EPA Seeks Comment on Updated National Recommended Water Quality Criteria for Human Health Protection

EPA has announced the availability of draft updated national recommended water quality criteria for the protection of human health for ninety-four chemical pollutants to reflect the latest scientific information and current EPA policies. This draft update is based on EPA’s current methodology for deriving human health criteria as described in “Methodology for Deriving Ambient Water Quality Criteria for the Protection of Human Health (2000)” and does not establish new policy.
EPA has also developed chemical-specific support documents for each of the ninety-four chemical pollutants. The support documents detail the latest scientific information supporting the updated draft human health criteria, particularly the updated toxicity and exposure input values.  EPA’s recommended Section 304(a) criteria provide technical information to states and authorized tribes in adopting water quality standards that ultimately provide a basis for assessing water body health and controlling discharges or releases of pollutants.  EPA is seeking comments on scientific views related to the draft updated criteria.  Comments are due on July 14, 2014.  For more information, visit EPA’s web site.