Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Amendments to Safe Drinking Water Act Title II: Drinking Water Research Title III: Miscellaneous Provisions Title IV: Additional Assistance for Water Infrastructure and Watersheds Title V: Clerical Amendments Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 - Title I: Amendments to Safe Drinking Water Act - Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act (the Act) to: (1) define "community water system" as a public water system (system) that serves at least 15 service connections used by year-long residents or that regularly serves at least 25 year-round residents; and (2) revise the definition of "public water system" to mean a system to provide water for human consumption through pipes or other constructed conveyances, subject to specified requirements. Specifies that a "connection" to a system that delivers water by a constructed conveyance other than a pipe shall not be considered a connection if: (1) the water is used exclusively for purposes other than residential uses; or (2) the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or a State exercising primary enforcement responsibility for systems (primacy State) determines that alternative water to achieve the equivalent level of public health protection provided by the applicable national primary drinking water (NPDW) regulation is provided for residential or similar uses for drinking and cooking, or that the water provided for residential or similar uses for drinking, cooking, and bathing is centrally treated or treated at the point of entry by the provider, a pass-through entity, or the user to achieve the equivalent level of protection provided by the applicable NPDW regulations. Sets forth transition provisions regarding a water supplier that would be a system only as a result of modifications made under this Act. Directs the Comptroller General of the United States to undertake a study to: (1) ascertain the numbers and locations of individuals and households relying on irrigation water and other specified systems for their residential water needs; (2) determine the sources, costs, and affordability of water used for residential needs; and (3) review State and water system compliance with the Act. (Sec. 102) Modifies the Act to require the Administrator to publish a maximum contaminant level (MCL) goal and promulgate an NPDW regulation for specified contaminants upon determining that: (1) the contaminant may have an adverse effect on the health of persons and is known to occur or there is a substantial likelihood that the contaminant will occur in systems with a frequency and at levels of public health concern; and (2) in the sole judgment of the Administrator, regulation of such contaminant presents a meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction for persons served by systems. Directs the Administrator: (1) every five years, to publish a list of contaminants which are not subject to any proposed or promulgated NPDW, which are known or anticipated to occur in systems, and which may require regulation and to make determinations of whether to regulate not fewer than five contaminants; and (2) to select for consideration unregulated contaminants that present the greatest public health concern. Authorizes the Administrator to: (1) promulgate an interim NPDW regulation for a contaminant without making a required determination, or completing a required analysis, to address an urgent public health threat; and (2) publish health advisories or take other appropriate actions for contaminants not subject to any NPDW regulation. Sets forth provisions regarding schedules and deadlines for the publication of MCL goals and promulgation of NPDW regulations, including regarding substitution of contaminants and disinfectants and disinfection byproducts. (Sec. 103) Directs the Administrator: (1) to use the best available science in regulatory decision making, to ensure that the presentation of information on public health effects is comprehensive, informative, and understandable, and to prepare a health risk reduction and cost analysis for new regulations; (2) at the time an NPDW regulation is proposed, to publish a determination of whether the MCL benefits justify the costs; and (3) when issuing new regulations, to identify affordable treatment technologies for small systems serving populations of 3,300 to 10,000, populations of 500 to 3,300, and populations of 25 to 500, and to promulgate a regulation to govern the recycling of filter backwash water within the treatment process of a system. (Sec. 106) Authorizes a primacy State to establish treatment requirements as an alternative to filtration in the case of systems having uninhabited, undeveloped watersheds in consolidated ownership and having control over access to, and activities in, those watersheds if the State determines (and the Administrator concurs) that the quality of the source water and the alternative treatment requirements established by the State ensure greater removal or inactivation efficiencies of pathogenic organisms for which NPDW regulations have been promulgated or that are of public health concern than would be achieved by the combination of filtration and chlorine disinfection. (Sec. 107) Modifies the Act to require the Administrator to promulgate NPDW regulations requiring disinfection as a treatment technique for all systems at any time in the period beginning three years after enactment of this Act until the date on which the Administrator promulgates a Stage II rule making for disinfectants and disinfectant byproducts. (Sec. 108) Makes NPDW regulations effective three years after promulgation, with exceptions. (Sec. 109) Directs the Administrator to: (1) propose by January 1, 2000, and promulgate by January 1, 2001, an NPDW regulation for arsenic and to develop a comprehensive plan for a study in support of drinking water rule making to reduce the uncertainty in assessing health risks associated with exposure to low levels of arsenic. Requires the Administrator and the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), prior to promulgating an NPDW regulation for sulfate, to jointly conduct an additional study to establish a reliable dose-response relationship for the adverse human health effects that may result from exposure to sulfate in drinking water. Directs the Administrator to: (1) arrange for the National Academy of Sciences to prepare a risk assessment for radon in drinking water and an analysis of health risk reduction benefits associated with various mitigation measures to reduce radon levels in indoor air; and (2) withdraw any NPDW regulation for radon proposed prior to enactment, propose an MCL goal and NPDW regulation, and promulgate a final NPDW regulation based on such assessment and analysis. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) alternative MCL levels for radon; and (2) development by States of multimedia programs to mitigate radon levels in indoor air. (Sec. 111) Directs the Administrator, concurrently with promulgating an NPDW regulation for a contaminant, to issue guidance or regulations describing the best treatment technologies or techniques or other means for the contaminant that the Administrator finds, after examination for efficacy under field conditions, are available and affordable for systems of varying size, considering the quality of the source water to be treated, subject to specified requirements. (Sec. 112) Modifies the Act to: (1) grant a State primary enforcement responsibility for systems during any period for which the Administrator determines that such State, not later than two years after NPDW regulations are promulgated, has adopted drinking water regulations which are no less stringent than the NPDW regulations, with two-year extensions permitted under specified circumstances; (2) require the Administrator to notify an appropriate local elected official prior to taking action to force a system to comply with Act requirements or commencing a civil suit (and increases civil penalties for violations of, or failure or refusal to comply with, any order issued by the Administrator in response to an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health); and (3) require each system owner or operator to give notice to its customers of the concentration level of any unregulated contaminant for which the Administrator has required public notice (but authorizes States to establish alternative notification requirements). Sets forth reporting requirements for the State and the Administrator. Directs the Administrator to issue regulations to require each community water system to mail to each customer of the system at least annually a report on the level of contaminants in the drinking water purveyed by that system ("consumer confidence report"), which shall also provide for an EPA toll-free hotline that consumers can call for more information. Authorizes the Governor of a State to determine not to apply such mailing requirement to a community water system serving fewer than 10,000 persons. Specifies that any community water system which is not required to meet such mailing requirement and which serves 500 persons or fewer, may elect not to comply, subject to specified requirements, including that it prepare an annual consumer confidence report and provide at least annual notice to each of its customers that such report is available upon request. Requires the Administrator of the Food and Drug Administration to publish for public notice and comment a draft study on the feasibility of appropriate methods, if any, of informing customers of the contents of bottled water. (Sec. 115) Modifies the Act to provide that: (1) a variance may be issued to a system on condition that it install the best technology, treatment techniques, or other means available (taking costs into consideration); and (2) a schedule prescribed for a system granted a variance shall be based upon an evaluation satisfactory to the State that indicates that alternative sources of water are not reasonably available to the system. (Sec. 116) Authorizes a primacy State to grant a variance for compliance with a requirement specifying an MCL or treatment technique contained in an NPDW regulation to systems serving 3,300 or fewer persons and, with the Administrator's approval, to systems serving between 3,300 and 10,000 persons, under specified circumstances. (Sec. 117) Authorizes a primacy State to exempt any system within the State's jurisdiction from any requirement respecting an MCL, any treatment technique requirement, or both, of an applicable NPDW regulation upon finding that, due to compelling factors, the system is unable to implement measures to develop an alternative source of water supply. Bars a system from receiving an exemption if it was granted a small system variance. (Sec. 118) Modifies the Act to expand lead ban provisions to prohibit: (1) the use of any pipe, pipe or plumbing fitting, or fixture, solder, or flux that is not lead free in the installation or repair of any system or any plumbing in a facility providing water for human consumption; (2) the sale (or other introduction into commerce), two years after enactment, of pipes and pipe or plumb fittings or fixtures that are not lead free, except for pipes that are used in manufacturing or industrial processing; and (3) persons in the business of selling plumbing supplies, except manufacturers, from selling solder or flux that is not lead free (and requires any person selling solder or flux that is not lead free to label the product to indicate that it is illegal to use such solder or flux in the installation or repair of any plumbing providing water for human consumption). Directs the Administrator: (1) to provide accurate and timely technical information and assistance to qualified third-party certifiers in the development of voluntary standards and testing protocols for the leaching of lead from new plumbing fittings and fixtures that are intended by the manufacturer to dispense water for human ingestion; and (2) within two years, if voluntary standards for lead leaching from new plumbing fittings and fixtures are not established within one year, to issue regulations setting a performance standard establishing maximum leaching levels for fixtures intended to dispense water for human consumption (and, alternatively, if regulations are required but not issued within five years, bans the use of such plumbing or fixtures that contain more than four percent lead). (Sec. 119) Provides that a State shall receive only 80 percent of the allotment that the State is otherwise entitled under provisions regarding State loan funds unless the State has obtained the legal authority or other means to ensure that all new community water systems and new nontransient, noncommunity water systems commencing operation after October 1, 1999, demonstrate technical, managerial, and financial capacity with respect to each NPDW regulation in effect, or likely to be in effect, on the date of commencement of operations. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) systems in significant noncompliance; and (2) capacity development strategy (limits allotments to States not developing and implementing strategies to assist systems in acquiring and maintaining such capacity). Directs the Administrator to: (1) support the States in developing specified capacity development strategies; (2) provide initial funding for one or more university-based environmental finance centers for activities that provide technical assistance to State and local officials in developing the capacity of systems; and (3) establish a national system capacity development clearinghouse. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Administrator to make grants to institutions of higher learning to establish and operate small system technology assistance centers in the United States. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 120) Modifies the Act to authorize: (1) appropriations for critical aquifer protection, wellhead protection, and underground water source protection programs; and (2) the Administrator to collect and make available information pertaining to research, investigations, and demonstrations regarding providing a dependably safe supply of drinking water, together with appropriate recommendations, and to make available EPA research facilities to appropriate public authorities, institutions, and individuals. (Sec. 122) Authorizes the Administrator to provide technical assistance to small systems to enable them to achieve and maintain compliance with applicable NPDW regulations, which may include circuit-rider and multi-State regional technical assistance programs, training, and preliminary engineering evaluations. Authorizes appropriations. Bars the use of any portion of a State revolving loan fund (SLF) for lobbying expenses. Directs that three percent of the total amount appropriated be used for technical assistance to systems owned or operated by Indian tribes. (Sec. 123) Amends the Act to require the Administrator to: (1) publish guidelines specifying minimum standards for certification and recertification of the operators of community and nontransient noncommunity systems; and (2) withhold certain funds unless the State has adopted and is implementing a program for the certification of operators of community and nontransient noncommunity systems that meet specified requirements. (Sec. 124) Authorizes appropriations for the public water system supervision (PWSS) program. Permits the Administrator, if the Administrator assumes primary enforcement responsibility for a State program, to use a State's PWSS funds, and to reserve a portion of SLFs from such a State (if the PWSS grant appropriation is insufficient to fully administer a program in such State), to ensure the full and effective administration of a public water system supervision program in the State. (Sec. 125) Revises monitoring and information gathering requirements of the Act, including: (1) granting the Administrator authority to obtain information on a case-by-case basis to determine whether a person subject to an NPDW regulation has acted or is acting in compliance with such requirements; and (2) requiring every person subject to an NPDW regulation to provide such information as the Administrator may reasonably require to assist in establishing regulations. Directs the Administrator to: (1) review the monitoring requirements for not fewer than 12 contaminants and promulgate any necessary modifications and promulgate regulations establishing criteria for a monitoring program for unregulated contaminants which meet specified requirements; (2) review new analytical methods to screen for regulated contaminants; and (3) assemble and maintain a national drinking water occurrence data base. (Sec. 127) Directs that two members of the National Drinking Water Advisory Council be associated with small, rural systems. (Sec. 128) Authorizes the Administrator to provide financial assistance to New York State for demonstration projects implemented as part of the New York City watershed protection program. