[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 211 (Tuesday, November 1, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67437-67439]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-28255]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2011-0787; FRL-9483-8]


Draft Aquatic Life Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Carbaryl--
2011

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability of draft criteria.

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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 
draft national recommended water quality criteria for the protection of 
aquatic life from effects of carbaryl (EPA-820-D-11-001). The draft 
criteria document incorporates the latest scientific knowledge on the 
toxicity of carbaryl to aquatic life. The aquatic life criteria are

[[Page 67438]]

developed based on EPA's Guidelines for Deriving Numerical National 
Water Quality Criteria for the Protection of Aquatic Organisms and 
Their Uses (1985), (EPA/R-85-100). EPA's recommended section 304(a) 
water quality criteria provides guidance to States and authorized 
Tribes in adopting water quality standards for protecting aquatic life 
and human health. These criteria are intended to protect aquatic life 
and do not evaluate human health toxicity data. EPA is soliciting 
scientific views on this document. EPA's recommended water quality 
criteria provide technical information for states and authorized tribes 
in adopting water quality standards, but by themselves have no binding 
legal effect.

DATES: Scientific views must be received on or before January 3, 2012. 
Scientific views postmarked after this date may not receive the same 
consideration.

ADDRESSES: Submit your scientific views, identified by Docket ID No. 
EPA-HQ-OW-2011-0787, by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line 
instructions for submitting scientific views.
     Email: [email protected].
     Mail: US Environmental Protection Agency; EPA Docket 
Center (EPA/DC) Water Docket, MC 2822T; 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20460.
     Hand Delivery: EPA Docket Center, 1301 Constitution Ave 
NW., EPA West, Room 3334, Washington DC. Such deliveries are only 
accepted during the Docket's normal hours of operation, and special 
arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information.
    Instructions: Direct your scientific views to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OW-2011-0787. EPA's policy is that all scientific views received will 
be included in the public docket without change and may be made 
available online at http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal 
information provided, unless the comment includes information claimed 
to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information 
that you consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through http://www.regulations.gov or email. The http://www.regulations.gov Web site 
is an ``anonymous access'' system, which means EPA will not know your 
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of 
your comment. If you send an email comment directly to EPA without 
going through http://www.regulations.gov your email address will be 
automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is 
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you 
submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name 
and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any 
disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to 
technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA 
may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid 
the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of 
any defects or viruses. For additional information about EPA's public 
docket visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the http://www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such 
as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy. 
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically 
in http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Office of Water 
Docket/EPA/DC, 1301 Constitution Ave, NW., EPA West, Room 3334, 
Washington DC. This Docket Facility is open from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 
p.m., E.S.T., 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 is (202) 566-2426.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Diana Eignor, Health and Ecological 
Criteria Division (4304T), U.S. EPA, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave NW., 
Washington, DC 20460; (202) 566-1143; [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. What are water quality criteria?

    Water quality criteria are either narrative descriptions of water 
quality or scientifically derived numeric values that protect aquatic 
life or human health from the deleterious effects of pollutants in 
ambient water.
    Section 304(a)(1) of the Clean Water Act requires EPA to develop 
and publish and, from time to time, revise, criteria for water quality 
accurately reflecting the latest scientific knowledge. Water quality 
criteria developed under section 304(a) are based solely on data and 
scientific judgments on the relationship between pollutant 
concentrations and environmental and human health effects. Section 
304(a) criteria do not reflect consideration of economic impacts or the 
technological feasibility of meeting the chemical concentrations in 
ambient water.
    Section 304(a) criteria provide guidance 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. Under the CWA and its implementing regulations, 
States and authorized Tribes are to adopt water quality criteria to 
protect designated uses (e.g., public water supply, aquatic life, 
recreational use, or industrial use). EPA's recommended water quality 
criteria 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 criteria that differ from these recommendations.

II. What is carbaryl and why are we concerned about it?

    Carbaryl is a member of the N-methyl carbamate class of pesticides, 
which share a common mechanism of toxicity by affecting the nervous 
system via cholinesterase inhibition. Carbaryl has many trade names, 
but is most commonly known as Sevin[reg]. It is is an insecticide, a 
molluscide, and is used to thin fruit in orchards. It is registered in 
the United States for controlling insect pests on over 115 agricultural 
and non-crop use applications, including home and garden uses (U.S. EPA 
2007; U.S. EPA 2010). In a 2006 report, the U.S. Geological Survey 
National Water Quality Assessment Program reported carbaryl as the 
second most frequently found insecticide in water, with detections in 
approximately 50% of urban streams (U.S.G.S. 2006). EPA has previously 
developed 304(a) criteria for the other three currently registered 
insecticides found most frequently in U.S. waters.

III. What are the draft carbaryl criteria?

    EPA is today publishing draft national recommended water quality 
criteria for protecting aquatic life for carbaryl. These draft criteria 
were developed using EPA's Guidelines for Deriving Numerical National 
Water Quality Criteria for the Protection of Aquatic Organisms and 
Their Uses (1985), (EPA/R-85-100). The document has a new format that 
models the approach in the EPA's Guidelines for Ecological Risk 
Assessment (EPA/630/R-95/002F).

