[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 110 (Wednesday, June 10, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27535-27536]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-13600]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2008-0553; FRL-8913-6]


Notice of Availability of National Recommended Water Quality 
Criteria for Acrolein and Phenol

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability of updated water quality criteria for 
acrolein and phenol.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 304(a) of the Clean Water Act (CWA), the 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the availability of 
updated national recommended water quality criteria for the protection 
of human health for acrolein and phenol. These criteria are based on 
EPA's Methodology for Deriving Ambient Water Quality Criteria for the 
Protection of Human Health (2000), EPA-822-B-00-004 (2000 Human Health 
Methodology) and supercede criteria for these chemicals previously 
published by EPA. EPA's recommended section 304(a) water quality 
criteria are guidance to States and authorized Tribes in adopting water 
quality standards for protecting human health and provide guidance to 
EPA for promulgating Federal regulations under CWA section 303(c), when 
such action is necessary.

ADDRESSES: Copies of documents specifically referenced in this notice 
are in Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2008-0553. Materials in the public 
docket are available for public viewing at the Water Docket in the EPA 
Docket Center, (EPA/DC) EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., 
NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open 
from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal 
holidays. The telephone number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 
566-1744, and the telephone number for the Office of Water Docket is 
(202) 566-2426. A reasonable fee will be charged for copies. An 
electronic version of the public docket is available through EPA's 
electronic public docket and comment system at http://www.regulations.gov. Once in the system, select ``search,'' then key in 
the appropriate docket identification number.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Heidi L. Bethel, Health and Ecological 
Criteria Division (4304T), U.S. EPA, Ariel Rios Building, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; (202) 566-2054; 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information

A. Interested Entities

    Entities potentially interested in today's notice are those that 
produce, use, or regulate acrolein or phenol. Categories and entities 
interested in today's notice include:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
              Category                 Examples of interested entities
------------------------------------------------------------------------
States, Authorized Tribes and        NPDES Authorized States, Tribes and
 Jurisdictional Governments..         Jurisdictions.
Industry...........................  Industries discharging pollutants
                                      to surface waters or to publically-
                                      owned treatment works discharging
                                      pollutants to surface waters.
Municipalities.....................  Publically-owned treatment works
                                      discharging pollutants to surface
                                      waters.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    This table is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather provides a 
guide for readers regarding entities likely to be interested in this 
notice. This table lists the types of entities that EPA is now aware 
could potentially be interested in this notice. Other types of entities 
not listed in the table could also be interested.

B. How Can I Get Copies of the National Recommended Water Quality 
Criteria for the Protection of Human Health and Other Related 
Information?

    1. Docket. EPA established an official public docket for this 
notice under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2008-0553. The official public 
docket consists of the documents specifically referenced in this 
notice, any public scientific views received, and other information 
related to this announcement. Although a part of the official docket, 
the public docket does not include Confidential Business Information 
(CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 
The official public docket is the collection of materials that is 
available for public viewing at the Water Docket in the EPA Docket 
Center, (EPA/DC) EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open from 
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal 
holidays. The telephone number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 
566-1744, and the telephone number for the Office of Water Docket

[[Page 27536]]

is (202) 566-2426. A reasonable fee will be charged for copies.
    2. Electronic Access. You may access this Federal Register document 
electronically through the EPA Internet under the ``Federal Register'' 
listings at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/. An electronic version of the 
public docket is available through EPA's electronic public docket and 
comment system. You may access EPA Dockets at https://www.regulations.gov to access the index listing of the contents of the 
official public docket, and to access those documents in the public 
docket that are available electronically. Although not all docket 
materials may be available electronically, you may still access any of 
the publicly available docket materials through the docket facility 
identified in section B.1. Once in the system, select ``search,'' then 
key in the appropriate docket identification number.

II. Background Information

A. What Are Human Health Water Quality Criteria?

    Human health water quality criteria are numeric values that 
describe ambient water concentrations that protect human health from 
the harmful effects of pollutants in ambient water. These criteria are 
developed under CWA section 304(a) and are based solely on data and 
scientific judgments about the relationship between pollutant 
concentrations and environmental and human health effects. Human health 
water quality criteria do not reflect consideration of economic impacts 
or the technological feasibility of meeting the chemical concentrations 
in ambient water. CWA section 304(a)(1) requires EPA to develop and 
publish and, from time to time, revise criteria for water quality that 
accurately reflect the latest scientific knowledge. EPA's recommended 
section 304(a) water quality criteria provide guidance to States and 
authorized Tribes in adopting water quality standards for protection of 
human health. The criteria also provide guidance to EPA when 
promulgating Federal regulations under CWA section 303(c), when such 
action is necessary. They do not substitute for the CWA or regulations, 
nor are they regulations themselves. Thus, EPA's recommended criteria 
do not impose legally binding requirements. States and authorized 
Tribes have the discretion to adopt, where appropriate, other 
scientifically defensible water quality standards that may differ from 
these recommendations and reflect State-specific circumstances.

