Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Program

EPA uses the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring (UCM) program to collect data for contaminants suspected to be present in drinking water, but that do not have health-based standards set under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). Every five years EPA reviews the list of contaminants, largely based on the Contaminant Candidate List. The SDWA Amendments of 1996 provide for:

• Monitoring no more than 30 contaminants every five years
• Monitoring only a representative sample of public water systems serving less than 10,000 people
• Storing analytical results in a National Contaminant Occurrence Database (NCOD)

The UCM program progressed in several stages. Currently, EPA manages the program directly as specified in the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR). The history of the UCM program includes:

• UCMR 3 (2012-2016) – Current regulation monitoring for 30 contaminants (28 chemicals and 2 viruses) from 2012-2015.
• UCMR 2 (2007-2011) - UCMR 2 monitoring was managed by EPA and established a new set of 25 chemical contaminants sampled during 2008-2010.
• UCMR 1 (2001-2005) – The SDWA Amendments of 1996 redesigned the UCM program to incorporate a tiered monitoring approach and required monitoring for 25 contaminants (24 chemicals and one bacterial genus) during 2001-2003.
• UCM-State Rounds 1 & 2 (1988-1997) – State drinking water programs managed the original program and required public water systems (PWSs) serving more than 500 people to monitor contaminants.

Related Links

• Occurrence Data - UCMR data from all rounds of monitoring
• UCMR Updates - Periodic newsletter for utilities, laboratories and other stakeholders
• Meetings & Materials – Materials from public meetings held on UCMR issues.