[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 243 (Monday, December 19, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 91929-91931]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-30464]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2016-0715; FRL_9957-01-OW]


Request for Scientific Views: Draft Human Health Recreational 
Ambient Water Quality Criteria and/or Swimming Advisories for 
Microcystins and Cylindrospermopsin

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces the 
release of the draft of Human Health Recreational Ambient Water Quality 
Criteria and/or Swimming Advisories for Microcystins and 
Cylindrospermopsin--2016 for a 60-day public comment. These are the 
draft recommended concentrations of the toxins microcystins and 
cylindrospermopsin in recreational water protective of human health 
while swimming or participating in other activities on the water. 
Recreational exposure to the microcystins and cylindrospermopsin 
produced by cyanobacteria has the potential to result in liver and 
kidney toxicity, respectively. The recommended values found in this 
draft document do not replace or supersede the 2012 Recreational Water 
Quality Criteria (RWQC) recommendations for E. coli and Enterococcus. 
Rather, once final, they will supplement the 2012 RWQC to provide 
further public health protection for additional, potentially hazardous 
conditions found in ambient recreational waters.
    Following closure of this 60-day public comment period, EPA will 
consider the comments, revise the draft 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). Alternatively, States and authorized Tribes 
may use these same values as the basis of swimming advisories for 
public notification purposes.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before February 17, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-

[[Page 91930]]

OW-2016-0715, 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 Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or withdrawn.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: John Ravenscroft, Health and 
Ecological Criteria Division, Office of Water (Mail Code 4304T), 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., 
Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 566-1101; email address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information

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

    1. Docket. EPA has established a docket for this action under 
Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2016-0715. Publicly available docket materials 
are available either electronically through www.regulations.gov or in 
hard copy 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 Water Docket is (202) 566-2426.
    2. Electronic Access. You may access this Federal Register document 
electronically from the Government Printing Office under the ``Federal 
Register'' listings FDSys (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=FR).

II. What are cyanotoxins microcystins and mylindrospermopsin and why is 
EPA concerned about them?

    Cyanobacteria, also commonly referred to as blue-green algae, are 
photosynthetic bacteria that grow in many diverse habitats. Sometimes 
cyanobacteria can grow to high cell densities and form blooms, known as 
harmful algal blooms (HABs). These situations can cause green and blue 
scums to form in surface water. Microcystins and Cylindrospermopsin are 
toxins that can be produced by a variety of cyanobacteria species and 
can be released from cyanobacterial cells at any time. During a HAB 
event, excessive growth of cyanobacteria in surface waters leads to 
situations in which elevated levels of cyanotoxins are more likely, 
however, exposure can occur even when there are no visible signs of a 
bloom.
    Elevated levels of cyanotoxins affect not only the health of 
humans, but domestic animals and wildlife in contact with contaminated 
waters. At certain concentrations microcystins, and their associated 
cyanobacteria, can cause headaches, sore throats, vomiting and nausea, 
stomach pain, dry cough, diarrhea, blistering around the mouth, and 
pneumonia through recreational exposure. Cylindrospermopsin 
recreational exposure may cause fever, headache, vomiting, bloody 
diarrhea, hepatomegaly, and kidney damage with loss of water, 
electrolytes and protein.

III. Information on the Recreational Ambient Water Quality Criteria 
(AWQC) for the Cyanotoxins Microcystins and Cylindrospermopsin

    EPA's draft recommended AWQC identify the concentration identify 
the following concentrations of microcystins and cylindrospermopsin 
that would be protective of human health given a primary contact 
recreational exposure scenario: 4 [micro]g/L for microcystins and 8 
[micro]g/L for cylindrospermopsin. The recommended draft values 
supplement EPA's 2012 recreational AWQC to provide further public 
health protection for additional, potentially hazardous conditions 
found in ambient recreational waters.
    The draft recommended AWQC are based on the same peer-reviewed 
science used to develop EPA's 10-Day Drinking Water Health Advisories 
for these same cyanotoxins published in 2015. The draft criteria 
document has gone through an internal work group review and includes 
information on the state of the science describing the human health 
effects from exposure to cyanobacteria and their toxins, discussion of 
other domestic and international governmental and agency guidelines for 
recreational waters, and information on incidents involving exposure of 
domestic pets and other animals to cyanotoxins.

IV. What are section 304(a) water quality criteria?

    Section 304(a) water quality criteria are recommendations developed 
by EPA under authority of section 304(a) of the Clean Water Act based 
on the latest scientific information on the relationship that the 
effect that a constituent concentration has on particular aquatic 
species and/or human health.
    Section 304(a)(1) of the Clean Water Act directs the 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 pollutant 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 controlling discharges of pollutants. The criteria also 
provide guidance that EPA considers when promulgating federal 
regulations under section 303(c) when such action is necessary. Under 
the CWA and its implementing regulations, States and authorized Tribes 
are to adopt water quality criteria to protect designated uses (e.g., 
aquatic life, recreational use). EPA's water quality criteria 
recommendations are not regulations. Thus, EPA's recommended criteria 
do not constitute legally binding requirements. States and authorized 
Tribes may adopt other scientifically defensible water quality criteria 
that differ from these recommendations. When adopting new or revised 
water quality standards, the States and authorized Tribes must adopt 
criteria that are scientifically defensible and protective of the 
designated uses of the bodies of water. States have the flexibility to 
do this by adopting criteria based on (1) EPA's recommended criteria, 
(2) EPA's criteria modified to reflect site-specific conditions, or (3) 
other scientifically defensible methods.

[[Page 91931]]

V. Use of the Values as Swimming Advisories

    EPA is also publishing these values for consideration by States and 
authorized Tribes for use as swimming advisories for notification 
purposes in recreational waters to protect the public. States and 
authorized Tribes could consider using the values as swimming 
advisories in making decisions whether to close, open, warn about 
concerns in recreational waters in a manner consistent or similar to 
their current recreational water advisory programs. The values in this 
304(a) recommended criteria, even if used as swimming advisories, are 
not regulations, and thus, do not constitute legally binding 
requirements.

VI. 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 Human Health Recreational Ambient Water Quality 
Criteria and/or Swimming Advisories for Microcystins and 
Cylindrospermopsin document. EPA is proposing that these recommended 
criteria, if adopted by States or authorized Tribes as CWA section 
303(c) WQS, be used for CWA section 303(d) assessment and listing 
purposes where the magnitude is not exceeded for more than 10 percent 
of days during a recreational season up to one calendar year as an 
indicator of long-term impairment from multiple short-term blooms. EPA 
is soliciting public comment on this 10 percent exceedance frequency as 
well as alternative exceedance frequencies. For swimming advisories, 
EPA is proposing that these recommended values could be used to trigger 
public notification whenever values are exceeded for one day. EPA is 
soliciting public comment on this recommended single day exceedance as 
well as alternative exceedance frequencies.

    Dated: December 9, 2016.
Joel Beauvais,
Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Water.
[FR Doc. 2016-30464 Filed 12-16-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P