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Setting Priorities for Drinking Water Contaminants (1999) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix A Assessing Uncertainty in Decision Processes
Pages 103-108

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From page 103...
... Realization of this or any other framework requires specific choices that affect how widely or narrowly "the net" will be cast in capturing contaminants that potentially are of public health importance. As noted in Chapter 5, an ideal decision process is one that exactly selects only those contaminants whose regulation will reduce disease, disability or death, and exactly dismisses those contaminants that play little or no part in affecting human health.
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From page 104...
... represents the fraction of contaminants that are not regulated but should be. This error represents a public health cost.
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From page 105...
... EPA must contend with a relatively higher p for a list like the CCL, which, by virtue of the way it was developed, is "enriched" with contaminants that likely need regulating relative to a random sample of environmental contaminants. P is provided by nature, although it can be altered changing the criteria that govern entry onto the candidate list.
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From page 106...
... For high prevalence values, most decision processes (i.e., almost all combinations of sit and s2) lead to low PV~ (public health costs in terms of mistaken decisions)
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From page 107...
... . Any attempt to increase the proportion of contaminants "captured" by changing decision criteria (e.g., increasing sit will have a different effect depending on the specific way that s2 trades off with so.
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From page 108...
... , a high s2 is likely to influence PV+ (monetary cost efficiency) , while high sit is more likely to influence PV~ favorably (public health efficiency)
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Key Terms

  • drinking water
  • decision processes
  • predictive value
  • health efficiency
  • specific decision

  • positive predictive
  • health decisions
  • regulatory action
  • contaminants considered
  • process performs

  • low values
  • health importance
  • capturing contaminants
  • correctly identifies
  • existing ccl

  • process determine
  • framework requires
  • safe drinking
  • unexpected result
  • extremely accurate

  • particular decision
  • process mirrors
  • cost efficiency
  • microbiological contaminants
  • analysis demonstrates

  • prevalence values
  • commonly called
  • requires specific
  • monetary cost
  • contaminants widely


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