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Committee approves updated drinking-water lab certification rules, raising some fees to cover lab program costs
Summary
The committee approved a rule docket that incorporates EPA guidance by reference and raises certification fees for chemistry and microbiology testing; the department estimated the net revenue increase at about $8,300.
The Senate Health and Welfare Committee approved a rule docket updating the Idaho Drinking Water Lab Certification Program, including incorporation by reference of EPA Supplement 2 to the Manual for the Certification of Laboratories Analyzing Drinking Water (Fifth Edition) and modest increases to laboratory certification fees.
Dr. Christopher Ball, chief of the Bureau of Laboratories, told the committee the supplement adds standards for testing two protozoan pathogens, Giardia and Cryptosporidium, that were not in earlier incorporated materials; he said no Idaho laboratory currently is certified to perform those tests, so the incorporation by reference poses little immediate operational impact.
The docket proposes fee changes: the annual base certification fee for in-state drinking-water labs performing chemistry testing would increase from $50 to $100 per chemistry discipline; microbiology testing would move from a base-plus-per-analyte structure to a flat annual fee of $150; and the annual base certification fee for out-of-state chemistry labs would increase from $50 to $200. The department estimated the net annual increase in receipts to be approximately $8,300.
Larson said the fee rule is presented under the department's statutory fee authority and that the schedule had not been updated since 2011. He said the public comment period was extended by a month for the fee rule and that no public comments were received.
Action: The committee approved the drinking-water lab certification docket (docket 1621302401) by voice vote. Senator Harris moved the motion; Dr. Ball and department staff answered technical questions on the record.
Ending: The department said the changes streamline the rule by incorporating detailed technical standards by reference and modestly update a fee schedule last revised in 2011.
