Managing the Environmental Regulations and Safety
9
groundwater and drinking water sources. The law requires EPA to
establish recommended maximum contaminant goals (RMCG) for each
contaminant which may have an adverse effect on the health of an
individual. Two types of drinking water standards were established to
limit the amount of contamination that may be in drinking water:
primary standards with a maximum contaminant level (MCL) to protect
human health and secondary standards that involve the color, taste, smell
or other physical characteristics of drinking water sources. The SDWA
regulates 83 different contaminants, which include:
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14 volatile organic compounds.
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29 synthetic organic compounds.
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13 inorganic chemicals.
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4 microbiological contaminants.
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2 radiological contaminants.
A second major provision of the SDWA for the purpose of protecting
groundwater is the regulation of underground injection of toxic
chemicals. Injection of liquid wastes into underground wells is used as
a means of disposal. Controls were needed to assure that this means of
disposal did not damage the quality of aquifers. Five classes of
underground injection wells were established. Class IV wells where
hazardous wastes are injected into or above a formation within one-
quarter mile of an underground source of drinking water were phased
out. Under the 1986 amendments, states adopted a program for wellhead
protection. A program addresses the surface and subsurface surrounding
a well or well field through which contaminants are reasonably likely to
move toward a well.
Perhaps one of the most controversial and sometimes misunderstood
environmental statute passed is the Resource Conservation and Recovery
Act (RCRA). RCRA completed the circle of environmental laws enacted
in the 1970s, focusing on the recycling and disposal of solid wastes. The
law is divided into eight subsections. The three subsections of primary
importance include provisions to regulate solid waste (Subtitle D),
hazardous waste (Subtitle C), and underground storage tanks (Subtitle I).
The law originally was drafted as a solid waste recycling and disposal
law to eliminate open dumps, however, its implementation has focused
heavily on regulating hazardous wastes. In 1978, chemicals abandoned
at Love Canal in New York and Valley-of-the-Drums in Kentucky
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