Montgomery, AL – State environmental officials voted today to approve stricter requirements for levels of certain pollutants in Alabama waterways. That should make the cancer risk level for dozens of cancer-causing pollutants in state waters far lower than it is now.
The Alabama Environmental Management Commission voted 3-1 to lower the acceptable level of 71 pollutants in Alabama waterways, including 57 carcinogenic pollutants.
Lynn Sisk is chief of water quality management for Alabama Department of Environmental Management. He said the new requirements will mostly affect industries that have permits to discharge those pollutants. They could see more stringent permit requirements.
State environmental groups had pushed for the changes and expressed satisfaction with today's vote.
Unlike an earlier proposal, the new rule approved today excluded arsenic, a known carcinogen. Sisk said that is because the state already strictly regulates that element.
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