[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 146 (Friday, July 29, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49982-49983]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-18014]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2016-0332; FRL9949-87-OW]


Request for Scientific Views: Draft Aquatic Life Ambient 
Estuarine/Marine Water Quality Criteria for Copper--2016

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the 
availability of EPA's Draft Aquatic Life Ambient Estuarine/Marine Water 
Quality Criteria for Copper--2016 for public comment. EPA's Clean Water 
Act section 304(a)(1) draft recommended water quality criteria 
incorporate a recently-developed saltwater biotic ligand model (BLM) 
and the latest scientific information for estuarine/marine aquatic 
organisms. The updated recommended criteria will be particularly 
beneficial in the adoption of water quality standards for the 
protection of aquatic life in and around coastal harbors and marinas, 
where antifouling paints and coatings on vessels and marine structures 
represent one of the most commonly identified sources of copper to the 
estuarine/marine environment.
    Following closure of this 60-day public comment period, EPA will 
consider the comments, revise the document, as appropriate, and then 
publish a final document that will provide recommendations for states 
and authorized tribes to establish water quality standards under the 
Clean Water Act (CWA).

DATES: Comments must be received on or before September 27, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-
2016-0332, to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or withdrawn. EPA 
may publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not submit 
electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business 
Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted 
by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be 
accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered the 
official comment and should include discussion of all points you wish 
to make. EPA will generally not consider comments or comment contents 
located outside of the primary submission (i.e., on the web, cloud, or 
other file sharing system). For additional submission methods, the full 
EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia 
submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please 
visit http://www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mike Elias, Health and Ecological 
Criteria Division, Office of Water, (Mail Code 4304T), Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20460; 
telephone: (202) 566-0120; email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information

A. How can I get copies of this document and other related information?

    1. Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the 
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 www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Water Docket, EPA/DC, EPA 
West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, DC. The 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 Water 
Docket is (202) 566-2426. For additional information about EPA's public 
docket, visit EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.

II. What are EPA's recommended water quality criteria?

    EPA's recommended water quality criteria are 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 (CWA) directs EPA to develop and publish and, 
from time to time, revise criteria for protection of aquatic life and 
human health that accurately reflect the latest scientific knowledge. 
Water quality criteria developed under section 304(a)(1) are based 
solely on data and the latest scientific knowledge on the relationship 
between pollutant concentrations and environmental and human health 
effects. Section 304(a)(1) criteria do not reflect consideration of 
economic impacts or the technological feasibility of meeting pollutant 
concentrations in ambient water.
    EPA's recommended section 304(a)(1) criteria provide technical 
information to states and authorized tribes in adopting water quality 
standards (WQS) that ultimately provide a basis for assessing water 
body health and controlling discharges 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

[[Page 49983]]

for the CWA or regulations, nor are they regulations themselves. 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.

III. What is estuarine/marine copper and why is EPA concerned about it?

    Copper is an abundant trace element that occurs naturally in the 
earth's crust and surface waters. It is a nutrient that is essential to 
aquatic organisms at low concentrations, but is toxic to aquatic 
organisms at higher concentrations. In addition to acute effects such 
as mortality, chronic exposure to copper can lead to adverse effects on 
survival, growth, reproduction as well as alterations of brain 
function, enzyme activity, blood chemistry, and metabolism in aquatic 
organisms. Copper is commonly found in aquatic systems as a result of 
both natural and anthropogenic sources. Natural sources of copper in 
aquatic systems include geological deposits, volcanic activity, and 
weathering and erosion of rocks and soils. Anthropogenic sources of 
copper include mining activities, agriculture, metal and electrical 
manufacturing, sludge from publicly-owned treatment works (POTWs), 
pesticide use and more. A major source of copper in the marine 
environment is antifouling paints, used as coatings for ship hulls, 
buoys, and underwater surfaces, and as a legacy contaminant from 
decking, pilings and some marine structures that used chromated copper 
arsenate (CCA) treated timbers.

IV. Information on the Draft Document

    The 2016 draft recommended update uses the saltwater biotic ligand 
model (BLM), a bioavailability model that relies on water quality input 
parameters, to estimate copper criteria protective of aquatic life in 
estuarine/marine environments. The BLM allows users to determine 
criteria values based on site-specific water quality variables 
(temperature, pH, dissolved organic carbon, and salinity) that 
influence the bioavailability and toxicity of copper in estuarine/
marine environments. EPA has included new acute toxicity data for 
estuarine/marine species in the 2016 draft recommended update. EPA used 
a total of 74 genera to derive the estuarine/marine criterion maximum 
concentration (CMC) in the 2016 update compared to the 44 genera EPA 
used in EPA's 2003 draft estuarine/marine criteria for copper. 
Incorporation of the BLM accounts for copper bioavailability in natural 
aquatic systems, in contrast to the 2003 draft criteria which did not 
account for the interactions of these parameters on copper 
bioavailability and their effect on copper toxicity.

V. Solicitation of Scientific Views

    EPA is soliciting additional scientific views, data, and 
information regarding the science and technical approach used in the 
derivation of the draft document.

    Dated: July 15, 2016.
Joel Beauvais,
Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Water.
[FR Doc. 2016-18014 Filed 7-28-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P