UCMR 5 Webinar with Spotlight Talk on EPA's Fraud Awareness

• Watch the webinar recording (October 31, 2023)
• Small Drinking Water Systems Webinar Series

About the Webinar

1. Update on the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 5)

The U.S. EPA's Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) provides national occurrence data for unregulated contaminants in public drinking water to protect public health and support future regulatory decisions. UCMR 5 requires monitoring for 29 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and lithium by over 10,300 public water systems between January 2023 and December 2025. This presentation provides an overview of the UCMR 5 program and monitoring requirements for water systems, information on data access, resources for understanding the data, and a summary of the UCMR 5 results to date.

Presenter: Kelsey Dailey, EPA Office of Water. Kelsey is a physical scientist with the U.S. EPA’s Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water in Cincinnati, Ohio. She works primarily on implementation of the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 5), rule communications and outreach, and data management. She has participated in UCMR program activities since January 2021 when she first arrived at EPA as an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) research fellow. 

2. EPA Fraud Awareness

This presentation covers an Introduction to EPA’s Office of Inspector General, IIJA Funding, the State Revolving Fund, Fraud Awareness, and Whistleblower information.

Presenter: Jake Hardesty, EPA Office of the Inspector General. Jake is a special agent with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Office of Inspector General (OIG) covering EPA Region 5, which spans 6 states in the midwest. Jake investigates fraud, waste, and abuse involving EPA and its programs. Prior to joining EPA-OIG, he was an Active-Duty Special Agent with the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID).  Jake was stationed at Fort Campbell, KY where he worked a large variety of cases that included narcotics, sexual assaults, homicides, and fraud. 

3. PFAS Drinking Water Methods: Past, Present, and Future

This presentation briefly outlines the history of EPA drinking water method development for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including Methods 533 and 537.1, currently in use under UCMR 5. The presentation also previews efforts underway to address the unique challenges of total PFAS analysis.

Presenter: Dan Tettenhorst, EPA Office of Research and Development. Dan is a chemist with the EPA’s Office of Research and Development and a principal investigator for projects involving the development of validated analytical methods to detect drinking water contaminants. He has been involved in the development of four drinking water methods, including EPA Method 537.1 for the determination of selected PFAS and EPA Method 544 for the determination of select cyanotoxins. These methods are used for collecting national occurrence data on chemical contaminants in drinking water.