Senate Bill S4381A

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S4381A

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the public health law, in relation
to including hexavalent chromium in the list of emerging contaminants

 PURPOSE :

This bill adds hexavalent chromium (Chromium-6) to the list of
emerging contaminants.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section one of the bill adds hexavalent chromium (Chromium-6) to the
list of contaminants that must be designated as emerging contaminants
by the Department of Health.

Section two establishes the effective date of immediately.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Since the discovery of chromium-6 (hexavalent chromium) water
contamination in Hinkley, California, by Erin Brockovich there has
been broad public and scientific acknowledgement of the harms it
presents to human health. Despite this acknowledgement, New York does
not have a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for chromium-6 in public
water systems.
              

New York has an MCL for total chromium of .1 mg/1 - which includes
chromium metal, trivalent chromium and hexavalent chromium. However,
while chromium metal and trivalent chromium are not considered to be
toxic, the World Health Organization's International Agency for
Research on Cancer recognizes hexavalent chromium as carcinogenic to
mammals. Treating these different types of chemicals the same in
regulation, does not make sense from a public health perspective.

The prevalence of chromium-6 in public drinking water is of
significant concern to residents on Long Island and communities across
New York State. Recent tests of public water systems under the Third
Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule for chromium-6 have revealed
widespread contamination of drinking water systems. On Long Island
1,247 out of 1,417 samples of drinking water tested positive for
chromium-6. In Nassau County alone, this included 27 out of 28 water
systems that tested at an average of .338 ppb, ranging up to 3.9 ppb.
Comparatively, the public health goal set by California for chromium-6
is .02 ppb.

The 2017-18 Adopted Budget added a new provision to the Public Health
Law that authorizes the Department of Health to designate certain
substances as "emerging contaminants." Every public water system would
have to test drinking water at least once every three years for the
presence of these emerging contaminants and notify residents if levels
for a certain contaminant are above a certain level set by the
Department. The Department of Health would have the authority to
consider what substances should be added to the list of emerging
contaminants, but at a minimum the chemicals 1,4-dioxane,
perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)
must be added to the list of "emerging contaminants."

This bill would add hexavalent chromium to the list of substances that
the Department of Health must add to the list of emerging
contaminants. This would require the Department of Health to also set
a notification level for hexavalent chromium and require all public
water systems to test drinking water supplies for the present of
hexavalent chromium at least once every three years.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :
This is a new bill.

 BUDGET IMPLICATIONS :

Minimal.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act would take effect immediately.