Water Quality Standards | Aquatic Toxicology

Monday, March 2, 2009

Water Quality Standards - Antidegradation Rules in Ohio

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently in the process of revising State Rules relating to Water Quality Standards and Antidegradation (Non-Degradation). The draft Rules are being published independently; however, because all the Rules are interrelated, OEPA has extended the public comment period.

The draft Rules applying to Antidegradation were released for comment near the end of 2008. Some of the key revisions being proposed include:

The definition of “best available demonstrated control technology” (BADCT) is being updated to include new design criteria and effluent limits for nitrogen and phosphorus.
Definitions for “designated uses”, “existing uses”, and “threatened species” are being removed since these definitions are located in the Water Quality Standards Rule.
Definitions for “local and regional drainage pattern”, “loss of use”, “preferred alternative”, and “40 C.F.R.” are being added.
The types of alternatives to be considered under the definitions for “minimal degradation alternative” and “non-degradation alternative” are being clarified.
The definition of “regulated pollutant” is being revised to clarify that parameters include narrative and numeric water quality criteria and those limited by best professional judgment in a NPDES permit.
The rule exemption in paragraph for net increases from existing sources is being clarified.
Applications for Section 401 water quality certifications for wetlands will be exempt from the submital of alternatives analysis and social and economic justification information
Section 401 water quality certifications impacting Lake Erie or its shoreline will be exempt from the mandatory public hearing
New language is included regarding what constitutes the loss of a beneficial use.
The set aside revision process for special high quality waters in is being clarified.
The tables of special high quality waters are being updated.

The deadline for comments on the draft rule has not been determined yet. A draft rule addressing mitigation requirements or impacts on streams will be made available for review and comment in early 2009. Because the content of that rule relates to part of the antidegradation rule, the comment deadline for both rules will be 60 days after the stream mitigation rule is made available.

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.

Caltha LLP Aquatic Toxicology / WQ Standards Services Website

Beach Water Quality Monitoring Grants - Recreational Water Quality Standards

US EPA is making almost $10 million in grants available in 2009 to eligible coastal and Great Lakes states, territories and tribes to help them implement programs to monitor water quality at the beach and to notify the public when water quality problems exist.

To improve water quality testing and to help beach managers better inform the public when there are water quality problems, Congress passed the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act (BEACH Act) in 2000. The Act authorizes EPA to award grants to eligible states, territories and tribes to develop and implement beach water quality monitoring and notification programs for coastal and Great Lakes recreational beach waters.

In 2009, EPA expects to award $9.9 million in grants to eligible states, territories and tribes for their beach water protection programs. EPA expects to award grants to all eligible states and territories that apply based on an allocation formula. Based on this allocation formula, the amount of each implementation grant ranges from $150,000 to $528,000.

Beaches Act – New and Revised Recreational Water Quality Criteria

The Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act (“Beaches Act”) amended the Clean Water Act to address the special water quality concerns associated with the recreational uses of coastal waters. The Beaches Act requires US EPA to conduct studies concerning pathogen indicators in coastal recreation waters (Section 104(v)), and to publish new or revised water quality criteria for pathogens and pathogen indicators (Section 304(a)).

In response to the Beaches Act, US EPA adopted a Critical Path Science Plan (CPSP) for the new/revised criteria. The CPSP describes research and science for establishing the scientific foundation for new/revised criteria and outlines research to be completed by to publish new or revised criteria in 2012. The major CPSP research areas include:

Epidemiology Studies and Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA)
Site Characterization
Indicators/Methods Development and Validation Modeling
Application of Criteria to Inland Waters

Between now and 2010 EPA will be conducting additional research into indicators, methods, fate & transport studies, and predictive modeling. Between 2010 and 2012, work will begin on developing the new recreational water quality criteria. EPA plans to publish the water quality criteria in 2012.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Acrolein and Phenol - Human Health Based Water Quality Criteria

The US EPA recently proposed an update to its ambient water quality criteria for acrolein and phenol. Water quality criteria are typically calculated to protect aquatic life from toxicological adverse impacts. However, for certain chemicals which can accumulate in fish, criteria also are based on protection of human health. In addition to being directly exposed to chemicals in the water, humans can also be exposed when fish are eaten that have accumulated chemical from the water. Both acrolein and phenol have human health-based water quality criteria.

