AWWA JAW49824

In 1992-93, the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) convened a negotiated rulemaking process under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) to develop a consensus approach to simultaneously addressing potential health risks posed by disinfection byproducts (DBPs) and waterborne pathogens. The fact that inadvertent risk-risk tradeoffs might be made between protection from DBPs and protection from microbial pathogens complicates the process. It is further complicated by uncertainties that affect the assessment of both risks. The regulatory-negotiations committee devised a staged approach to regulation that a second FACA committee finalized in 1996-97. This article summarizes the DBPs side of the benefit-cost analysis that was developed during these processes and later refined by USEPA to more fully address uncertainties regarding the rule's benefits. Includes 17 references, tables, figures.