Aquatic Life Criteria

An Online Basic Course

States or tribes need to address aquatic life criteria in their water quality standards along with human health, nutrient, and biological criteria. This Aquatic Life Criteria online module, designed by EPA’s Office of Science and Technology for state and tribal employees and the general public, explains what aquatic life criteria are and the calculations involved in establishing them. The majority of EPA’s aquatic life criteria used today was derived using EPA’s Guidelines for Deriving Numerical National Water Quality Criteria for the Protection of Aquatic Organisms and Their Use.

The course concludes with a brief quiz intended to touch on the concepts of developing aquatic life criteria. The main pages of this module and quiz at the end are designed to take approximately 30 minutes to complete. (Note that quiz responses are not scored or recorded.)