USA - Criteria for substances added to public drinking water

Water additive bill going before Senate committee Wednesday

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

By Kathryn Lucariello, Carroll County News

LITTLE ROCK -- Arkansas Senate Bill 255, sponsored by state Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, is scheduled to be debated Wednesday by the Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee.

The bill was filed on Feb. 6 and read twice that day.

The bill, known as the Water Additive Accountability Act, establishes criteria for substances added to public drinking water that are not required to make it potable. It puts the onus on water operators to ensure that any substance, such as fluoride, added to drinking water can be traced to its country of origin and is proven to be free of contaminants.

The bill follows a long controversy in the state over adding fluoride to public water systems. In 2011, Gov. Mike Beebe signed Act 197 into law, requiring it be added to those systems serving 5,000 or more people. The Act mandates that startup costs not come from taxes or water fees, but from private sources...