Can a small public water system (PWS) receive an extension of the compliance date for the Arsenic Rule if the PWS will not be able to complete needed capital improvement projects in five years?

According to the January 22, 2002 final Arsenic Rule, all systems have 5 years to achieve compliance. Exemptions for an additional 3 years can be made available to qualified systems. For those qualified systems serving 3,300 persons or less, up to 3 additional 2-year extensions to the exemption are possible, for a total exemption duration of 9 years. When added to the 5 years provided for compliance by the rule, this allows up to 14 years for small systems serving up to 3,300 people to achieve compliance (66 FR 6976, 6988; January 22, 2001).

Additional information on arsenic is available at http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/rulesregs/sdwa/arsenic/index.cfm