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Developing protective aquatic life values for data-limited chemicals considerations for PFAS
Citation:
Elias, M., G. Ankley, M. Barron, C. Bergeron, D. Eignor, R. Erickson, D. Hoff, A. Jarvis, J. Justice, C. Lalone, D. Mount, D. Villeneuve, AND K. Gallagher. Developing protective aquatic life values for data-limited chemicals considerations for PFAS. SETAC North America, Toronto, ON, CANADA, November 03 - 07, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
This poster describes anticipated development of PFAS aquatic life criteria by Office of Water, which will be supported by various ORD personnel and research efforts.
Description:
Quality Criteria for the Protection of Aquatic Organisms and Their Uses specifies Minimum Data Requirements (MDRs) for developing national Aquatic Life Ambient Water Quality Criteria (WQC) under Section 304(a) (l) of the Clean Water Act. MDRs define minimum toxicity test data, by representative taxa, that are needed to derive WQC. The 1985 Guidelines state that data are typically needed for (at least) eight specified taxa to develop freshwater WQC, with similar requirements for the development of estuarine/marine WQC. Comparable requirements, based on taxa representation, have been established by several other countries for the development of aquatic life criteria. Although specific MDRs may differ, they have a similar objective of ensuring adequate taxa representation, consistent with the goal of protecting the broader aquatic community. US EPA’s Office of Water is in the process of developing protective aquatic life values for selected per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS encompass a broad suite of chemicals, representing thousands of individual compounds. Although available toxicity data are expected to achieve MDRs for some data-rich PFAS, principally perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) chemicals, data are more limited and would not achieve traditional MDRs for most PFAS. This presentation explores opportunities for addressing data limitations to achieve the underlying objectives of MDRs in the development of protective aquatic life values for data-limited PFAS chemicals. Approaches being considered include opportunities for: 1) “tailoring” toxicity data needs for the development of protective aquatic life values, when supported by applicable chemical-specific knowledge, 2) augmenting data that are available through the use of extrapolation approaches and tools, and 3) combining or “binning” chemicals for the development of protective aquatic life values.