Aquatic Life Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Aluminum in Freshwater
| Published date | 21 December 2018 |
| Record Number | 2018-27745 |
| Court | Environmental Protection Agency |
Federal Register, Volume 83 Issue 245 (Friday, December 21, 2018)
[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 245 (Friday, December 21, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65663-65665]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-27745]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OW-2017-0260; FRL-9988-42-OW]
Aquatic Life Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Aluminum in
Freshwater
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the
availability of Aquatic Life Ambient Water Quality Criteria for
Aluminum in Freshwater. The EPA first released freshwater criteria for
aluminum in 1988 to protect aquatic life from harmful effects of
aluminum toxicity. The EPA updated its recommended aluminum criteria to
reflect the latest science and to provide users the flexibility to
develop criteria based on site-specific water chemistry. The document
provides a scientific assessment of ecological effects and is not a
regulation. The EPA submitted the draft document for external expert
peer review and edited the document considering peer review comments.
The EPA subsequently released the draft criteria document for a 90-day
public comment period in July 2017. The EPA has considered the public
comments and revised the document based on consideration of those
comments. The final criteria document provides recommendations for
states and authorized tribes to establish water quality standards under
the Clean Water Act. The recommendations found in this document
supersede the EPA's 1988 national recommended criteria for aluminum in
ambient water.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Diana Eignor, Health and Ecological
Criteria Division, Office of Water (Mail Code 4304T), Environmental
Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460;
telephone: (202) 566-1143; or email: eignor.diana@epa.gov.
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-2017-0260. 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
[[Page 65664]]
electronically from the Government Printing Office under the Federal
Register listings FDSys (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collection.action?collectionCode=FR).
II. What is aluminum and how does it affect aquatic life?
Aluminum is found in most soils and rocks and is the third most
abundant element and the most common metal in the earth's crust.
Aluminum can enter the water via natural processes, like weathering of
rocks and as a result of human based activities, such as drinking and
waste water treatment and mining. Aluminum is considered a non-
essential metal because fish and other aquatic life do not need it to
function. Elevated levels of aluminum can affect some species' ability
to regulate ions and inhibit respiratory functions. Aquatic plants are
generally less sensitive than fish and other aquatic life to aluminum.
III. What are EPA's updated recommended criteria for aluminum in
freshwater?
The recommended criteria concentrations for aluminum in freshwater
to protect aquatic life depends on a site's water chemistry parameters.
Bioavailability is the measure of whether a substance in the
environment is available to affect living organisms like fish. The
bioavailability of aluminum is dependent on specific water chemistry
parameters. The more bioavailable the aluminum is, the more likely it
is to cause a toxic effect. The water chemistry parameters that have
the greatest impact on aluminum's bioavailability are pH, dissolved
organic carbon (DOC) and total hardness.
The final 2018 recommended national criteria are based upon
Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) models for fish and invertebrate
species that use pH, DOC, and total hardness to quantify the effects of
these water chemistry parameters on the bioavailability and associated
toxicity of aluminum to aquatic organisms. The MLR models are used to
normalize the available toxicity data to reflect the effects of the
water chemistry (pH, hardness, DOC) on the toxicity of aluminum to
tested species. These normalized toxicity test data are then used in a
criteria calculator to generate criteria for specific water chemistry
conditions, yielding the water chemistry specific acute and chronic
criteria concentrations. This flexible approach is based on the latest
science and allows users to develop site-specific aluminum criteria for
freshwaters that appropriately reflect important water chemistry
parameters. The recommended acute criteria (known as the criteria
maximum concentration or CMC) duration is a one-hour average and the
recommended chronic criteria (criteria chronic concentration or CCC)
duration is a four-day average. The EPA recommends that the CMC and CCC
not be exceeded more than once every three years.