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 129) Modifies the Act to make each department, agency, and instrumentality of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government owning or operating any facility in a wellhead protection area and engaged in any activity at such facility resulting in the contamination of water supplies, or owning or operating any system or engaging in any activity resulting in underground injection which endangers drinking water, subject to all Federal, State, interstate, and local requirements respecting the protection of such wellhead areas, systems, and any underground injection to the same extent as any person, including requirements governing the payment of reasonable service charges. Authorizes the Administrator to issue a penalty order and assess a penalty of up to $25,000 per day per violation against a Federal agency. Sets forth provisions regarding limits on State use of funds collected from the Federal Government and citizen enforcement. Prohibits the Secretary of the Army from passing on the cost of any such penalty assessed to any customer, user, or other purchaser of drinking water from the Washington Aqueduct system. (Sec. 130) Creates an SLF program to provide financial assistance to facilitate compliance with NPDW standards and for projects to further the health protection objectives of the Act. Directs the Administrator to enter into agreements to make capitalization grants to eligible States, contingent upon their establishment of a drinking water treatment revolving loan fund. Sets forth provisions regarding the allocation of funds to States, reallotment, permissible uses of funds, intended use plans, fund management assistance for disadvantaged communities, State contributions, types of assistance, administration, a needs survey, allocations for Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages, and other areas (with funds used to address the most significant threats to public health associated with systems that serve Indian tribes), and other authorized activities. Directs the Administrator to prepare surveys and assess the needs of drinking water treatment facilities to serve Indian tribes. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Administrator to: (1) reserve $10 million for health effects studies on drinking water contaminants, giving priority to studies of cryptosporidium, disinfection byproducts, arsenic, and of subpopulations at greater risk of adverse effects; (2) reserve $2 million from funds appropriated for each fiscal year beginning with FY 1998 to pay the costs of monitoring for unregulated contaminants; and (3) conduct an evaluation of the effectiveness of the SLFs through FY 2001. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) a demonstration project for the State of Virginia; and (2) small system technical assistance. (Sec. 131) Authorizes the Administrator to make a grant to a State for the development and implementation of a State program to ensure the coordinated and comprehensive protection of ground water resources within the State, subject to specified requirements. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 132) Requires the Administrator to: (1) publish guidance for primacy State to carry out a source water assessment program within the State's boundaries; and (2) conduct a project to demonstrate the most effective and protective means of assessing and protecting source waters serving large metropolitan areas located on Federal lands. Sets forth guidelines for approval and disapproval of State programs. (Sec. 133) Authorizes a State to establish a program under which an owner or operator of a community water system in the State, or a municipal or local government or political subdivision of a State, may submit a source water quality protection partnership petition requesting that the State assist in the local development of a voluntary, incentive-based partnership among the owner, operator, or government and other persons likely to be affected by the recommendations of the partnership to: (1) reduce the presence in drinking water of contaminants that may be addressed by a petition by considering the origins of the contaminants; (2) obtain financial or technical assistance necessary to facilitate establishment, or to develop and implement recommendations, of a partnership for the protection of source water to assist in the provision of drinking water that complies with NPDW regulations for contaminants addressed by a petition; and (3) develop recommendations regarding voluntary and incentive-based strategies for the long-term protection of the source water of community water systems. (Sec. 134) Directs the Administrator to publish guidelines for water conservation plans for systems serving fewer than 3,300 persons, serving between 3,300 and 10,000 persons, and serving more than 10,000 persons. Authorizes a State to require a system seeking a loan or grant from an SLF to submit a water conservation plan consistent with such guidelines. (Sec. 135) Authorizes the Administrator and heads of other appropriate Federal agencies to award grants to Arizona, California, New Mexico, or Texas to provide assistance to eligible communities to facilitate compliance with NPDW regulations or otherwise significantly further health protection objectives of the Act. Authorizes the Administrator to provide for testing under a specified screening program under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of any other substance that may be found in sources of drinking water if the Administrator determines that a substantial population may be exposed to such substance. (Sec. 137) Directs the Administrator to conduct, and periodically report to the Congress regarding, a continuing program of studies to identify groups within the general population that are at greater risk than the general population of adverse health effects from exposure to contaminants in drinking water. Requires the CDCP Director and the Administrator to jointly conduct pilot waterborne disease occurrence studies for at least five major U.S. communities or systems, to report on the findings and a national estimate of such occurrence, and to establish a national health care provider training and public education campaign. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Drinking Water Research - Authorizes appropriations for drinking water research for FY 1997 through 2003. (Sec. 202) Directs the Administrator to develop a strategic plan for drinking water research activities throughout EPA, integrate such plan into ongoing EPA planning activities, and review all EPA drinking water research to ensure the research is of high quality and does not duplicate any other research being conducted by EPA. (Sec. 203) Authorizes the Administrator to reestablish a partnership between the Robert S. Kerr Environmental Research Laboratory and the National Center for Ground Water Research to conduct research, training, and technology transfer for ground water quality protection and restoration. Title III: Miscellaneous Provisions - Repeals specified provisions regarding geothermal heat pumps. (Sec. 302) Authorizes a Governor of a State, at any time beyond one year after a State establishes an SLF under this Act but prior to FY 2002, to reserve: (1) up to 33 percent of the capitalization grant and add the funds reserved to any funds provided to the State pursuant to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) regarding State water pollution control revolving funds; and (2) in any year a dollar amount up to that so reserved for that year from the capitalization grants and add the reserved funds to any funds provided to the State pursuant to the SLF provisions of the Act. (Sec. 303) Authorizes the Administrator to make grants to the State of Alaska for the benefit of rural and Native villages to pay the Federal share of the cost of: (1) the development and construction of systems and wastewater systems to improve the health and sanitation conditions in the villages; and (2) training, technical assistance, and educational programs relating to the operation and management of sanitation services in rural and Native villages. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 304) Expresses the sense of the Congress that appropriations for grants relating to the New York City watershed, the colonias, and Alaska Native villages, should not be provided if such appropriations would prevent the adequate capitalization of State SLFs. (Sec. 305) Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require the Secretary to promulgate a standard of quality regulation for a contaminant in bottled water or make a finding that such a regulation is not necessary to protect the public health because the contaminant is contained in water in systems but not in water used for bottled drinking water. (Sec. 306) Encourages and grants congressional consent to the customers (the District of Columbia, Arlington County, Virginia, and the city of Falls Church, Virginia) to establish a non-Federal public or private entity, or to enter into an agreement with such an existing entity, to receive title to the Washington Aqueduct and operate, maintain, and manage it in a manner that adequately represents all interests of its customers. Sets forth provisions regarding reporting requirements, the transfer of Federal interests in the Aqueduct to such entity, borrowing authority, and reissuance of a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for the Aqueduct. (Sec. 307) Authorizes the Administrator and the heads of other appropriate Federal agencies to award grants to Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas to provide assistance to eligible communities for the planning, design, and construction or improvement of sewers, treatment works, and appropriate connections for wastewater treatment. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 308) Amends the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990 to include representatives of the Lake Champlain Basin Program as ex officio members of the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force. Title IV: Additional Assistance for Water Infrastructure and Watersheds - Authorizes the Administrator to provide technical and financial assistance to States: (1) for the construction, rehabilitation, and improvement of water supply systems; and (2) consistent with nonpoint source management programs established under the FWPCA, for source water quality protection programs to address pollutants in navigable waters for the purpose of making such waters usable by water supply systems (but specifies that not more than 30 percent of the amounts appropriated to carry out this title in a fiscal year may be used for such programs). Sets forth provisions regarding a condition on receipt of such assistance and the Federal cost share. Authorizes appropriations. Title V: Clerical Amendments - Makes miscellaneous technical and clerical amendments to the Act.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Title I: Public Water Systems Subtitle A: Promulgation of National Primary Drinking Water Regulations Subtitle B: State Primary Enforcement Responsibility for Public Water Systems Subtitle C: Notification and Enforcement Subtitle D: Exemptions and Variances Subtitle E: Lead Plumbing and Pipes Subtitle F: Capacity Development Title II: Amendments to Part C Title III: General Provisions Regarding Safe Drinking Water Act Title IV: Miscellaneous Title V: Additional Assistance for Water Infrastructure and Watersheds Title VI: Drinking Water Research Authorization Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1996 - Title I: Public Water Systems - Subtitle A: Promulgation of National Primary Drinking Water Regulations - Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act (the Act) to: (1) repeal a provision requiring the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set new standards for 25 additional contaminants every three years; (2) require the Administrator to publish a list of contaminants that are not subject to proposed or promulgated national primary drinking water (NPDW) regulations, that are known or anticipated to occur in public water systems (systems), and that may require regulation; and (3) direct the Administrator, every five years, to determine whether to regulate not fewer than five contaminants on the list based on findings that such contaminants are known or are likely to occur in systems with a frequency and at a level of public health concern and that their regulation presents a meaningful opportunity for public health risk reduction. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) judicial review; (2) contaminant selection priorities; (3) promulgation of maximum contaminant level (MCL) goals and NPDW regulations; and (3) publication of health advisories. (Sec. 102) Directs the Administrator to promulgate an information collection rule to obtain information that will facilitate further revisions to the NPDW regulation for disinfectants and disinfection byproducts, including microbial contaminants such as cryptosporidium. (Sec. 103) Authorizes a State exercising primary enforcement responsibility for systems to establish treatment requirements as an alternative to filtration in the case of systems having uninhabited, undeveloped watersheds in consolidated ownership and having control over access to, and activities in, those watersheds, if the State determines (and the Administrator concurs) that the quality of the source water and the alternative treatment requirements established by the State ensure greater removal or inactivation efficiencies of pathogenic organisms for which NPDW regulations have been promulgated or that are of public health concern than would be achieved by the combination of filtration and chlorine disinfection. (Sec. 104) Directs the Administrator, at the time an NPDW regulation is proposed, to publish a determination of whether the MCL benefits justify the costs. Authorizes the Administrator to establish an MCL for a contaminant at a level other than the feasible level if the technology, treatment techniques, and other means used to determine the feasible level would result in an increase in the health risk from drinking water by increasing the concentration of other contaminants in drinking water, or by interfering with the efficacy of drinking water treatment techniques or processes used to comply with other NPDW regulations. (Sec. 105) Modifies the Act to require the Administrator to promulgate NPDW regulations requiring disinfection as a treatment technique for all systems at any time in the period beginning three years after enactment of this Act until the date on which the Administrator promulgates a Stage II rulemaking for disinfectants and disinfectant byproducts. (Sec. 106) Makes NPDW regulations effective three years after promulgation, with exceptions. (Sec. 107) Directs the Administrator to: (1) use the best available science in regulatory decisionmaking; (2) ensure that the presentation of information on public health effects is comprehensive, informative, and understandable; and (3) prepare a health risk reduction and cost analysis for new regulations. (Sec. 108) Requires the Administrator to: (1) withdraw any existing proposed radon regulation and, within three years, propose and promulgate an NPDW regulation for radon under this Act's standard- setting procedures, taking into account the costs and benefits of control programs for radon from other sources; (2) promulgate an NPDW regulation for arsenic by January 1, 2000; (3) jointly conduct a study with the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP Director) to establish a reliable dose-response relationship for potential adverse human health effects from sulfate exposure in drinking water. