by Angela Godwin, WaterWorld Digital Media Editor
Cadmus Group, a planning and consultancy firm based in Watertown, MA, recently announced that it will continue to support the EPA’s Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water (OGWDW) in its endeavor to implement new and revised drinking water regulations according to the Safe Drinking Water Act.
The five-year, $27.8 million contract, Drinking Water Regulation Development and Implementation with an Emphasis on Engineering, is a continuation of a previous 8-year contract with the OGWDW. Under the contract, Cadmus will focus primarily on providing the economic and technical policy support to help EPA determine drinking water contaminants of concern.
As part of the Safe Drinking Water Act, EPA is required to make regulatory determinations on at least five unregulated contaminants every five years. To help prioritize research and regulatory objectives, the Agency maintains a Contaminant Candidate List (CCL), from which it selects contaminants that may require regulation.
“Once the contaminants are identified,” said Cadmus Group Program Manager Frank Letkiewicz, “we’ll work with EPA on the development of the regulatory package, in particular the economic and benefit-cost analyses, and then, once the regulations are promulgated, we’ll support them on the development of guidance manuals and other implementation aspects.”
It’s a big undertaking, but Cadmus will be supported by a number of other firms. Several prominent companies, such as Malcolm Pirnie, HDR, and Carollo Engineers, are part of the team that will carry out the contract. Organizations with lab capabilities, including the Southwest Research Institute, Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene, and University Hygienic Lab in Iowa, will also assist.
“There is also a smattering of other small specialty firms in various aspects of statistics, economics, and information technology,” said Letkiewicz.
In addition to the new contract, Cadmus holds a separate contract with EPA that is focused on the implementation of National Drinking Water Program directives. “This was actually some of the first work our founders did when they started the company,” said Cadmus CEO Ian Kline. “They were involved with providing policy support to the National Drinking Water Program for many years.”
According to Letkiewicz, Cadmus also supports the OGWDW in implementing non-regulatory programs, like the capacity development program and the state revolving funds programs.
Additionally, Cadmus will take an active role in supporting EPA’s six-year review process, whereby existing National Drinking Water Program regulations are examined and, if necessary, modified.
“We are excited to have this opportunity to continue to support OGWDW and other Office of Water program offices in their vital work of protecting public health and the environment,” said Kline.
“We’re very committed to the environment and particularly to the drinking water program,” added Letkiewicz.
With its long history of working with EPA, Cadmus is quite comfortable in its role of mission support. According to Kline, Cadmus also supports EPA’s Clean Air Markets division and holds other policy support, program development, program implementation, and economics support contracts across the agency.