B. What Are the Criteria Revisions?

    Today, EPA is publishing an update of national recommended water 
quality criteria (NRWQC) for protecting human health for acrolein and 
phenol. Information regarding these criteria updates was published in a 
Federal Register (FR) Notice (73 FR 53246; September 15, 2008) 
announcing the availability of the draft criteria for acrolein and 
phenol. In that notice, information on how to submit scientific views 
on the criteria updates was also provided. The FR Notice contained 
information regarding the criteria revision process; the relationship 
between the water quality criteria and State or Tribal water quality 
standards; the status of existing recommended criteria while criteria 
are under revision; and the location of additional information about 
water quality criteria and water quality standards.
    These criteria are based on EPA's Methodology for Deriving Ambient 
Water Quality Criteria for the Protection of Human Health (2000), EPA-
822-B-00-004 (2000 Human Health Methodology). This methodology 
describes the Agency's current approach for deriving national 
recommended water quality criteria to protect human health.
    The revision of these criteria represents a partial update of the 
304(a) criteria as described in the FR Notice that accompanied the 2000 
Human Health Methodology (65 FR 66443; November 3, 2000). EPA believes 
that updating a limited number of components for which there are 
available data or improved science (i.e., a partial update) is a 
reasonable and efficient means of publishing revised 304(a) criteria 
more frequently. EPA has also previously described its process for 
publishing revised criteria [see National Recommended Water Quality 
Criteria; Notice; Republication (63 FR 68354; December 10, 1998 or EPA 
822-Z-99-001) and National Recommended Water Quality Criteria; Notice; 
Republication; Correction (64 FR 19781; April 22, 1999) or the Federal 
Register Notice for the 2000 Methodology]. EPA indicated that when 
making minor revisions to existing criteria based on new information 
pertaining to individual components of the criteria, it would typically 
publish the recalculated criteria directly as the Agency's national 
recommended water quality criteria.
    The criteria for acrolein and phenol are being updated with 
reference dose (RfD) values from EPA's Integrated Risk Information 
System (IRIS) (http://www.epa.gov/iris). No other components of the 
criteria calculation have changed. Because recalculation of these two 
criteria resulted in significant changes, EPA published them in draft 
form in the Federal Register (73 FR 53246; September 15, 2008) and 
accepted scientific views for 45 days. However, EPA did not intend to 
subject this recalculation to additional peer review because the IRIS 
reference doses being updated in this partial criteria update have been 
previously peer reviewed. EPA did not receive any scientific views on 
these revisions. Therefore, these criteria are being published as final 
and will supersede any criteria previously published for acrolein and 
phenol by EPA. The criteria being published are listed in the tables 
below along with the updated IRIS values which are being changed. In 
the Federal Register Notice (73 FR 53246; September 15, 2008) 
announcing the draft criteria revisions for acrolein and phenol, EPA 
inadvertently failed to follow the Agency's 2000 Human Health 
Methodology when rounding two of the criteria values for phenol. The 
guidance specifies that the number of significant figures at the end of 
the criterion calculation should be rounded to the number of 
significant figures in the least precise input parameter for the 
calculation. The correct values have been included in the tables below:

 Table 1--Final National Recommended Water Quality Criteria for Acrolein
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Acrolein                         Updated criteria
------------------------------------------------------------------------
IRIS RfD...............................  0.0005 mg/(kg-d) (published 6/
                                          03)
                                         (http://www.epa.gov/ncea/iris/subst/0364.htm)
Water + Organisms......................  6 [mu]g/l
Organisms Only.........................  9 [mu]g/l
------------------------------------------------------------------------


  Table 2--Final National Recommended Water Quality Criteria for Phenol
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  Phenol                          Updated criteria
------------------------------------------------------------------------
IRIS RfD.................................  0.30 mg/(kg-d) (published 9/
                                            02)
                                           (http://www.epa.gov/ncea/iris/subst/0088.htm)
Water + Organisms........................  10,000 [mu]g/l
Organisms Only...........................  860,000 [mu]g/l
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    Dated: May 27, 2009.
Ephraim S. King,
Director, Office of Science and Technology.
[FR Doc. E9-13600 Filed 6-9-09; 8:45 am]
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