§ 109.411. Content of a public notice.
(a) Elements of a public notice. When a public water system is required to give public notice under this subchapter, each public notice must include the following elements:
(1) A description of the violation or situation, including the contaminants of concern, and (as applicable) the contaminant levels.
(2) When the violation or situation occurred.
(3) Any potential adverse health effects from the violation or situation, including the standard language under subsection (e)(1) or (2), whichever is applicable.
(4) The population at risk, including subpopulations particularly vulnerable if exposed to the contaminant in their drinking water.
(5) Whether alternative water supplies should be used.
(6) What actions consumers should take, including when they should seek medical help, if known.
(7) What the system is doing to correct the violation or situation.
(8) When the water system expects to return to compliance or resolve the situation.
(9) The name, business address and telephone number of the water system owner, operator or designee of the public water system as a source of additional information concerning the notice.
(10) A statement to encourage the notice recipient to distribute the public notice to other persons served, using the standard language under subsection (e)(3), when applicable.
(b) Abbreviated notice. If automatic telephone dialing systems, TV scrollers, bullhorn announcements or radio station news flashes are used to deliver an abbreviated notice in accordance with § 109.408(d)(1)(iii) (relating to Tier 1 public notice—categories, timing and delivery of notice), the abbreviated notice must include, at a minimum, the following elements:
(1) A description of the violation or situation, including the contaminants of concern, and (as applicable) the contaminant levels.
(2) Whether alternative water supplies should be used.
(3) What actions consumers should take, including when they should seek medical help, if known.
(4) A telephone number or web site address, or both, where consumers can obtain the entire notice.
(c) Elements of a public notice for public water systems operating under a variance or exemption.
(1) If a public water system has been granted a variance or an exemption under Subchapter I (relating to variances and exemptions issued by the Department), the public notice must contain the following elements:
(i) An explanation of the reason for the variance or exemption.
(ii) The date on which the variance or exemption was issued.
(iii) A brief status report on the steps the system is taking to install treatment, find alternative sources of water, or otherwise comply with the terms and schedules of the variance or exemption.
(iv) A notice of any opportunity for public input in the review of the variance or exemption.
(2) If a public water system violates the conditions of a variance or exemption, the public notice must contain the ten elements listed in subsection (a).
(d) Presentation of a public notice.
(1) Each public notice required by this section must:
(i) Be displayed in a conspicuous way when printed or posted.
(ii) Not contain overly technical language or print that is smaller than a font size of 10 points.
(iii) Not be formatted in a way that defeats the purpose of the notice.
(iv) Not contain language that nullifies the purpose of the notice.
(2) Each public notice required by this section must comply with multilingual requirements, as follows:
(i) The public notice must contain information in Spanish regarding the importance of the notice or contain a telephone number or address where persons served may contact the water system to obtain a translated copy of the notice or to request assistance.
(ii) For each non-English-speaking group other than Spanish-speaking that exceeds 10% of the consumers for systems serving at least 1,000 people or 100 consumers for systems serving less than 1,000 people, and speaks the same language other than English, the public notice must contain information in the appropriate languages regarding the importance of the notice or contain a telephone number or address where persons served may contact the water system to obtain a translated copy of the notice or to request assistance in the appropriate language. The Department will make the final determination of which systems need to include this information.
(e) Standard language for a public notice. Public water systems shall include the following standard language in their public notice:
(1) Standard health effects language for primary MCL or MRDL violations, treatment technique violations and violations of the condition of a variance or exemption. Public water systems shall include in each public notice appropriate health effects language. This subchapter incorporates by reference the health effects language specified in 40 CFR Part 141, Subpart Q, Appendix B (relating to standard health effects language for public notification), corresponding to each primary MCL, MRDL and treatment technique violation listed in 40 CFR Part 141, Subpart Q, Appendix A (relating to NPDWR violations and other situations requiring public notice), and for each violation of a condition of a variance or exemption, unless other health effects language is established by regulations or order of the Department.
(i) The health effects language for fluoride is not incorporated by reference. Public water systems shall include the following health effects language in each Tier 2 public notice for violation of the primary MCL of 2 mg/L for fluoride:
‘‘This is an alert about your drinking water and a cosmetic dental problem that might affect children under nine years of age. At low levels, fluoride can help prevent cavities, but children drinking water containing more than 2 milligrams per liter (mg/L) of fluoride may develop cosmetic discoloration of their permanent teeth (dental fluorosis). Dental fluorosis, in its moderate or severe forms, may result in a brown staining and or pitting of the permanent teeth. This problem occurs only in developing teeth, before they erupt from the gums. Drinking water containing more than 4 mg/L of fluoride (the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s drinking water standard) can increase your risk of developing bone disease.’’
(ii) Public water systems shall include the following health effects language in each Tier 2 public notice for violation of the primary MCL for PFOA:
‘‘Drinking water containing PFOA in excess of the MCL of 14 ng/L may cause adverse health effects, including developmental effects (neurobehavioral and skeletal effects).’’
(iii) Public water systems shall include the following health effects language in each Tier 2 public notice for violation of the primary MCL for PFOS:
‘‘Drinking water containing PFOS in excess of the MCL of 18 ng/L may cause adverse health effects, including decreased immune response.’’
(2) Standard language for violations of monitoring requirements. Public water systems shall include the following language in their notice, including the language necessary to fill in the blanks, for all violations of monitoring requirements listed in 40 CFR Part 141, Subpart Q, Appendix A:
‘‘We are required to monitor your drinking water for specific contaminants on a regular basis. Results of regular monitoring are an indicator of whether or not your drinking water meets health standards. During [insert compliance period], we ‘‘did not monitor or test’’ or ‘‘did not complete all monitoring or testing’’ for [insert contaminant(s)] and therefore cannot be sure of the quality of your drinking water during that time.’’
(3) Standard language to encourage the distribution of the public notice to all persons served. Public water systems shall include in their notice the following language, if applicable:
‘‘Please share this information with all the other people who drink this water, especially those who may not have received this notice directly (for example, people in apartments, nursing homes, schools, and businesses). You can do this by posting this notice in a public place or distributing copies by hand or mail.’’
Authority The provisions of this § 109.411 amended under section 4 of the Pennsylvania Safe Drinking Water Act (35 P.S. § 721.4); and sections 1917-A and 1920-A of The Administrative Code of 1929 (71 P.S. § § 510-7 and 510-20).
Source The provisions of this § 109.411 adopted August 9, 2002, effective August 10, 2002, 32 Pa.B. 3894; amended May 8, 2009, effective May 9, 2009, 39 Pa.B. 2334; amended January 13, 2023, effective January 14, 2023, 53 Pa.B. 333. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (383434) to (383437).
Cross References This section cited in 25 Pa. Code § 109.408 (relating to Tier 1 public notice—categories, timing and delivery of notice); 25 Pa. Code § 109.410 (relating to Tier 3 public notice—categories, timing and delivery of notice); 25 Pa. Code § 109.413 (relating to special notice for nitrate exceedances above MCL by noncommunity water systems, where granted permission by the Department); 25 Pa. Code § 109.416 (relating to CCR requirements); 25 Pa. Code § 109.417 (relating to special notice for significant deficiencies by noncommunity water systems); 25 Pa. Code § 109.418 (relating to special notice for failure to conduct source water Cryptosporidium monitoring or failure to determine bin classification); 25 Pa. Code § 109.1004 (relating to public notification); and 52 Pa. Code § 69.1601 (relating to general).
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