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SYSTEMATIC PROCESS TO SELECT CHEMICALS FOR NEW AND REVISED AMBIENT WATER QUALITY CRITERIA
Impact/Purpose:
To develop a systematic selection process to produce new and revised water quality criteria for chemicals to address emerging needs.
Description:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes and periodically updates ambient water quality criteria (AWQC) for the protection of human health and aquatic life through its authority under Section 304(a) of the Clean Water Act. The number of toxic chemicals generated and used in the United States continues to grow, as do the needs and requests from EPA's customers for water quality criteria that address toxic chemicals. Due to limited resources, EPA cannot issue criteria for all chemicals, but must rather determine which chemicals are of highest priority. As stated in the Strategy for Water Quality Standards and Criteria, EPA will develop and apply a systematic selection process to produce new and revised water quality criteria for chemicals to address emerging needs." The Process to Select Chemicals for New and Revised Ambient Water Quality Criteria will serve as a screen of existing data on chemicals that appear on various chemical priority lists maintained throughout the Agency and that are proposed for AWQC derivation or revision. The process accounts for the following assessment parameters: chemical hazard, occurrence in ambient water, concentration in ambient water versus hazard, occurrence in fish tissue, and bioaccumulation potential.