These final 2018 recommended national aluminum criteria are
expressed as total recoverable metal concentrations. The use of total
recoverable aluminum includes monomeric (both organic and inorganic)
forms, polymeric and colloidal forms, as well as particulate forms and
aluminum sorbed to clays. However, toxicity data comparing toxicity of
aluminum using total recoverable aluminum and dissolved aluminum
demonstrated that toxic effects increased with increasing
concentrations of total recoverable aluminum even though the
concentration of dissolved aluminum was relatively constant. If
aluminum criteria were based on dissolved concentrations, toxicity
would likely be underestimated, as colloidal forms and hydroxide
precipitates of the metal that can dissolve under natural conditions
and become biologically available would not be measured. The criteria
document contains more discussion of the studies that informed the
choice to use total recoverable aluminum as the basis for the final
2018 recommended national criteria. The current EPA-approved Clean
Water Act Test Methods \1\ for aluminum in natural waters and waste
waters measure total recoverable aluminum.
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\1\ 40 CFR part 136.3 and Appendix C
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The numeric outputs of the 2018 recommended National Aluminum
Criteria Calculator will depend on the specific pH, DOC, and total
hardness concentrations entered into the models. The model outputs (CMC
and CCC) are numeric values that are protective for the set of input
conditions. Criteria can be determined in two ways: Use the provided
Aluminum Criteria Calculator V.2.0 to enter the pH, DOC, and total
hardness conditions at a specific site to calculate the numeric
aluminum CMC and CCC corresponding to those local input water-quality
conditions, or (2) use the look-up tables provided in the criteria
document, developed using the calculator, to find the numeric aluminum
CMC and CCC most closely corresponding to the local conditions for pH,
DOC, and total hardness. In order to calculate numeric water quality
criteria for aluminum that will protect the aquatic life designated
uses of a site over the full range of ambient conditions and toxicity,
multiple model outputs will need to be considered.
See Table 1 for a comparison of the EPA's 1988 criteria and the
updated 2018 criteria for aluminum.
Table 1--Summary of the EPA National Recommended Aquatic Life Criteria for Aluminum
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EPA aquatic life criteria for Freshwater acute \a\ (1 hour, total Freshwater Chronic \a\ (4-day, total
aluminum recoverable aluminum) recoverable aluminum)
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2018 Updated Criteria (Vary as a 1-4,800 [micro]g/L \b\............... 0.63-3,200 [micro]g/L \b\.
function of a site's pH, total
hardness, and DOC).
1988 Criteria (pH 6.5-9.0, across 750 [micro]g/L....................... 87 [micro]g/L.
all total hardness and DOC ranges).
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\a\ Values are recommended not to be exceeded more than once every three years on average.
\b\ Values will be different under differing water chemistry conditions.
IV. What are recommended water quality criteria developed by the EPA?
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.
[[Page 65665]]
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. Under the Clean Water
Act and its implementing regulations, states and authorized tribes are
to adopt water quality criteria to protect designated uses (e.g.,
aquatic life, recreational use). The EPA water quality criteria
recommendations are not regulations. Thus, the EPA 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. As part of the water quality
standards triennial review process defined in section 303(c)(1) of the
Clean Water Act, the states and authorized tribes are responsible for
maintaining and revising water quality standards. 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. 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 the EPA
regulations at 40 CFR 131.11(a), protective criteria must be based on a
sound scientific rationale and contain sufficient parameters or
constituents to protect the designated uses. Criteria may be expressed
in either narrative or numeric form. States and authorized tribes have
four options when adopting water quality criteria for which EPA has
published section 304(a) criteria. They may: (1) Establish numerical
values based on recommended section 304(a) criteria; (2) Adopt section
304(a) criteria modified to reflect site-specific conditions; (3) Adopt
criteria derived using other scientifically defensible methods; or (4)
Establish narrative criteria where numeric criteria cannot be
established or to supplement numeric criteria (40 CFR 131.11(b)).
Dated: December 14, 2018.
Anna J. Wildeman,
Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of Water.
[FR Doc. 2018-27745 Filed 12-20-18; 8:45 am]
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