In March 2005, the EPA proposed changes strengthening the Lead and Copper Rule. The changes require utilities to give test results directly to homeowners, and to notify state and federal regulators before changing water-treatment methods. Critics, such as Clean Water Action, called the changes "revisions at the margins." Rick Maas, co-director of the Environmental Quality Institute at the University of North Carolina, said the revisions would "solve maybe 5 to 10 percent of the problem" with the Rule. Trade organizations, such as the American Water Works Association, found the changes "basically reasonable."