Comment period for the draft criteria ended in October 2008.

The proposed criteria are significantly lower compared to current criteria used for the two chemicals:

Acrolein:

Water + Organisms: 6 mg/L (currently 190 mg/L)

Organisms Only: 9 mg/L (currently 290 mg/L)

Phenol:

Water + Organisms: 10,400 mg/L (currently 20,700 mg/L)

Organisms Only: 857,000 mg/L (currently 1,700,000 mg/L)

Acrolein is used in various chemical manufacturing processes and is also used as a common herbicide. Phenol is also used to make chemical intermediates for a wide range of other applications, ranging from plastics to pharmaceuticals and agricultural chemicals.

Great Lakes Water Quality Wildlife Criterion Under GLI

What is a Wildlife-based Water Quality Criterion?

The Water Quality Guidance for the Great Lakes System, also known as the Great Lake Initiative or GLI (40 CFR 132), created a few new types of water quality standards intended to be applied to waters in the Great Lakes basin.

A Great Lakes Water Quality Wildlife Criterion (GLWC) is intended to protect avian (bird) and mammalian wildlife populations in the Great Lakes basin from adverse effects resulting from the ingestion of water and aquatic prey taken from surface waters of the Great Lakes. These criteria are based on existing toxicological studies and information about the exposure of wildlife species to the substance (i.e., food and water consumption rates).

Since toxicological and exposure data for individual wildlife species are very limited, a GLWC was calculated using a similar methodology to that used to derive noncancer human health criteria. Separate avian and mammalian values are developed using toxicity and exposure data for representative Great Lakes basin wildlife species.

Five wildlife species were selected to be representative of bird and animal species living in the Great Lakes basin which are likely to experience the highest exposures to bioaccumulative contaminants through the aquatic food web:

bald eagle,
herring gull,
belted kingfisher,
mink, and
river otter.

Nutrient Management Plan - Final Rules for CAFO NPDES Permit

In October 2008, EPA finalized a rule helping to protect the nation’s water quality by requiring concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) to safely manage manure. The rule deadline for newly defined facilities to apply for permits is February 27, 2009.

One of the key requirements under the new rules is for a Nutrient Management Plan (NMP) for manure to be submitted as part of a CAFO’s Clean Water Act permit application. Previous rules required a CAFO operator to use an NMP for controlling manure, but did not required the NMP to be submitted with the permit application. The plan will be reviewed by the permitting authority and conditions based on it will be incorporated as enforceable terms of the permit.

The regulation also requires that an owner or operator of a CAFO that actually discharges to streams, lakes, and other waters must apply for a permit under the Clean Water Act. If a farmer designs, constructs, operates and maintains their facility such that a discharge will occur, a permit is needed. EPA is also providing an opportunity for CAFO operators who do not discharge or propose to discharge to show their commitment to pollution prevention by obtaining certification as zero dischargers.

Finally, the final rule includes technical clarifications regarding water quality-based effluent limitations and use of best management practices to meet zero discharge requirements, as well as affirming the 2003 rule requirement for reducing fecal coliform bacteria through the use of best conventional technology (BCT).

Florida Nutrient Criteria - Requirement for Numeric Standards

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recently announced that the agency is taking actions to develop Nutrient Water Quality Criteria within the State of Florida. This includes EPA issuing a formal determination under the Clean Water Act that “numeric” nutrient water quality criteria are necessary in Florida, and concluding the State needs to accelerate its efforts to adopt numeric nutrient criteria.

Florida’s most recent Water Quality Assessment estimated that more than 1,000 miles of rivers and streams, 350,000 acres of lakes, and 900 square miles of estuaries are impaired by nutrients. The new numeric nutrient water quality standards will help the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its water quality management tools, identify waters impaired because of nutrient pollution, establish total maximum daily loads and Basin Management Action Plans, and derive National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit limits.

EPA expects to propose numeric nutrient standards for lakes and flowing waters within 12 months, and for estuaries and coastal waters within 24 months.

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.

Caltha LLP Aquatic Toxicology / WQ Standards Services Website