California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has initiated a public consultation to revise the Public Health Goal (PHG) for N-Nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in drinking water. The consultation will end on January 20, 2025, and a public workshop is planned for January 24.
The draft proposal, based on studies of NDMA's effects on male rats, suggests a stricter NDMA PHG, reducing it from 0.003 parts per billion (ppb) in 2006 to 0.0005 ppb.
Role and Impact of PHG
PHGs, set under the California Safe Drinking Water Act, are designed to prevent adverse health effects from lifelong exposure to contaminants. The new PHG will inform the establishment of Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for California's drinking water.
Despite NDMA not being produced or used commercially in the U.S., it has been found exceeding the 2002 notification level of 0.01 ppb in some California public drinking water wells in the past five years.
