U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking a key step to advance Safe Drinking Water Act implementation by proposing to monitor contaminants that are not currently regulated but may be present in drinking water. Specifically, the agency is proposing monitoring requirements for 30 unregulated contaminants in the Sixth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 6).
The Safe Drinking Water Act requires that once every five years, EPA issue a list of unregulated contaminants to be monitored by public water systems called the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR). By gathering nationwide data on these contaminants, EPA and the public learn more about their occurrence, concentrations, and potential risk to public health. The proposed list of unregulated contaminants is being announced for public comment today. It contains 30 chemicals, including certain PFAS. Once the rule is finalized, EPA will collect and release data on these chemicals from sampled public water systems.
EPA’s data collection effort under this new UCMR will continue to inform the agency’s PFAS OUT initiative to help drinking water systems address PFAS. PFAS OUT is a proactive outreach initiative to provide information on resources, including funding and technical assistance, to drinking water systems with PFAS challenges. This outreach will provide practical, interactive, and location-specific resources, including webinars and information on how to access funding and technical assistance to address PFAS. All water systems will be able to access PFAS OUT resources and can secure technical assistance through EPA’s RealWaterTA.
The proposed UCMR 6 Rule will be available for a 60-day public comment period. During that time, the agency will host two identical public webinars on August 11, 2026, and August 12, 2026. To register for the webinars, visit: [https://www.epa.gov/dwucmr/
For more information about the current and previous UCMR cycles, please visit EPA’s UCMR website.
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