[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 85 (Tuesday, May 3, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26199-26201]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-09441]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OW-2022-0365 and EPA-HQ-OW-2022-0366; FRL 8310-01-OW]
Draft Recommended Aquatic Life Ambient Water Quality Criteria for
Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctane Sulfonic Acid (PFOS)
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: As part of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA)
commitment to safeguard the environment from per- and polyfluoroalkyl
substances (PFAS), the agency is announcing the availability of Clean
Water Act (CWA) national ``Draft Recommended Aquatic Life Ambient Water
Quality Criteria for Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)'' and ``Draft
Recommended Aquatic Life Ambient Water Quality Criteria for
Perfluorooctane Sulfonic Acid (PFOS)'' for a 30-day public comment
period. These draft criteria are a priority action identified in EPA's
PFAS Strategic Roadmap and reflect the latest scientific knowledge
regarding the effects of PFOA and PFOS on freshwater organisms. These
draft criteria have undergone external peer review, and EPA has revised
the documents accordingly. When these draft CWA recommended criteria
are finalized, they will provide information that states and tribes may
consider when adopting water quality standards.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 2, 2022.
ADDRESSES:
Docket: EPA has established dockets for these actions under Docket
ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2022-0365 for the ``Draft Recommended Aquatic Life
Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA)'' and
Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2022-0366 for the ``Draft Recommended Aquatic
Life Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Perfluorooctane Sulfonic Acid
(PFOS).'' You may send comments, identified by the Docket ID No. EPA-
HQ-OW-2022-0365 for the draft PFOA criteria or Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-
2022-0366 for the draft PFOS criteria, through the Federal eRulemaking
Portal: https://www.regulations.gov/. Follow the online instructions
for submitting comments.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket ID
No. for this rulemaking. Comments received may be posted without change
to https://www.regulations.gov/, including any personal information
provided. For detailed instructions on sending comments and additional
information on the rulemaking process, see the ``Public Participation''
heading of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document. Out
of an abundance of caution for members of the public and our staff, the
EPA Docket Center and Reading Room are open to the public by
appointment only to reduce the risk of transmitting COVID-19. Our
Docket Center staff also continue to provide remote customer service
via email, phone, and webform. Hand deliveries and couriers may be
received by scheduled appointment only. For further information on EPA
Docket Center services and the current status, please visit us online
at https://www.epa.gov/dockets.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Justice, Health and Ecological
Criteria Division, Office of Water (Mail Code 4304T), Environmental
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460;
telephone: (202) 566-0275; or email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Public Participation--Written Comments
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2022-
0365 for the draft PFOA criteria or Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2022-0366
for the draft PFOS criteria, at https://www.regulations.gov. Once
submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from the docket. 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
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outside of the primary submission (i.e., on the web, cloud, or other
file sharing system). For the full EPA public comment policy,
information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance
on making effective comments, please visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.
II. What are PFOA and PFOS, and how do they affect aquatic life?
PFOA and PFOS are two of the most widely used and studied chemicals
in the PFAS group. PFAS have been manufactured and used by a broad
range of industries since the 1940s. PFOA and PFOS are not naturally
occurring and have no biologically important functions or beneficial
properties to aquatic life. The mechanisms underpinning the toxicity of
PFOA and PFOS to aquatic organisms, like other PFAS, is an active and
on-going area of research. The draft recommended criteria are based on
observed effects of PFOA and PFOS to the survival, growth, and
reproduction of aquatic organisms. Based on the available ecotoxicity
data, aquatic plants are generally less sensitive to PFOA and PFOS than
fish and other aquatic life.
III. What are EPA's recommended criteria for PFOA and PFOS in
freshwater for the protection of aquatic life?
EPA's draft recommended aquatic life ambient water quality criteria
documents provide a critical review of PFOA and PFOS toxicity data,
quantify the toxicity of these chemicals to aquatic life, and provide
separate PFOA and PFOS criteria to protect aquatic life from the toxic
effects of these chemicals. These draft criteria were derived to
reflect the latest scientific knowledge using the available data on the
toxicological effects of PFOA and PFOS on aquatic life. EPA developed
these draft aquatic life ambient water quality criteria following the
general approach outlined in EPA's ``Guidelines for Deriving Numerical
Water Quality Criteria for the Protection of Aquatic Organisms and
Their Uses.''
