for systems to
prepare for the initial federal compliance deadline.
Drinking water utilities seeking to comply with the
triggered monitoring provisions of the GWR must be
involved in the process to determine whether treatment
is a preferred compliance strategy or to discern what
preparations are necessary in anticipation of the first
round of sanitary surveys, where the authority provided
by the GWR is in effect. The authors identify the
most critical elements of the GWR for investigation by
individual utilities. Includes 16 references, tables.