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 109) Authorizes the Administrator to promulgate an interim NPDW regulation for a contaminant without making a determination as to whether the benefits justify the costs and without performing a health risk reduction and cost analysis to address an urgent public health threat. (Sec. 110) Directs the Administrator: (1) to promulgate a regulation to govern the recycling of filter backwash water within the treatment process of a system; and (2) when issuing new regulations, to identify affordable treatment technologies for small public water systems serving populations of 3,300 to 10,000, populations of 500 to 3,300, and populations of 25 to 500. Subtitle B: State Primary Enforcement Responsibility for Public Water Systems - Modifies the Act to grant a State primary enforcement responsibility for systems during any period for which the Administrator determines that such State, not later than two years after NPDW regulations are promulgated, has adopted drinking water regulations which are no less stringent than the NPDW regulations, with two-year extensions permitted under specified circumstances. Specifies that a State with primary enforcement authority with respect to each existing NPDW regulation shall be considered to have primary enforcement authority over each new or revised NPDW regulation during a specified period. Subtitle C: Notification and Enforcement - Modifies the Act to require each system owner or operator to give notice to its customers of the concentration level of any unregulated contaminant for which the Administrator has required public notice. Authorizes States to establish alternative notification requirements.. Sets forth reporting requirements for the State and the Administrator. Directs the Administrator to issue regulations to require each community water system to mail to each customer of the system at least annually a report on the level of contaminants in the drinking water purveyed by that system ("consumer confidence report"), which shall also provide for an EPA toll-free hotline that consumers can call for more information. Authorizes the Governor of a State to determine not to apply such mailing requirement to a community water system serving fewer than 10,000 persons. Requires any such system to inform its customers that it will not be complying with such requirement, make information available upon request to the public regarding the quality of the water supplied by such system, and publish the report annually in one or more local newspapers serving the area in which customers of the system are located. (Sec. 132) Revises enforcement provisions of the Act to require the Administrator to notify an appropriate local elected official prior to taking action to force a system to comply with Act requirements or commencing a civil suit. Requires notice and opportunity for a public hearing in cases where civil penalties are sought. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) system owner or operator submission of a plan for consolidation, or transfer of ownership, of the system (which, if approved, limits enforcement actions); (2) State authority for administrative penalties; and (3) judicial review. Subtitle D: Exemptions and Variances - Specifies that for systems serving fewer than 3,300 persons, the maximum exemption period from any requirement regarding an MCL, any treatment technique requirement, or both, shall be four years if the State is exercising primary enforcement responsibility and determines that: (1) the system cannot meet the MCL or install Best Available Affordable Technology (BAAT) due to compelling economic circumstances and could not comply with the MCL through the use of alternate water supplies; (2) granting the exemption will provide a drinking water supply that protects public health given the duration of the exemption; and (3) the State has examined the system's technical, financial, and managerial capabilities to operate in, and maintain, compliance with the Act, has determined if management or restructuring changes that will result in compliance or improve the quality of the drinking water can reasonably be made, and, if so, requires such changes and a schedule therefor as a condition of the exemption. Sets forth similar conditions under which a State having primary enforcement responsibility shall grant a system serving 3,300 persons or fewer a variance allowing the use of BAAT where: (1) no best technology or other means is listed under the Act for the applicable category of systems; and (2) the Administrator has identified BAAT for that contaminant pursuant to certain procedures. Subtitle E: Lead Plumbing and Pipes - Modifies the Act to expand lead ban provisions to prohibit: (1) the use of any pipe, pipe or plumbing fitting or fixture, solder, or flux, in the installation or repair of any system or any plumbing in a facility providing water for human consumption that is not lead free; (2) the sale (or other introduction into commerce), two years after enactment, of pipes and pipe or plumbing fittings or fixtures that are not lead free, except for pipes that are used in manufacturing or industrial processing; and (3) persons in the business of selling plumbing supplies, except manufacturers, from selling solder or flux that is not lead free (and requires any person selling solder or flux to label the product to indicate that it is illegal to use such solder or flux in the installation or repair of any plumbing providing water for human consumption). Provides that if voluntary standards for lead leaching from new plumbing fittings and fixtures are not established within one year, the Administrator, within two years, must issue regulations setting a performance standard establishing maximum leaching levels for fixtures intended to dispense water for human consumption (and, alternatively, if regulations are required but not issued within five years, bans the use of such plumbing or fixtures that contain more than four percent lead). Subtitle F: Capacity Development - Requires each State to obtain the legal authority or other means to ensure that all new community water systems and new nontransient, noncommunity water systems commencing operation after October 1, 1999, demonstrate technical, managerial, and financial capacity with respect to each NPDW regulation in effect, or likely to be in effect, on the date of commencement of operations. Requires each State to: (1) prepare, periodically update, and submit to the Administrator a list of such systems that have a history of significant noncompliance and the reasons for noncompliance; and (2) develop and implement a strategy to assist systems in acquiring and maintaining technical, managerial, and financial capacity. Establishes reporting requirements. Directs the Administrator to support the States in developing capacity development strategies. Title II: Amendments to Part C - Requires the Administrator to: (1) publish guidance for States exercising primary enforcement responsibility for systems to carry out a source water assessment program within the State's boundaries; and (2) conduct a project to demonstrate the most effective and protective means of assessing and protecting source waters serving large metropolitan areas and located on Federal lands. Requires the State to make the results available to the public. Sets guidelines for approval and disapproval of State programs. (Sec. 202) Requires each Federal department or agency that owns or operates any facility in a wellhead protection area, that is engaged in any activity at such facility resulting in the contamination of water supplies, or that owns or operates any system to comply with all Federal, State, interstate, and local requirements respecting the protection of such areas and systems. Waives U.S. immunity regarding any such requirement. Authorizes: (1) the Administrator to issue an order assessing a penalty against a Federal agency found to have violated such a requirement; and (2) any interested person to obtain review of a penalty order so issued. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) limits on State use of funds collected from the Federal Government; and (2) citizen enforcement. Title III: General Provisions Regarding Safe Drinking Water Act - Directs: (1) the Administrator to promulgate regulations specifying minimum standards for certification (and recertification) of the operators of community and nontransient noncommunity systems; and (2) any State exercising primary enforcement responsibility for systems to adopt and implement such requirements within two years, with an exception where the State has an operator certification program in effect on the date of enactment of this Act. (Sec. 302) Authorizes the Administrator to provide technical assistance to small systems to enable them to achieve and maintain compliance with applicable NPDW regulations, which may include preliminary engineering evaluations. Authorizes appropriations. Bars the use of any portion of a State revolving fund (SRF) for lobbying expenses. Directs that three percent of the total amount appropriated be used for technical assistance to systems owned or operated by Indian tribes. (Sec. 303) Authorizes appropriations for the public water system supervision (PWSS) program. Permits the Administrator to: (1) use a State's PWSS funds if the Administrator assumes primary enforcement responsibility for a State program; and (2) reserve a portion of SRFs from such a State if the PWSS grant appropriation is insufficient to fully administer a program in such State. (Sec. 304) Revises monitoring and information gathering requirements of the Act, including: (1) granting the Administrator authority to obtain information on a case-by-case basis to determine whether a person subject to an NPDW regulation has acted or is acting in compliance with such requirements; and (2) requiring every person subject to an NPDW regulation to provide such information as the Administrator may reasonably require to assist in establishing regulations. Directs the Administrator to: (1) review the monitoring requirements for not fewer than 12 contaminants identified by the Administrator and promulgate any necessary modifications; and (2) promulgate regulations establishing criteria for a monitoring program for unregulated contaminants. Grants States exercising primary enforcement responsibility for systems specified interim and permanent monitoring relief authority. Requires the Administrator to review new analytical methods to screen for regulated contaminants. Authorizes the Administrator to approve such methods as are more accurate or cost-effective than established methods for use in compliance monitoring. (Sec. 305) Directs the Administrator to assemble and maintain a national drinking water occurrence data base, using information on the occurrence of both regulated and unregulated contaminants in systems and reliable information from public and private sources. (Sec. 306) Specifies that pending State, as well as Federal, court actions to require compliance with the Act may serve as a bar to civil law suits. (Sec. 307) Modifies the Act regarding whistle blower protection, including: (1) extending the time frame for an employee to file a discrimination complaint; (2) permitting the Secretary to determine that a violation has occurred only if the complainant has demonstrated that the involvement in an enforcement action was a contributing factor in the unfavorable personnel action; and (3) prohibiting relief from being ordered if the employer demonstrates that it would have taken the same personnel action in the absence of such behavior. (Sec. 308) Creates a State Revolving Fund program to provide financial assistance to facilitate compliance with NPDW standards and for projects to further the health protection objectives of the Act. Directs the Administrator to enter into agreements to make capitalization grants to eligible States, contingent upon their establishment of a drinking water treatment revolving loan fund. Sets forth provisions regarding the allocation of funds to States, permissible uses of funds, intended use plans, fund management, assistance for disadvantaged communities, State contributions, administration, a needs survey, allocations for Indian tribes and other areas, and set-asides. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Administrator to reserve $10 million for health effects studies on drinking water contaminants, giving priority to studies of cryptosporidium, disinfection byproducts, arsenic, and of subpopulations at greater risk of adverse effects. (Sec. 309) Directs the Administrator to publish guidelines for water conservation plans for systems serving fewer than 3,300 persons, serving between 3,300 and 10,000 persons, and serving more than 10,000 persons. Authorizes a State to require a system seeking a loan or grant from an SRF to submit a water conservation plan consistent with such guidelines. Title IV: Miscellaneous - Modifies the definition of: (1) "primary drinking water regulation" to authorize the Administrator, at any time after promulgating a regulation, to issue guidance allowing the use of other equally effective methods to comply with the monitoring requirements of the regulation; and (2) "public water system" to mean a system for the provision to the public of water for human consumption through pipes or other constructed conveyances, subject to specified requirements. (Sec. 402) Authorizes appropriations to carry out the Act. (Sec. 403) Authorizes the Administrator to provide financial assistance to New York State for demonstration projects implemented as part of the New York City watershed protection program. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 404) Directs the Administrator to develop and implement a program to identify and regulate substances that may have effects on humans similar to those produced by naturally occurring estrogen or other endocrine effects. Provides authority for the testing of other substances which may be found in sources of drinking water, including where the Administrator determines that a substantial population may be exposed to the substance. Directs the Administrator to order registrants, manufacturers, or importers to conduct tests under the program and submit their results. Provides for suspension of the sale or distribution of a substance by a registrant who fails to comply with a test order concerning that substance. Makes any other person subject to a test order who fails to comply liable for penalties and sanctions as provided in the Toxic Substances Control Act. Sets forth reporting requirements. (Sec. 405) Requires the Administrator to report every two years to the Congress on the implementation of this Act for States and Indian tribes where the Administrator has revoked primary enforcement responsibility. (Sec. 406) Specifies that water supplies from a system regulated under this Act shall not be used in connection with operation of geothermal heat pumps. (Sec. 407) Increases the penalty for violating an emergency order issued under Act provisions involving imminent and substantial endangerment to health. (Sec. 408) Requires the CDCP Director and the Administrator to jointly establish: (1) pilot waterborne disease occurrence studies for at least five major U.S. communities or systems, including a report on the findings and a national estimate of such occurrence; and (2) a national health care provider training and public education campaign. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 409) Directs the Administrator to conduct a continuing program of studies to identify groups within the general population that are at greater risk than the general population of adverse health effects from exposure to contaminants in drinking water. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 410) Modifies the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) establish standard of quality regulations for bottled water for each contaminant for which an NPDW regulation is issued by the Administrator, unless the Secretary determines that such regulation is not necessary because the contaminant is contained in water in systems but not in water used for bottled drinking water; (2) either promulgate a standard of quality regulation for such contaminants or make a determination that such regulation is unnecessary; and (3) establish a level for the contaminant in bottled water which is no less stringent than the MCL provided in the NPDW regulations for the same contaminant or requirements which are no less protective of public health than those applicable to water provided by systems using the treatment technique required by the NPDW regulation. Specifies that if the Secretary does not promulgate standard of quality regulations within specified time frames, the NPDW regulation for such contaminant shall be considered as the regulation applicable to bottled water. Title V: Additional Assistance for Water Infrastructure and Watersheds - Authorizes the Administrator to provide technical and financial assistance in the form of grants: (1) to States for the construction, rehabilitation, and improvement of water supply systems and for source water quality protection programs to address pollutants in navigable waters for the purpose of making such waters usable by water supply systems; (2) for a source water quality protection program for the New York City Watershed; (3) to Alaska for the benefit of rural and Alaska Native villages. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 504) Sets forth provisions regarding the acquisition of lands, the Federal share, and a condition on authorizations. Title VI: Drinking Water Research Authorization - Authorizes appropriations for drinking water research. (Sec. 602) Directs the Administrator to assign to the Assistant Administrator for Research and Development the duties of: (1) developing a strategic plan for drinking water research activities throughout EPA; (2) integrating that plan into ongoing EPA planning activities; and (3) reviewing all EPA drinking water research to ensure such research is of high quality and non-duplicative of any other research being conducted by EPA. Sets forth reporting requirements.

Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1995 - Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act (the Act) to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make capitalization grants to States to establish State drinking water treatment revolving loan funds. Places the authority to establish assistance priorities for financial assistance provided with amounts deposited into the State loan fund in the State agency that has primary responsibility for the administration of the State program. Directs the Governor, in nonprimacy States, to determine which State agency will have the authority to establish priorities for such assistance. Authorizes State Governors to transfer amounts between such funds and water pollution control revolving funds established under the Clean Water Act. Requires the Administrator to reserve one and a half percent of drinking water funds for capitalization grants to Indian tribes for the improvement of public water systems. Specifies that such funds shall be used to address the most significant threats to public health associated with public water systems that serve Indian tribes, as determined by the Administrator in consultation with the Director of the Indian Health Service and Indian tribes. Directs the Administrator, in consultation with the Director and such tribes, to prepare surveys and assess the needs of drinking water treatment facilities to serve Indian tribes. Authorizes the Administrator to make such grants to the District of Columbia and specified U.S. territories. Authorizes: (1) States to reserve a certain amount of such grants for technical assistance for small public water systems; and (2) the Administrator to make grants to Alaska for the benefit of Alaska Native villages. Requires the Administrator, beginning in FY 1999, to withhold a specified percentage (five percent for FY 1999, ten percent for FY 2000, and 15 percent for each subsequent fiscal year) of each capitalization grant made to a State unless the State has met specified requirements under this Act regarding new system capacity. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) projects eligible for assistance, including assistance for disadvantaged communities, and source water quality protection and capacity development (but limits the total amount of assistance provided and expenditures made by a State for each fiscal year, with respect to such protection and development, to 15 percent of the amount of the capitalization grant received by the State for that year, and not exceeding ten percent of that amount for: (1) acquiring land or conservation easements; (2) providing funding to implement recommendations of source water quality protection partnerships; (3) providing assistance through a capacity development strategy; or (4) making expenditures to delineate or assess source water protection areas). Sets forth provisions regarding State loan fund administration, technical assistance, and management. Requires: (1) States to prepare annual intended use plans for funds; (2) priority for the use of funds to be given to projects that address the most serious risk to human health, that are necessary to ensure compliance with filtration requirements and other specified requirements, and that assist those most in need on a per household basis according to State affordability criteria; and (3) each State, after notice and opportunity for public comment, to publish and periodically update a list of projects in the State that are eligible for assistance, including the priority assigned to each project and the expected funding schedule for each project. Directs the Administrator to: (1) conduct annual reviews and audits as the Administrator considers appropriate, or require each State to have the reviews and audits independently conducted, in accordance with specified single audit requirements; (2) submit to the Congress a periodic survey and assessment of the needs for facilities in each State eligible for assistance (including, in Alaska, the needs of Native villages); (3) conduct an evaluation of the effectiveness of the State loan funds through FY 1999; and (4) publish such regulations and guidance as necessary. Specifies that the failure or inability of any public water system to receive funds, or a delay in obtaining the funds, shall not alter the obligation of the system to comply in a timely manner with all applicable drinking water standards and requirements under the Act. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Administrator to reserve: (1) $10 million for health effects research on specified drinking water contaminants, giving priority to research concerning the health effects of cryptosporidium, disinfection byproducts, and arsenic, and for the implementation of a research plan for subpopulations at greater risk of adverse effects; (2) $2 million to pay the costs of monitoring for unregulated contaminants; and (3) specified sums for small system technical assistance. (Sec. 4) Repeals specified existing requirements for the Administrator to issue maximum contaminant level goals (MCLGs) and national primary drinking water (NPDW) regulations. Requires the Administrator to publish an MCLG and promulgate an NPDW regulation for each contaminant (with exceptions) for which a NPDW regulation has been promulgated as of the date of this Act's enactment if the Administrator determines, based on adequate data and appropriate peer-reviewed scientific information and an assessment of health risks, that the contaminant may have an adverse effect on the health of persons and that the contaminant is known to occur, or there is a substantial likelihood that it will occur, in public water systems with a frequency and at levels of public health concern. Directs the Administrator: (1) not later than July 1, 1997, to publish and periodically update a list of contaminants that are known or anticipated to occur in drinking water provided by public water systems that may warrant regulation; and (2) at such time as such list is published, to describe available and needed information and research regarding the health effects of the contaminants, their occurrence in drinking water, and treatment techniques and other feasible means to control the contaminants. Requires (with exceptions) the Administrator, by July 1, 2001, and every five years thereafter, to take one of the following actions for not fewer than five contaminants: (1) publish a determination that information available to the Administrator does not warrant the issuance of an NPDW regulation; (2) publish a determination that an NPDW regulation is warranted, and proceed to propose an MCLG and NPDW regulation not later than two years after the date of publication of the determination; and (3) propose an MCLG and NPDW regulation. Sets forth provisions regarding insufficient information to make, and the basis for, such determinations. Requires the Administrator to give priority to those contaminants not currently regulated that are associated with the most serious adverse health effects and that present the greatest potential risk to human health due to their presence in drinking water provided by public water systems. Sets forth provisions regarding public comment and judicial review. Authorizes the Administrator to promulgate an interim NPDW regulation for a contaminant to address an urgent threat to public health. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) schedules for publication of MCLGs and NPDW regulations; (2) substitution of contaminants; and (3) promulgation, by December 31, 1995, of an information collection rule to facilitate further revisions to the NPDW regulation for disinfectants and disinfectant byproducts, including information on microbial contaminants such as cryptosporidium. (Sec. 5) Requires the Administrator, in carrying out the Act, to: (1) use the best available, peer-reviewed science and supporting studies conducted in accordance with sound and objective scientific practices, and data collected by accepted or best available methods; and (2) ensure that the presentation of information on public health effects is comprehensive, informative, and understandable. Directs the Administrator to conduct a cost-benefit analysis for each NPDW regulation containing a maximum contaminant level (MCL) or treatment technique before it is proposed, including consideration of alternative MCLs or treatment requirements. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 6) Permits the MCLG for contaminants that are known or likely to cause cancer in humans to be set at a level other than zero if the Administrator determines, based on the best available, peer-reviewed science, that there is a threshold level below which there is unlikely to be any increase in cancer risk and the Administrator sets the MCLG at that level with an adequate margin of safety. Requires the Administrator, at the time he or she proposes an NPDW regulation, to publish a determination as to whether the benefits of the MCL justify the costs. Authorizes the Administrator to establish an MCL for a contaminant at a level other than the feasible level if the technology, treatment techniques, and other means used to determine the feasible level would result in an increase in the health risk from drinking water by: (1) increasing the concentration of other contaminants in drinking water; or (2) interfering with the efficacy of drinking water treatment techniques or processes that are used to comply with other NPDW regulations. Authorizes the Administrator, if he or she determines that the benefits of an MCL would not justify the cost of complying with the level, to promulgate an MCL for the contaminant that maximizes health risk reduction benefits at a cost that is justified by the benefits, with an exception. Prohibits the Administrator from establishing an MCL in a Stage I or Stage II NPDW regulation for contaminants that are disinfectants or disinfection byproducts, or to establish an MCL or treatment technique requirement for the control of cryptosporidium. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) judicial review; (2) disinfectants and disinfectant byproducts; and (3) review of standards. (Sec. 7) Sets forth requirements with respect to the promulgation of NPDW regulations for: (1) arsenic (requires the Administrator to follow a specified schedule, to develop and carry out a comprehensive plan for research in support of drinking water rulemaking, and to take other specified steps regarding assessment, proposed regulation, and final regulation of arsenic); (2) radon (provides for an MCL of 3,000 picocuries per liter but permits a revision to the regulation to include a different MCL under specified circumstances; e.g., if the Administrator determines, and the National Academy of Sciences and the Science Advisory Board concur, that revision is appropriate and supported by peer-reviewed scientific studies to address risks from ingestion of radon in drinking water); and (3) sulfate (prior to promulgating an NPDW regulation for sulfate, the Administrator and the Director of the Centers for Disease Control shall jointly conduct additional research to establish a reliable dose-response relationship for the adverse health effects that may result from exposure to sulfate in drinking water, including the health effects that may be experienced by groups within the general population that are potentially at greater risk of adverse health effects as the result of such exposure, conducted in consultation with interested States and based on the best available, peer-reviewed science and supporting studies, and subject to notice of proposed rulemaking and public comment). (Sec. 10) Directs the Administrator to: (1) amend filtration criteria to allow a State exercising primary enforcement responsibility for public water systems, on a case-by-case basis, to establish treatment requirements as an alternative to filtration for systems having uninhabited, undeveloped watersheds in consolidated ownership, and having control over access to, and activities in, those watersheds, if the State determines (and the Administrator concurs) that the quality of the source water and the alternative treatment requirements established by the State ensure significantly greater removal efficiencies of pathogenic organisms for which NPDW regulations have been promulgated or which are of public health concern than would be achieved by the combination of filtration and chlorine disinfection); and (2) propose a regulation that describes treatment techniques that meet the filtration requirements that are feasible for community water systems serving a population of 3,300 or for fewer and noncommunity water systems. Delays until at least three years after the enactment of this Act the deadline for issuing regulations to require disinfection at groundwater systems. (Sec. 11) Revises provisions regarding NPDW regulation effective dates to provide that such a regulation shall take effect three years after the date on which it is promulgated unless the Administrator determines that an