EPA developed the draft PFOA and PFOS criteria to be protective of
most aquatic organisms in the community (i.e., approximately 95 percent
of tested aquatic organisms representing the aquatic community) and to
be protective of aquatic life designated uses established for
freshwaters. The draft criteria documents both contain acute and
chronic criteria for freshwaters (see Table 1). The draft criteria
documents also contain chronic criteria expressed as tissue-based
concentrations to protect aquatic life from PFOA and PFOS
bioaccumulation (see Table 1 below). The chronic freshwater and chronic
tissue criteria for both of these chemicals are intended to be
independently applicable and no one criterion takes primacy.
Data limitations did not allow for derivation of PFOA or PFOS
national recommended water quality criteria in estuarine/marine waters.
However, EPA derived acute estuarine/marine benchmarks through
application of a New Approach Method (NAM), using available toxicity
data supplemented with modeled estimates of acute toxicity. The acute
estuarine/marine benchmarks for PFOA and PFOS are recommendations for
states and tribes to consider as protective values in their water
quality protection programs.
EPA's draft recommended criteria are the maximum concentrations of
PFOA and PFOS (individually, not in mixture), with associated frequency
and duration specifications, that will support protection of aquatic
life from acute and chronic effects in freshwaters (see Table 1).
Table 1--Draft Recommended Freshwater Aquatic Life Water Quality Criteria for PFOA and PFOS
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Chronic water Invertebrate Fish whole-
Criteria component Acute water column (CCC) whole-body (mg/ body (mg/kg Fish muscle
column (CMC) \1\ \2\ kg ww\3\) ww) (mg/kg ww)
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PFOA Magnitude............... 49 mg/L......... 0.094 mg/L..... 1.11 6.10 0.125
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PFOS Magnitude............... 3.0 mg/L........ 0.0084 mg/L.... 0.937 6.75 2.91
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Duration..................... 1-hour average.. 4-day average.. Instantaneous.\4\
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Frequency.................... Not to be Not to be Not to be exceeded more than once in ten
exceeded more exceeded more years, on average.
than once in than once in
three years, on three years,
average. on average.
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\1\ Criterion Maximum Concentration.
\2\ Criterion Continuous Concentration.
\3\ Wet Weight.
\4\ Tissue data provide instantaneous point measurements that reflect integrative accumulation of PFOA or PFOS
over time and space in aquatic life population(s) at a given site.
IV. What are CWA national recommended ambient water quality criteria
developed by EPA?
Section 304(a)(1) of the CWA directs 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 CWA Section 304(a) are based solely on data and
scientific judgments on the relationship between pollutant
concentrations and environmental and human health effects. CWA Section
304(a) recommended criteria do not reflect consideration of economic
impacts or the technological feasibility of meeting pollutant
concentrations in ambient water.
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). CWA Section
304(a) recommended criteria provide guidance to states and authorized
tribes in adopting water quality standards that ultimately provide a
basis for controlling discharges of pollutants. Standards consist of
designated uses, water quality criteria to protect those uses, a policy
for antidegradation, and may include general policies for application
and implementation. EPA CWA Section 304(a) water quality criteria
recommendations are not regulations and do not constitute legally
binding requirements. States and authorized tribes may adopt other
scientifically defensible water quality criteria that differ from these
recommendations. CWA 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. Consistent with EPA
regulations 40 CFR 131.11, protective criteria must be based on a sound
scientific rationale and contain sufficient parameters or constituents
to protect the designated
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uses. Criteria may be expressed in either narrative or numeric form.
When states and authorized tribes adopt numeric water quality criteria,
those criteria should be based on (1) recommended CWA Section 304(a)
criteria; (2) CWA Section 304(a) criteria modified to reflect site-
specific conditions; or (3) other scientifically defensible methods.
Alternatively, states and authorized tribes may adopt narrative
criteria or criteria based upon biomonitoring methods where numeric
criteria cannot be established or to supplement numeric criteria.
Radhika Fox,
Assistant Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2022-09441 Filed 5-2-22; 8:45 am]
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