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DBCP In Drinking Water: What Does It Mean? Page 7 Boiling water in your home to remove DBCP is generally not recommended because it only drives the chemical into the air where it may be inhaled. Because of the difficulties of trying to remove DBCP and other contaminants at the home level, the state concentrates its efforts on requiring public water utilities to supply safe water. Tougher standards are being developed for a large variety of chemical contaminants in water. Nevertheless, legislation has been passed in the past few years to improve regulations of bottled water and water filters. Historically, bottled water has had to meet the same standards for purity as ordinary tap water. Water bottlers may use water supplies and processes that they think may provide some additional level of safety or quality, but the law requires that public drinking water, be at all times pure, wholesome, and potable. DBCP has not been suspected to be present in nay water sources used by drinking water bottlers. The new bottled drinking water law (AB170, Statues of 1987) requires bottled water processors to conduct annual testing of water sources for volatile organic compounds, including DBCP, unless the bottler can show DHS that the water source does not contain the compounds and is now vulnerable to contamination. The law also requires that lead and trihalomethanes in bottled drinking water do not exceed one-tenth their MCL"s. Trihalomethanes are by products of chlorination treatment, which is necessary to disinfect the water. California has recently adopted a law to prohibit false advertising a water filtration units and has established a certification program. The advertising law was designed to counter the unscrupulous tactics of sellers who were creating unnecessary fears about the safety of public drinking water and making exaggerated or unfounded claims about their products ability to eliminate contaminants. Enforcement of this law is the responsibility of local district attorneys. The state program for certifying water treatment devices is still in the early stages. Although regulations for testing water filters have been presented at a public hearing DHS cannot yet provide information about the reliability of units and manufactures. There are other sources of information, however as follows: One industry association has a voluntary testing program and can provide some information to consumers about their effectiveness (Write to the national Sanitation Foundation, P.O. Box 1468, Ann Arbor, MI 48106). Free brochures about buying home water treatment units can be obtained as follows: "Buying a Home Water Treatment Unit" from the Office of consumer/Business Education, Federal Trade Commission, Washington D.C. (202) 326-3650, and "Home Water Treatment Fact Sheet" from EPA's Safe Drinking Water Hotline at