A new rule for tougher filtration requirements for public water systems was published in the Federal Register. The rule, specifically placing a stricter 2-log removal on the pathogen cryptosporidium, comes at a national compliance cost of $39.5 million a year, with 84 percent of the rule’s total annual costs imposed on drinking water utilities.

Bringing filtered systems serving fewer than 10,000 people into compliance by strengthening combined filter effluent turbidity performance will reduce the risk of illness from pathogens in drinking water. In 1993, at least 50 Milwaukee-area deaths were attributed to a cryptosporidiosis outbreak.