[[Page 67439]]

Toxicity data for developing the water quality criteria were obtained 
from peer-reviewed open literature studies and from studies submitted 
to the Office of Pesticide Programs for the registration and 
reregistration of pesticides. To ensure the quality of the information, 
the toxicity data and other information on the effects of carbaryl were 
subjected to both internal and external peer review.
    The draft criteria statement is as follows: The available data for 
carbaryl, evaluated in accordance with EPA's guidelines for deriving 
aquatic life criteria (Stephan et al. 1985) [referenced in the criteria 
document] indicate that, freshwater aquatic animals would have an 
appropriate level of protection if the following are attained:
    1. The one-hour average concentration of carbaryl does not exceed 
2.1 [mu]g/L more than once every three years on average, the criterion 
maximum concentration or CMC (acute criterion).
    2. The four-day average concentration of carbaryl does not exceed 
2.1 [mu]g/L more than once every three years on average, the criterion 
continuous concentration or CCC (chronic criterion).
    The available data for carbaryl indicates that, estuarine/marine 
aquatic animals would have an appropriate level of protection if the 
following is attained:
    1. The one-hour average concentration of carbaryl does not exceed 
1.6 [mu]g/L more than once every three years on average (except where a 
locally important species may be more sensitive).

IV. What is the relationship between the water quality criteria and 
state or tribal water quality standards?

    Water quality standards consist of three principal elements: 
designated uses, water quality criteria to protect those uses, and 
antidegradation requirements, providing for protection of existing 
water uses and limitations on degradation of high quality waters. As 
part of the water quality standards triennial review process defined in 
Section 303(c)(1) of the CWA, the States and authorized Tribes are 
responsible for developing, maintaining and revising water quality 
standards. Section 303(c)(1) requires States and authorized Tribes to 
review and modify, if appropriate, their water quality standards at 
least once every three years.
    States and authorized Tribes must adopt water quality criteria into 
their water quality standards that protect designated uses. States may 
develop their criteria based on EPA's recommended section 304(a) water 
quality criteria or other scientifically defensible methods. A State's 
criteria must contain sufficient parameters or constituents to protect 
the designated uses. Consistent with 40 CFR 131.21, new or revised 
water quality criteria adopted into law by States and authorized Tribes 
on or after May 30, 2000 are in effect for CWA purposes only after EPA 
approval.
    States and authorized Tribes may develop site-specific criteria for 
particular waterbodies as appropriate, following EPA procedures 
described in the Guidelines for Deriving Numerical Aquatic Site-
Specific Water Quality Criteria by Modifying National Criteria (USEPA, 
1984f). A site-specific criterion is intended to come closer than the 
national criterion to providing the intended level of protection to the 
aquatic life at the site, usually by taking into account the biological 
and/or chemical conditions (i.e., the species composition and/or water 
quality characteristics) at the site. If data in the national criterion 
document and/or from other sources indicated that the selected resident 
species range of sensitivity is different from that for the species in 
the national criterion document, States and authorized Tribes can use 
the Resident Species Procedure (Section 3.7.6 of the WQS Handbook). 
This procedure was first published in the 1983 Water Quality Standards 
Handbook (USEPA, 1983a) and expanded upon in the Guidelines for 
Deriving Numerical Aquatic Site-Specific Water Quality Criteria by 
Modifying National Criteria (USEPA, 1984f) and later detailed in the 
``Interim Guidance on Determination and Use of Water Effect Ratio for 
Metals'' (EPA 1994).

V. Where can I find more information about water quality criteria and 
water quality standards?

    For more information about water quality criteria and Water Quality 
Standards refer to the following: Water Quality Standards Handbook (EPA 
823-B94-005a; August 1994); Advanced Notice of Proposed Rule Making 
(ANPRM), (63FR36742; July 7, 1998); Water Quality Criteria and 
Standards Plan--Priorities for the Future (EPA 822-R-98-003; April 
1998); Guidelines and Methodologies Used in the Preparation of Health 
Effects Assessment Chapters of the Consent Decree Water Criteria 
Documents (45FR79347; November 1980); Methodology for Deriving Ambient 
Water Quality Criteria for the Protection of Human Health (EPA-822-B-
00-004; October 2000); Guidelines for Deriving Numerical National Water 
Quality Criteria for the Protection of Aquatic Organisms and Their Uses 
(EPA 822/R-85-100; 1985); National Strategy for the Development of 
Regional Nutrient Criteria (EPA 822-R-98-002; June 1998); and EPA 
Review and Approval of State and Tribal Water Quality Standards 
(65FR24641; April 27, 2000).
    You can find these publications through EPA's National Service 
Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP, previously NCEPI) or on 
the Office of Science and Technology's Home-page (http://www.epa.gov/waterscience).

References

    U.S. EPA. 2007. Risks of carbaryl use to the federally-listed 
California red legged frog. Office of Pesticide Programs, 
Washington, DC, http://www.epa.gov/espp/litstatus/effects/redleg-frog/carbaryl/determination.pdf.
    U.S. EPA. 2010. Registration Review--Preliminary Problem 
Formulation for Ecological Risk and Environmental Fate, Endangered 
Species, and Drinking Water Assessments for Carbaryl. September 3, 
2010. EPA-HQ-OPP-2010-0230-0004.
    U.S.G.S. 2006. The Quality of our Nation's Waters: Pesticides in 
the Nation's Streams and Ground Water, 1992-2001. Circular 1291. 
U.S. Geological Survey. Reston, VA.


    Dated: October 20, 2011.
Nancy K. Stoner,
Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of Water.
[FR Doc. 2011-28255 Filed 10-31-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P