earlier date is practicable, except that the Administrator, or a State in the case of an individual system, may allow up to two additional years to comply with an MCL or treatment technique if the Administrator or State determines that additional time is necessary for capital improvements. (Sec. 12) Directs the Administrator, simultaneously with promulgating NPDW regulations, to issue guidance or regulations regarding system treatment technologies. Requires the Administrator to include in the list of the technology, treatment techniques, and other means which the Administrator finds to be feasible for purposes of meeting NPDW MCLs any means that is feasible for small public water systems serving specified populations and that achieves compliance with the MCL or treatment technique, including packaged or modular systems and point-of-entry treatment units. Prohibits the Administrator from including in the list any point-of-use treatment technology, treatment technique, or other means to achieve compliance with an MCL or treatment technique requirement for a microbial contaminant. Specifies that if the American National Standards Institute has issued product standards applicable to a specific type of point-of-entry or point-of-use treatment device, individual units of that type shall not be accepted for compliance with an MCL or treatment technique requirement unless they are independently certified in accordance with such standards. Authorizes the Administrator to make grants to institutions of higher learning to establish and operate not fewer than five small public water system technology assistance centers in the United States. (Sec. 13) Revises provisions of the Act authorizing variances and exemptions from NPDW regulations to: (1) allow public water systems to receive a variance on the condition that they install and operate best available treatment technology; and (2) authorize the Administrator (or a State with primary enforcement responsibility for public water systems) to grant to public water systems serving a population of 10,000 or fewer a variance for compliance with a requirement specifying an MCL or treatment technique contained in an NPDW regulation if a system cannot afford to comply with the regulation and adequate protection of public health is ensured. (Sec. 15) Requires each State to: (1) obtain the legal authority or other means to ensure that all new community water systems and new nontransient, noncommunity water systems commencing operation after October 1, 1996, demonstrate technical, managerial, and financial capacity with respect to each NPDW regulation in effect, or likely to be in effect, on the date of commencement of operations; (2) prepare, periodically update, and submit to the Administrator a list of community water systems and nontransient, noncommunity water systems that have a history of significant noncompliance; (3) report to the Administrator on the success of enforcement mechanisms and initial capacity development efforts in assisting such systems to improve technical, managerial, and financial capacity; and (4) develop and implement a strategy to assist public water systems in acquiring and maintaining such capacity. Directs the Administrator to support: (1) the States in developing capacity development strategies; and (2) the network of university-based Environmental Finance Centers in providing training and technical assistance to State and local officials in developing the capacity of public water systems, including the establishment of a national public water systems capacity development clearinghouse. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 16) Requires public water systems receiving assistance from a State Revolving Loan Fund to be operated by a trained and certified operator. Specifies that, in the case of a State with primary enforcement responsibility or any other State that has established a training program that is consistent with the guidance issued under the Act, the authority to prescribe the appropriate level of training for certification for all systems shall be solely the responsibility of the State. Authorizes the Administrator to withhold funds that would otherwise be allocated to the State, or require the repayment of an amount equal to the amount of any such assistance, for noncompliance. (Sec. 17) Directs each State to: (1) delineate the source water protection areas for community water systems in the State using hydrogeologic information considered to be reasonably available and appropriate by the State; and (2) conduct vulnerability assessments in source water areas determined to be a priority by the State. Authorizes States to establish source water quality partnership petition programs to assist in the local development of a voluntary, incentive-based partnership to reduce the presence in drinking water of contaminants and to obtain Federal and State financial or technical assistance. Sets forth requirements for State approval of petitions, including: (1) an identification of technical, financial, or other assistance that the State will provide to assist in addressing the drinking water contaminants that may be addressed by a petition based on specified factors; and (2) a description of technical or financial assistance pursuant to Federal and State programs that is available to assist in implementing recommendations of the partnership, including any voluntary agricultural resource management plan or voluntary whole farm or whole ranch management plan developed and implemented under a process established by the Secretary of Agriculture. Authorizes the Administrator to make a grant to each State that establishes an approved program in an amount not to exceed 50 percent of the cost of administering the program. Directs the Administrator to publish guidance to assist: (1) States in the development of a source water quality protection partnership program; and (2) municipal or local governments or political subdivisions and community water systems in the development of source water quality protection partnerships and in the assessment of source water quality. (Sec. 18) Grants: (1) a State primary enforcement responsibility for public water systems if the Administrator determines that such State has adopted drinking water regulations that are no less stringent than the NPDW regulations within two years after such regulations are promulgated. Authorizes the Administrator to provide an extension of not more than two years if, after submission and review of appropriate, adequate documentation from the State, the Administrator determines that the extension is necessary and justified. Grants a State that has primary enforcement authority for existing drinking water regulations interim primary enforcement authority for new regulations pending such determination. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 19) Requires the Administrator to review existing monitoring requirements for not fewer than 12 contaminants within two years. Authorizes: (1) States to establish alternative monitoring programs for any NPDW regulation, except for a regulation applicable to a microbial contaminant or an indicator of such a contaminant, subject to specified requirements; and (2) the Administrator or a State to suspend quarterly monitoring requirements applicable to small systems for any contaminant (other than a microbial contaminant or such an indicator, that causes an acute effect, or a contaminant formed in the treatment process or distribution system) that is not detected during the first quarterly sample in a monitoring cycle. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations establishing the criteria for a monitoring program for unregulated contaminants, and to list up to 20 contaminants. Requires all systems serving more than 10,000 people to monitor for such contaminants. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Administrator to establish a national database containing information on the occurrence of regulated and unregulated contaminants. Provides that information requirements imposed by the Administrator that require monitoring, the establishment or maintenance of records, or reporting, by a substantial number of public water systems, shall be established by regulation. Directs the Administrator to review new analytical methods to screen for regulated contaminants. Authorizes the Administrator to approve such methods as are more accurate or cost-effective than established reference methods for use in compliance monitoring. (Sec. 20) Requires each owner or operator of a public water system to give notice to those served by the system: (1) of any failure of the system to comply with an applicable maximum contaminant level or treatment technique requirement of, or a testing procedure prescribed by, an NPDW regulation, or to perform required monitoring; (2) of the existence of a variance granted for an inability to meet a maximum contaminant level requirement or a granted exemption and of any failure to comply with the requirements of any schedule prescribed pursuant to the variance or exemption; and (3) of the concentration level of any unregulated contaminant for which the Administrator has required public notice. Directs the Administrator to prescribe the manner, frequency, form, and content of such noticeto provide for different notice frequencies for violations that are intermittent or infrequent and violations that are continuous or frequent, and to take into account the seriousness of any potential adverse health effects that may be involved. Permits a State to establish alternative notification requirements. Sets forth reporting requirements. (Sec. 21) Revises enforcement provisions of the Act to permit enforcement actions to be taken by both EPA and a State with primary enforcement responsibility. Directs the Administrator to notify local elected officials before taking enforcement actions against public water systems in nonprimacy States. Authorizes the Administrator or a State to suspend enforcement action with respect to a violation for a two-year period if the violation is to be corrected through a consolidation or restructuring during that period. Requires States, to have primary enforcement responsibility for public water systems, to adopt administrative penalties of at least $1,000 per violation for large systems. Increases the maximum amount for an administrative penalty imposed by EPA from $5,000 to $25,000 per violation, but only after a hearing on the record. (Sec. 22) Revises current provisions governing the applicability of drinking water laws and regulations to the Federal Government. Waives the sovereign immunity of the United States with respect to any requirement, administrative authority, or process or sanction under such laws and regulations. Allows citizens and States to seek penalties for all violations of the Act at Federal facilities. (Sec. 23) Authorizes appropriations for research with respect to the safe supply of drinking water. Directs the Administrator to: (1) develop, and periodically update, an integrated risk characterization strategy for drinking water quality; and (2) develop and carry out a research plan to support the development and implementation of rules regarding enhanced surface water treatment, disinfectant and disinfection byproducts, and groundwater disinfection. Sets forth reporting requirements. (Sec. 24) Revises the definition of "public water system" to include systems that provide water for human consumption through pipes or other constructed conveyances. Excludes from regulation connections to non-piped systems if the water is used exclusively for non-residential uses, the Administrator or the State determines that alternative water to achieve the equivalent level of public health protection provided by the applicable NPDW regulation is provided for residential or similar uses for drinking and cooking, or the Administrator or the State determines that the water provided for residential or similar uses for drinking and cooking is centrally treated or treated at the point of entry by the provider, a pass-through entity, or the user to achieve the equivalent level of protection provided by the applicable NPDW regulations. Sets forth transition provisions. (Sec. 25) Authorizes the Administrator to makes grants to States for the development and implementation of State programs for the protection of groundwater resources. Prohibits any such grant from being used for more than half of the cost of the program. Authorizes appropriations. Reauthorizes grants to support: (1) the critical aquifer protection program; (2) the wellhead protection program; and (3) State administration of the Underground Injection Control program. Directs the Administrator to study and report to the Congress on the extent and seriousness of contamination of private sources of drinking water that are not regulated under this Act. Authorizes the Administrator to reestablish a partnership between the Robert S. Kerr Environmental Research Laboratory and the National Center for Ground Water Research, a university consortium, to conduct research, training, and technology transfer for groundwater quality protection and restoration. Authorizes the Administrator to provide: (1) technical and financial assistance to units of State or local government for projects that demonstrate and assess innovative and enhanced methods and practices to develop and implement watershed protection programs, including methods and practices that protect both surface and groundwater; and (2) financial assistance to New York State for demonstration projects implemented as part of the watershed program for the protection and enhancement of the quality of source waters of the New York City water supply system. Sets forth matching and reporting requirements. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 26) Amends prohibitions on lead plumbing and pipes to prohibit: (1) the use in the installation or repair of any public water system or in any plumbing in a facility providing water for human consumption of any plumbing fitting or fixture that is not lead free; (2) the sale (effective two years after this Act's enactment) of any pipe or plumbing fitting or fixture that is not lead free, with exceptions; or (3) the sale of any solder or flux that is not lead free that does not bear a label stating that it is illegal to use the solder or flux in plumbing providing water for human consumption. Directs the Administrator to: (1) provide accurate and timely technical information and assistance to qualified third-party certifiers in the development of voluntary standards and testing protocols for the leaching of lead from new plumbing fittings and fixtures that are intended by the manufacturer to dispense water for human ingestion; and (2) promulgate regulations setting a health effects-based performance standard establishing maximum leaching levels from new plumbing fittings and fixtures that are intended by the manufacturer to dispense water for human ingestion if a voluntary standard is not established within a year. Repeals Federal law encouraging the use of geothermal heat pumps that return water to the distribution lines of public water systems. (Sec. 27) Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue a regulation establishing for bottled water a quality level for each contaminant of public water systems for which such a level is established or make a finding that a regulation is unnecessary because the contaminant is not contained in water used for bottled drinking water (requires the Secretary to issue the regulation or make the required finding for any contaminant for which a NPDW regulation was promulgated before this Act's enactment within one year). (Sec. 28) Authorizes the Chief of the Army Corps of Engineers to modernize the Washington Aqueduct. Authorizes appropriations. Modifies the membership of the National Drinking Water Advisory Council to include two members representing small, rural water systems. Amends the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990 to: (1) require the designated chairpersons of the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force to invite representatives of the Lake Champlain Basin Program to participate as ex officio members of the Task Force; and (2) include Lake Champlain among the waters with respect to which the aquatic nuisance species and zebra mussel demonstration programs apply. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Administrator to establish the Southwest Center for Environmental Research and Policy, consisting of a consortium of American and Mexican universities, to: (1) conduct research and development programs, projects, and activities, including training and community service, on U.S.-Mexico border environmental issues, with particular emphasis on water quality and safe drinking water; (2) provide objective, independent assistance to the EPA and other Federal, State, and local agencies involved in environmental policy, research, training, and enforcement; and (3) help to coordinate and facilitate the improvement of environmental policies and programs between the United States and Mexico. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Administrator to develop a screening program, using appropriate validated test systems, to determine whether certain substances may have an effect in humans that is similar to an effect produced by a naturally occurring estrogen, or such other endocrine effect as the Administrator may designate. Sets forth provisions regarding program implementation, substances to be tested, exemptions, information collection, penalties and procedures for failure to submit required information, action by the Administrator to protect public health, and reporting requirements. Authorizes the Administrator to make grants to the State of Alaska for the benefit of rural and Native villages in Alaska to pay the Federal share (50 percent) of the cost of: (1) the development and construction of water and wastewater systems to improve the health and sanitation conditions in the villages; and (2) training, technical assistance, and educational programs relating to the operation and management of sanitation services in rural and Native villages. Requires the Administrator to consult with such State on a method of prioritizing grant allocation according to the needs of, and relative health and sanitation conditions in, each eligible village. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes the Administrator and the heads of other appropriate Federal agencies to award grants to any appropriate entity or border State (i.e., Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas) to provide assistance to eligible communities (colonias lacking basic sanitation facilities) for: (1) the conservation, development, use, and control of water for the purpose of supplying drinking water; and (2) the construction, improvement, operation, and maintenance of sewers and treatment works for wastewater treatment. Authorizes appropriations.

Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1995 - Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act (the Act) to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make capitalization grants to States to establish State drinking water treatment revolving loan funds. Authorizes State Governors to transfer amounts between such funds and water pollution control revolving funds established under the Clean Water Act. Requires the Administrator to reserve one and a half percent of drinking water funds for capitalization grants to Indian tribes for the improvement of public water systems. Specifies that such funds shall be used to address the most significant threats to public health associated with public water systems that serve Indian tribes, as determined by the Administrator in consultation with the Director of the Indian Health Service and Indian tribes. Directs the Administrator, in consultation with the Director and such tribes, to prepare surveys and assess the needs of drinking water treatment facilities to serve Indian tribes. Authorizes the Administrator to make such grants to the District of Columbia and specified U.S. territories. Authorizes: (1) States to reserve a certain amount of such grants for technical assistance for small public water systems; and (2) the Administrator to make grants to Alaska for the benefit of Alaska Native villages. Requires the Administrator, beginning in FY 1999, to withhold a specified percentage (five percent for FY 1999, ten percent for FY 2000, and 15 percent for each subsequent fiscal year) of each capitalization grant made to a State unless the State has met specified requirements under this Act regarding new system capacity. Sets forth provisions regarding projects eligible for assistance, including assistance for disadvantaged communities and source water quality protection and capacity development, but limits the total amount of assistance provided and expenditures made by a State for each fiscal year with respect to such protection and development to 15 percent of the amount of the capitalization grant received by the State for that year and not to exceed ten percent of that amount for: (1) acquiring land or conservation easements; (2) providing funding to implement recommendations of source water quality protection partnerships; (3) providing assistance through a capacity development strategy; or (4) making expenditures to delineate or assess source water protection areas. Sets forth provisions regarding State loan fund administration, technical assistance, and management. Requires: (1) States to prepare annual intended use plans for funds; (2) priority for the use of funds to be given to projects that address the most serious risk to human health, that are necessary to ensure compliance with filtration requirements and other specified requirements, and that assist those most in need on a per household basis according to State affordability criteria; and (3) each State, after notice and opportunity for public comment, to publish and periodically update a list of projects in the State that are eligible for assistance, including the priority assigned to each project and the expected funding schedule for each project. Directs the Administrator to: (1) conduct annual reviews and audits as the Administrator considers appropriate, or require each State to have the reviews and audits independently conducted, in accordance with specified single audit requirements; (2) submit to the Congress a periodic survey and assessment of the needs for facilities in each State eligible for assistance; (3) conduct an evaluation of the effectiveness of the State loan funds through FY 1999; and (4) publish such regulations and guidance as necessary. Specifies that the failure or inability of any public water system to receive funds, or a delay in obtaining the funds, shall not alter the obligation of the system to comply in a timely manner with all applicable drinking water standards and requirements under the Act. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Administrator to reserve: (1) $10 million for health effects research on specified drinking water contaminants, giving priority to research concerning the health effects of cryptosporidium, disinfection byproducts, and arsenic, and for the implementation of a research plan for subpopulations at greater risk of adverse effects; (2) $2 million to pay the costs of monitoring for unregulated contaminants; and (3) specified sums for small system technical assistance. (Sec. 4) Repeals specified existing requirements for the Administrator to issue maximum contaminant level goals (MCLG) and national primary drinking water (NPDW) regulations. Requires the Administrator to publish an MCLG and promulgate an NPDW regulation for each contaminant (with exceptions) for which a NPDW regulation has been promulgated as of the date of this Act's enactment if the Administrator determines, based on adequate data and appropriate peer-reviewed scientific information and an assessment of health risks, that the contaminant may have an adverse effect on the health of persons and that the contaminant is known to occur, or there is a substantial likelihood that it will occur, in public water systems with a frequency and at levels of public health concern. Directs the Administrator: (1) not later than July 1, 1997, to publish and periodically update a list of contaminants that are known or anticipated to occur in drinking water provided by public water systems that may warrant regulation; and (2) at such time as such list is published, to describe available and needed information and research regarding the health effects of the contaminants, their occurrence in drinking water, and treatment techniques and other feasible means to control the contaminants. Requires (with exceptions) the Administrator, by July 1, 2001, and every five years thereafter, to take one of the following actions for not fewer than five contaminants: (1) publish a determination that information available to the Administrator does not warrant the issuance of an NPDW regulation; (2) publish a determination that an NPDW regulation is warranted, and proceed to propose an MCLG and NPDW regulation not later than two years after the date of publication of the determination; and (3) propose an MCLG and NPDW regulation. Sets forth provisions regarding insufficient information to make, and the basis for, such determinations. Requires the Administrator to give priority to those contaminants not currently regulated that are associated with the most serious adverse health effects and that present the greatest potential risk to human health due to their presence in drinking water provided by public water systems. Sets forth provisions regarding public comment and judicial review. Authorizes the Administrator to promulgate an interim NPDW regulation for a contaminant to address an urgent threat to public health. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) schedules for publication of MCLGs and NPDW regulations; (2) substitution of contaminants; and (3) promulgation, by December 31, 1995, of an information collection rule to facilitate further revisions to the NPDW regulation for disinfectants and disinfectant byproducts, including information on microbial contaminants such as cryptosporidium. (Sec. 5) Requires the Administrator, in carrying out the Act, to: (1) use the best available, peer-reviewed science and supporting studies conducted in accordance with sound and objective scientific practices and data collected by accepted or best available methods; and (2) ensure that the presentation of information on public health effects is comprehensive, informative, and understandable. Directs the Administrator to conduct a cost-benefit analysis for each NPDW regulation containing a maximum contaminant level (MCL) or treatment technique before it is proposed, including consideration of alternative MCLs or treatment requirements. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 6) Permits the MCLG for contaminants that are known or likely to cause cancer in humans to be set at a level other than zero if the Administrator determines, based on the best available, peer-reviewed science, that there is a threshold level below which there is unlikely to be any increase in cancer risk and the Administrator sets the MCLG at that level with an adequate margin of safety. Requires the Administrator, at the time he or she proposes an NPDW regulation, to publish a determination as to whether the benefits of the MCL justify the costs. Authorizes the Administrator to establish an MCL for a contaminant at a level other than the feasible level if the technology, treatment techniques, and other means used to determine the feasible level would result in an increase in the health risk from drinking water by: (1) increasing the concentration of other contaminants in drinking water; or (2) interfering with the efficacy of drinking water treatment techniques or processes that are used to comply with other NPDW regulations. Authorizes the Administrator, if he or she determines that the benefits of an MCL would not justify the cost of complying with the level, to promulgate an MCL for the contaminant that maximizes health risk reduction benefits at a cost that is justified by the benefits, with an exception. Prohibits the Administrator from establishing an MCL in a Stage I or Stage II NPDW regulation for contaminants that are disinfectants or disinfection byproducts, or to establish an MCL or treatment technique requirement for the control of cryptosporidium. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) judicial review; (2) disinfectants and disinfectant byproducts; and (3) review of standards. (Sec. 7) Sets forth requirements with respect to the promulgation of NPDW regulations for: (1) arsenic (requires the Administrator to follow a specified schedule, to develop and carry out a comprehensive plan for research in support of drinking water rulemaking, and to take other specified steps regarding assessment, proposed regulation, and final regulation of arsenic); (2) radon (provides for an MCL of 3,000 picocuries per liter but permits a revision to the regulation to include a different MCL under specified circumstances; e.g., if the Administrator determines, and the National Academy of Sciences and the Science Advisory Board concur, that revision is appropriate and supported by peer-reviewed scientific studies to address risks from ingestion of radon in drinking water); and (3) sulfate. (Sec. 10) Directs the Administrator to propose a regulation that describes treatment techniques that meet filtration requirements that are feasible for community water systems serving a population of 3,300 or fewer and for noncommunity water systems. Delays until at least three years after the enactment of this Act the deadline for issuing regulations to require disinfection at groundwater systems. (Sec. 11) Requires compliance with NPDW regulations within three years (currently, 18 months) after promulgation. (Sec. 12) Directs the Administrator, simultaneously with promulgating NPDW regulations, to issue guidance or regulations regarding system treatment technologies. Authorizes the Administrator to make grants to institutions of higher learning to establish and operate not fewer than five small public water system technology assistance centers in the United States. (Sec. 13) Revises provisions of the Act authorizing variances and exemptions from NPDW regulations to: (1) allow public water systems to receive a variance on the condition that they install and operate best available treatment technology; and (2) authorize the Administrator (or a State with primary enforcement responsibility for public water systems) to grant to public water systems serving a population of 10,000 or fewer a variance for compliance with a requirement specifying an MCL or treatment technique contained in an NPDW regulation if a system cannot afford to comply with the regulation and adequate protection of public health is ensured. (Sec. 15) Requires each State to: (1) obtain the legal authority or other means to ensure that all new community water systems and new nontransient, noncommunity water systems commencing operation after October 1, 1996, demonstrate technical, managerial, and financial capacity with respect to each NPDW regulation in effect, or likely to be in effect, on the date of commencement of operations; (2) prepare, periodically update, and submit to the Administrator a list of community water systems and nontransient, noncommunity water systems that have a history of significant noncompliance; (3) report to the Administrator on the success of enforcement mechanisms and initial capacity development efforts in assisting such systems to improve technical, managerial, and financial capacity; and (4) develop and implement a strategy to assist public water systems in acquiring and maintaining such capacity. Directs the Administrator to support: (1) the States in developing capacity development strategies; and (2) the network of university-based Environmental Finance Centers in providing training and technical assistance to State and local officials in developing the capacity of public water systems, including the establishment of a national public water systems capacity development clearinghouse. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 16) Requires public water systems receiving assistance from a State Revolving Loan Fund to be operated by a trained and certified operator. Specifies that, in the case of a State with primary enforcement responsibility or any other State that has established a training program that is consistent with the guidance issued under the Act, the authority to prescribe the appropriate level of training for certification for all systems shall be solely the responsibility of the State. Authorizes the Administrator to withhold funds that would otherwise be allocated to the State, or require the repayment of an amount equal to the amount of any such assistance, for noncompliance. (Sec. 17) Directs each State to: (1) delineate the source water protection areas for community water systems in the State using hydrogeologic information considered to be reasonably available and appropriate by the State; and (2) conduct vulnerability assessments in source water areas determined to be a priority by the State. Authorizes States to establish source water quality partnership petition programs to assist in the local development of a voluntary, incentive-based partnership to reduce the presence in drinking water of contaminants and to obtain Federal and State financial or technical assistance. Sets forth requirements for State approval of petitions, including: (1) an identification of technical, financial, or other assistance that the State will provide to assist in addressing the drinking water contaminants that may be addressed by a petition based on specified factors; and (2) a description of technical or financial assistance pursuant to Federal and State programs that is available to assist in implementing recommendations of the partnership, including any voluntary agricultural resource management plan or voluntary whole farm or whole ranch management plan developed and implemented under a process established by the Secretary of Agriculture. Authorizes the Administrator to make a grant to each State that establishes an approved program in an amount not to exceed 50 percent of the annual cost of administering the program. Directs the Administrator to publish guidance to assist: (1) States in the development of a source water quality protection partnership program; and (2) municipal or local governments or political subdivisions and community water systems in the development of source water quality protection partnerships and in the assessment of source water quality. (Sec. 18) Grants a State: (1) primary enforcement responsibility for public water systems if it has adopted drinking water regulations not less stringent than the NPDW regulations within two years after the NPDW regulations are promulgated; and (2) interim primary enforcement authority. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 19) Requires the Administrator to review existing monitoring requirements for not fewer than 12 contaminants within two years. Authorizes: (1) States to establish alternative monitoring programs for any NPDW regulation, except for a regulation applicable to a microbial contaminant or an indicator of such a contaminant, subject to specified requirements; and (2) the Administrator or a State to suspend quarterly monitoring requirements applicable to small systems for any contaminant (other than a microbial contaminant or such an indicator, that causes an acute effect, or a contaminant formed in the treatment process or distribution system) that is not detected during the first quarterly sample in a monitoring cycle. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations establishing the criteria for a monitoring program for unregulated contaminants, and to list up to 20 contaminants. Requires all systems serving more than 10,000 people to monitor for such contaminants. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Administrator to establish a national database containing information on the occurrence of regulated and unregulated contaminants. (Sec. 20) Requires each owner or operator of a public water system to give notice to those served by the system of: (1) any failure of the system to comply with an applicable MCL or treatment technique requirement of, or a testing procedure prescribed by, an NPDW regulation or to perform required monitoring; (2) the existence of a variance granted for an inability to meet a MCL requirement or a granted exemption and of any failure to comply with the requirements of any schedule prescribed pursuant to the variance or exemption; and (3) the concentration level of any unregulated contaminant for which the Administrator has required public notice. Directs the Administrator to prescribe the manner, frequency, form, and content of such notice, to provide for different notice frequencies for violations that are intermittent or infrequent and violations that are continuous or frequent, and to take into account the seriousness of any potential adverse health effects that may be involved. Permits a State to establish alternative notification requirements. Sets forth reporting requirements. (Sec. 21) Revises enforcement provisions of the Act to permit enforcement actions to be taken by both EPA and a State with primary enforcement responsibility. Directs the Administrator to notify local elected officials before taking enforcement actions against public water systems in nonprimacy States. Authorizes the Administrator or a State to suspend enforcement action with respect to a violation for a two-year period if the violation is to be corrected through a consolidation or restructuring during that period. Requires States, to have primary enforcement responsibility for public water systems, to adopt administrative penalties of at least $1,000 per violation for large systems. Increases the maximum amount for an administrative penalty imposed by EPA from $5,000 to $25,000 per violation, but only after a hearing on the record. (Sec. 22) Revises current provisions governing the applicability of drinking water laws and regulations to the Federal Government. Waives the sovereign immunity of the United States with respect to any requirement, administrative authority, or process or sanction under such laws and regulations. Allows citizens and States to seek penalties for all violations of the Act at Federal facilities. (Sec. 23) Authorizes appropriations for research with respect to the safe supply of drinking water. Directs the Administrator to: (1) develop and periodically update an integrated risk characterization strategy for drinking water quality; and (2) develop and carry out a research plan to support the development and implementation of rules regarding enhanced surface water treatment, disinfectant and disinfection byproducts, and groundwater disinfection. Sets forth reporting requirements. (Sec. 24) Revises the definition of "public water system" to include systems that provide water for human consumption through pipes or other constructed conveyances. Excludes from regulation connections to non-piped systems where alternative water supplies or treatment to levels that are equivalent to NPDW regulations are provided before the water is used for drinking or cooking. (Sec. 25) Authorizes the Administrator to makes grants to States for the development and implementation of State programs for the protection of groundwater resources. Prohibits any such grant from being used for more than half of the cost of the program. Authorizes appropriations. Reauthorizes grants to support: (1) the critical aquifer protection program; (2) the wellhead protection program; and (3) State administration of the Underground Injection Control program. Directs the Administrator to study and report to the Congress on the extent and seriousness of contamination of private sources of drinking water that are not regulated under this Act. Authorizes the Administrator to reestablish a partnership between the Robert S. Kerr Environmental Research Laboratory and the National Center for Ground Water Research, a university consortium, to conduct research, training, and technology transfer for groundwater quality protection and restoration. (Sec. 26) Amends prohibitions on lead plumbing and pipes to prohibit: (1) the use in the installation or repair of any public water system or in any plumbing in a facility providing water for human consumption of any plumbing fitting or fixture that is not lead free; (2) the sale (effective two years after this Act's enactment) of any pipe or plumbing fitting or fixture that is not lead free, with exceptions; or (3) the sale of any solder or flux that is not lead free that does not bear a label stating that it is illegal to use the solder or flux in plumbing providing water for human consumption. Directs the Administrator to: (1) provide accurate and timely technical information and assistance to qualified third-party certifiers in the development of voluntary standards and testing protocols for the leaching of lead from new plumbing fittings and fixtures that are intended by the manufacturer to dispense water for human ingestion; and (2) promulgate regulations setting a health effects-based performance standard establishing maximum leaching levels from new plumbing fittings and fixtures that are intended by the manufacturer to dispense water for human ingestion if a voluntary standard is not established within a year. Repeals Federal law encouraging the use of geothermal heat pumps that return water to the distribution lines of public water systems. (Sec. 27) Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue a regulation establishing for bottled water a quality level for each contaminant of public water systems for which such a level is established or make a finding that a regulation is unnecessary because the contaminant is not contained in water used for bottled drinking water. Requires the Secretary to issue the regulation or make the required finding for any contaminant for which a NPDW regulation was promulgated before this Act's enactment within one year. (Sec. 28) Directs the Administrator to: (1) identify and rank sources of pollution with respect to the relative degree of risk of adverse effects on human health, the environment, and public welfare; (2) estimate the private and public costs associated with each source of pollution and the costs and benefits of complying with regulations designed to protect against risks associated with such sources and those associated with major Federal actions selected by the Administrator that have the most significant impact on human health or the environment; (3) identify reasonable opportunities to achieve significant risk reduction through modifications in environmental regulations and programs and other Federal actions with impacts on human health, the environment, or public welfare; (4) identify, explain, and determine research that would reduce uncertainties associated with the risks; and (5) consider and estimate the monetary and other values of the benefits associated with reducing risk to human health and the environment. Sets forth reporting requirements. Directs the Science Advisory Board to conduct a technical review of the Administrator's report in public session before submission to the Congress. (Sec. 29) Authorizes the Chief of the Army Corps of Engineers to modernize the Washington Aqueduct. Authorizes appropriations. Modifies the membership of the National Drinking Water Advisory Council to include two members representing small, rural water systems.

Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1995 - Amends the Safe Drinking Water Act to require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make capitalization grants to States to establish State drinking water treatment revolving loan funds. Authorizes State Governors to transfer amounts between such funds and water pollution control revolving funds established under the Clean Water Act. Requires the Administrator to reserve one and one-half percent of drinking water funds for capitalization grants to Indian tribes for the improvement of public water systems. Authorizes the Administrator to make such grants to the District of Columbia and specified U.S. territories. Authorizes: (1) States to reserve a certain amount of such grants for technical assistance for small public water systems; and (2) the Administrator to make grants to Alaska for the benefit of Alaska Native villages. Requires the Administrator, beginning in FY 1999, to withhold a specified percentage (five percent for FY 1999, ten percent for FY 2000, and 15 percent for each subsequent fiscal year) of each capitalization grant made to a State unless the State has met specified requirements under this Act regarding new system capacity. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) projects eligible for assistance, including assistance for disadvantaged communities, and source water quality protection and capacity development; and (2) State loan fund administration, technical assistance, and management. Requires: (1) States to prepare annual intended use plans for funds; (2) priority for the use of funds to be given to projects that address the most serious risk to human health, that are necessary to ensure compliance with specified requirements (including filtration requirements), and that assist most in need on a per household basis according to State affordability criteria; and (3) each State, after notice and opportunity for public comment, to publish and periodically update a list of projects in the State that are eligible for assistance, including the priority assigned to each project and the expected funding schedule for each project. Directs the Administrator to: (1) conduct annual reviews and audits as the Administrator considers appropriate, or require each State to have the reviews and audits independently conducted, in accordance with specified single audit requirements; (2) submit to the Congress a periodic survey and assessment of the needs for facilities in each State eligible for assistance; (3) conduct an evaluation of the effectiveness of the State loan funds through FY 1999; and (4) publish such regulations and guidance as necessary. Specifies that the failure or inability of any public water system to receive funds, or a delay in obtaining the funds, shall not alter the obligation of the system to comply in a timely manner with all applicable drinking water standards and requirements under the Act. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Administrator to reserve: (1) $10 million for health effects research on specified drinking water contaminants, giving priority to research concerning the health effects of cryptosporidium, disinfection byproducts, and arsenic and for the implementation of a research plan for subpopulations at greater risk of adverse effects; (2) $2 million to pay the costs of monitoring for unregulated contaminants; and (3) specified sums for small system technical assistance. (Sec. 4) Requires the Administrator to publish a maximum contaminant level goal (MCLG) and promulgate a national primary drinking water (NPDW) regulation for each contaminant (with exceptions) for which a NPDW regulation has been promulgated as of the date of this Act's enactment if the Administrator determines, based on adequate data and appropriate peer-reviewed scientific information and an assessment of health risks, that the contaminant may have an adverse effect on the health of persons and the contaminant is known to occur, or there is a substantial likelihood that it will occur, in public water systems with a frequency and at levels of public health concern. Directs the Administrator: (1) not later than July 1, 1996, to publish and periodically update a list of contaminants that are known or anticipated to occur in drinking water provided by public water systems that may warrant regulation; and (2) at such time as such list is published, to describe available and needed information and research regarding the health effects of the contaminants, their occurrence in drinking water, and treatment techniques and other feasible means to control the contaminants. Requires (with exceptions) the Administrator, by July 1, 2001, and every five years thereafter, to take one of the following actions for not fewer than five contaminants: (1) publish a determination that information available to the Administrator does not warrant the issuance of an NPDW regulation; (2) publish a determination that an NPDW regulation is warranted and proceed to propose an MCLG and NPDW regulation not later than two years after the date of publication of the determination; and (3) propose an MCLG and NPDW regulation. Sets forth provisions regarding insufficient information to make, and the basis for, such determinations. Requires the Administrator to give priority to those contaminants not currently regulated that are associated with the most serious adverse health effects and that present the greatest potential risk to human health due to their presence in drinking water provided by public water systems. Sets forth provisions regarding public comment and judicial review. Authorizes the Administrator to promulgate an interim NPDW regulation for a contaminant to address an urgent threat to public health. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) schedules for publication of MCLGs and NPDW regulations; (2) substitution of contaminants; and (3) promulgation, by December 31, 1995, of an information collection rule to facilitate further revisions to the NPDW regulation for disinfectants and disinfectant byproducts, including information on microbial contaminants such as cryptosporidium. (Sec. 5) Requires the Administrator, in carrying out the Act, to: (1) use the best available, peer-reviewed science and supporting studies conducted in accordance with sound and objective scientific practices, and data collected by accepted or best available methods; and (2) ensure that the presentation of information on public health effects is comprehensive, informative, and understandable. Directs the Administrator to conduct a cost-benefit analysis for each NPDW regulation containing a maximum contaminant level (MCL) or treatment technique before it is proposed, including consideration of alternative MCLs or treatment requirements. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 6) Permits the MCLG for contaminants that are known or likely to cause cancer in humans to be set at a level other than zero if the Administrator determines, based on the best available, peer- reviewed science, that there is a threshold level below which there is unlikely to be any increase in cancer risk and the Administrator sets the MCLG at that level with an adequate margin of safety. Requires the Administrator, at the time he or she proposes an NPDW regulation, to publish a determination as to whether the benefits of the MCL justify, or do not justify, the costs. Authorizes the Administrator to establish an MCL for a contaminant at a level other than the feasible level if the technology, treatment techniques, and other means used to determine the feasible level would result in an increase in the health risk from drinking water by: (1) increasing the concentration of other contaminants in drinking water; or (2) interfering with the efficacy of drinking water treatment techniques or processes that are used to comply with other NPDW regulations. Authorizes the Administrator, if he or she determines that the benefits of an MCL would not justify the cost of complying with the level, to promulgate an MCL for the contaminant that maximizes health risk reduction benefits at a cost that is justified by the benefits, with an exception. Prohibits the Administrator from establishing an MCL in a Stage I or Stage II NPDW regulation for contaminants that are disinfectants or disinfection byproducts, or to establish an MCL or treatment technique requirement for the control of cryptosporidium. Sets forth provisions regarding: (1) judicial review; (2) disinfectants and disinfectant byproducts; and (3) review of standards. (Sec. 7) Requires the Administrator to promulgate NPDW regulations for: (1) arsenic according to a specified schedule and develop and carry out a comprehensive plan for research in support of drinking water rulemaking and take other specified steps regarding assessment, proposed regulation, and final regulation for arsenic; (2) radon, providing for an MCL of 3,000 picocuries per liter; and (3) sulfates. (Sec. 10) Directs the Administrator to propose a regulation that describes treatment techniques that meet the requirements for filtration that are feasible for community water systems serving a population of 3,300 or fewer and noncommunity water systems. (Sec. 12) Directs the Administrator to issue guidance or regulations regarding system treatment technologies. Authorizes the Administrator to make grants to institutions of higher learning to establish and operate not fewer than five small public water system technology assistance centers in the United States. (Sec. 13) Revises the variance provisions of the Act to: (1) allow public water systems to receive a variance on the condition that they install and operate best available treatment technology; and (2) authorize the Administrator (or a State with primary enforcement responsibility for public water systems) to grant to public water systems serving a population of 10,000 or fewer a variance for compliance with a requirement specifying an MCL or treatment technique contained in an NPDW regulation if a system cannot afford to comply with the regulation and adequate protection of public health is ensured. (Sec. 15) Requires each State to: (1) obtain the legal authority or other means to ensure that all new community water systems and new nontransient, noncommunity water systems commencing operation after October 1, 1996, demonstrate technical, managerial, and financial capacity with respect to each NPDW regulation in effect, or likely to be in effect, on the date of commencement of operations; (2) prepare, periodically update, and submit to the Administrator a list of community water systems and nontransient, noncommunity water systems that have a history of significant noncompliance and report to the Administrator; and (3) develop and implement a strategy to assist public water systems in acquiring and maintaining technical, managerial, and financial capacity. Directs the Administrator to support: (1) the States in developing capacity development strategies; and (2) the network of university-based Environmental Finance Centers in providing training and technical assistance to State and local officials in developing the capacity of public water systems, including the establishment of a national public water systems capacity development clearinghouse. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 16) Requires public water systems receiving assistance from a State Revolving Loan Fund to be operated by a trained and certified operator. Authorizes the Administrator to withhold funds that would otherwise be allocated to the State, or require the repayment of an amount equal to the amount of any such assistance, for noncompliance. (Sec. 17) Directs each State to: (1) delineate the source water protection areas for community water systems in the State using hydrogeologic information considered to be reasonably available and appropriate by the State; and (2) conduct vulnerability assessments in source water areas determined to be a priority by the State. Authorizes States to establish source water quality partnership petition programs to assist in the local development of a voluntary, incentive-based partnership to reduce the presence in drinking water of contaminants and to obtain Federal and State financial or technical assistance. (Sec. 18) Extends the date for submitting State regulations to retain primacy for new or revised drinking water standards. Grants States interim primary enforcement authority. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 19) Requires the Administrator to review existing monitoring requirements for not fewer than 12 contaminants within two years. Authorizes: (1) States to establish alternative monitoring programs, except for regulations applicable to a microbial contaminant or an indicator of such a contaminant, subject to specified requirements; and (2) the Administrator or a State to suspend quarterly monitoring requirements applicable to small systems for any contaminant (other than a microbial contaminant or such an indicator that causes an acute effect or a contaminant formed in the treatment process or distribution system) that is not detected during the first quarterly sample in a monitoring cycle. Directs the Administrator to promulgate regulations establishing the criteria for a monitoring program for unregulated contaminants and to list up to 20 contaminants. Requires all systems serving more than 10,000 people to monitor for such contaminants. Authorizes appropriations. Requires the Administrator to establish a national database containing information on the occurrence of regulated and unregulated contaminants. (Sec. 20) Requires each owner or operator of a public water system to give notice to those served by the system: (1) of any failure of the system to comply with an applicable maximum contaminant level or treatment technique requirement of, or a testing procedure prescribed by, an NPDW regulation or to perform required monitoring; (2) if the system is subject to a variance granted for an inability to meet a maximum contaminant level requirement or is subject to a granted exemption, of the existence of the variance or exemption and of any failure to comply with the requirements of any schedule prescribed pursuant to the variance or exemption; and (3) of the concentration level of any unregulated contaminant for which the Administrator has required public notice. Directs the Administrator to prescribe the manner, frequency, form, and content for giving notice. Specifies that such regulations shall provide for different frequencies of notice based on the differences between violations that are intermittent or infrequent and violations that are continuous or frequent and shall take into account the seriousness of any potential adverse health effects that may be involved. Permits a State to establish alternative notification requirements. Sets forth reporting requirements. (Sec. 21) Revises enforcement provisions of the Act to permit enforcement actions to be taken by both EPA and a State with primary enforcement responsibility. Directs the Administrator to notify local elected officials before taking enforcement actions against public water systems in nonprimacy States. Authorizes the Administrator or a State to suspend enforcement action with respect to a violation for a two-year period if the violation is to be corrected through a consolidation or restructuring during that period. Requires States to adopt administrative penalties of at least $1,000 per violation for large systems. Increases the maximum amount for an administrative penalty imposed by EPA from $5,000 to $25,000 per violation, but only after a hearing on the record. (Sec. 22) Waives the sovereign immunity of Federal agencies, subject to specified limitations. Allows citizens and States to seek penalties for all violations of the Act at Federal facilities. (Sec. 23) Authorizes appropriations for research with respect to the safe supply of drinking water. Directs the Administrator to: (1) develop and periodically update an integrated risk characterization strategy for drinking water quality; and (2) develop and carry out a research plan to support the development and implementation of rules regarding enhanced surface water treatment, disinfectant and disinfection byproducts, and ground water disinfection. Sets forth reporting requirements. (Sec. 24) Revises the definition of "public water system" to include water for human consumption through pipes or other constructed conveyances. Excludes from regulation connections to non-piped systems where alternative water supplies or treatment to levels that are equivalent to NPDW regulations is provided before the water is used for drinking or cooking. (Sec. 25) Authorizes the Administrator to makes grants to States for the development and implementation of State programs for the protection of groundwater resources. Prohibits any such grant from being used for more than half of the cost of the program. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Administrator to study and report to the Congress on the extent and seriousness of contamination of private sources of drinking water that are not regulated under this Act. Authorizes the Administrator to reestablish a partnership between the Robert S. Kerr Environmental Research Laboratory and the National Center for Ground Water Research, a university consortium, to conduct research, training, and technology transfer for groundwater quality protection and restoration. (Sec. 26) Prohibits the use (after June 19, 1986, in the installation or repair of any public water system or in any plumbing in a facility providing water for human consumption) or sale (effective two years after this Act's enactment) of any pipe, or plumbing fitting or fixture, that is not lead free, with exceptions. Directs the Administrator to: (1) provide accurate and timely technical information and assistance to qualified third-party certifiers in the development of voluntary standards and testing protocols for the leaching of lead from new plumbing fittings and fixtures that are intended by the manufacturer to dispense water for human ingestion; and (2) promulgate regulations setting a health effects-based performance standard establishing maximum leaching levels from new plumbing fittings and fixtures that are intended by the manufacturer to dispense water for human ingestion if a voluntary standard is not established within a year. Repeals Federal law encouraging the use of geothermal heat pumps that return water to the distribution lines of public water systems. (Sec. 27) Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue a regulation establishing a quality level for each contaminant in bottled water or make a finding that a regulation is unnecessary to protect the public health because the contaminant is contained in water in the public water systems and not in water used for bottled drinking water. (Sec. 28) Directs the Administrator to: (1) identify and rank sources of pollution with respect to the relative degree of risk of adverse effects on human health, the environment, and public welfare; (2) estimate the private and public costs associated with each source of pollution and the costs and benefits of complying with regulations designed to protect against risks associated with such sources and those associated with major Federal actions selected by the Administrator that have the most significant impact on human health or the environment; (3) identify reasonable opportunities to achieve significant risk reduction through modifications in environmental regulations and programs and other Federal actions with impacts on human health, the environment, or public welfare; (4) identify, explain, and determine research that would reduce uncertainties associated with the risks; and (5) consider and estimate the monetary and other values of the benefits associated with reducing risk to human health and the environment. Sets forth reporting requirements. Directs the Science Advisory Board to conduct a technical review of Administrator's report in public session before submission to the Congress. (Sec. 29) Authorizes the Chief of the Army Corps of Engineers to modernize the Washington Aqueduct. Authorizes appropriations. Modifies the membership of the National Drinking Water Advisory Council to include two members representing small, rural water systems.