Water Quality Test Kits and EPA Regulations

While researching home water quality test kits and the EPA regulations, I found an excellent PDF list of EPA National Drinking Water Regulations on the US EPA website. This list of regulations is color-coded to clearly show Disinfectant, Inorganic Chemical, Organic Chemical, Disinfection Byproduct, Microorganism, and Radionuclide drinking water contaminants

Also, on this list, the EPA groups the regulations in two classifications, National Primary Drinking Water Regulations, NPDWRs or primary standards, and National Secondary Drinking Water Regulations, NSDWRs or secondary standards.

The Primary Standards are legally enforceable standards that apply to public water systems. Primary standards protect public health by limiting the levels of contaminants in drinking water.

The Secondary Standards are non-enforceable guidelines regulating contaminants that may cause cosmetic effects, like skin or tooth discoloration, or aesthetic effects, like taste, odor, or color, in drinking water. EPA recommends these secondary standards to water systems, but does not require systems to comply. However, states may choose to adopt them as enforceable standards.