[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 30 (Tuesday, February 16, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7784-7786]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-03119]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-HQ-OW-2015-0469; FRL-9942-26-OW]
Draft Technical Support Document: Recommended Estimates for
Missing Water Quality Parameters for Application in EPA's Biotic Ligand
Model
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing
availability of the draft technical support document: Recommended
Estimates for Missing Water Quality Parameters for Application in EPA's
Biotic Ligand Model for public comment. In 2007, EPA published updated
criteria for freshwater copper using the Biotic Ligand Model (BLM), a
bioavailability model that relies on ten water quality input parameters
to estimate copper criteria protective of aquatic life in freshwater.
This draft technical support document summarizes data analysis
approaches EPA used to develop recommendations for default values for
water quality parameters used in the Freshwater Copper BLM when data
are lacking. These default values may also be used to fill in missing
water quality input parameters in the application of other metal BLM
models as well, when data are lacking. Following closure of this 30 day
public comment period, EPA will consider the comments, revise the
document, as appropriate, and then publish a final technical support
document that will serve as a source of information for states, tribes,
territories, and other stakeholders.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 17, 2016.
[[Page 7785]]
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-
2015-0469, 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 Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or withdrawn.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: Kathryn Gallagher, Health and
Ecological Criteria Division, Office of Water (Mail Code 4304T),
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.,
Washington, DC 20460; telephone: (202) 564-1398; email address:
[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 is the relationship between state or tribal water quality
standards and the draft technical support document?
Recommended estimates for missing water quality parameters for
application in EPA's biotic ligand model?
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 maintaining and revising water quality
standards. Water quality 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.
States and authorized tribes must adopt water quality criteria that
protect designated uses. Protective criteria are based on a sound
scientific rationale and contain sufficient parameters or constituents
to protect the designated uses. States and authorized tribes have four
options when adopting water quality criteria for which EPA has
published section 304(a) criteria. They can:
(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 numerical criteria (40 CFR 131.11(b)).
The current 304(a) criteria recommendation for freshwater copper
relies on implementation of the BLM model. The model requires 10 inputs
to determine the criteria. This technical support document provides
default values for 8 of the 10 parameters, where site-specific data are
not available, and thereby facilitates the use of the BLM model. The
document describes the methods used to estimate missing parameters.
III. Information on the Draft Technical Support Document
Recommended Estimates for Missing Water Quality Parameters for
Application in EPA's Biotic Ligand Model
The Biotic Ligand Model (BLM) is used to derive Aquatic Life
Ambient water quality criteria for copper in freshwater. The BLM
requires 10 input parameters: Temperature, pH, dissolved organic
carbon, alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, sulfate, and
chloride to derive water quality criteria. In 2007, EPA published
updated criteria for freshwater copper using the biotic ligand model.
An ongoing implementation challenge for state water quality standards
is completing a parameter database for BLM use when a site has missing
model input parameters. EPA developed approaches to estimate missing
water quality parameters including geochemical ions (calcium,
magnesium, sodium, potassium, sulfate, chloride, and alkalinity) and
dissolved organic carbon (DOC). For geochemical ions (GI) parameter
estimates, specific conductivity was combined with geostatistical
techniques (Kriging) to generate protective estimates for use in the
BLM when data are not available. DOC estimates were derived using
several water quality databases including the National Organic Carbon
Database, Storage and Retrieval Data System, National Waters
Information System, Wadeable Stream Assessment, and National River and
Stream Assessment (NRSA) database.
This draft support document provides default recommended values
that could be used to fill in missing water quality input parameters
when data are lacking for 8 of 10 BLM parameters. Default recommended
values for GI parameters are 10th percentile ecoregional, stream-order
specific values. Default recommended values for DOC are 10th percentile
ecoregional values. These default values could also be used to fill in
missing water quality input parameters in the application of other
metal BLM models as well, when data are lacking. In addition, the
document also recommends that the other two parameters, temperature and
pH, be measured directly in the field. Site-specific data are always
preferable for use in the BLM and should be used to develop copper
criteria via the BLM when possible. Users of the BLM are encouraged to
sample their water body of interest, and to analyze the samples for the
constituent (parameter) concentrations as a basis for determining BLM
inputs, when possible.
This document underwent an internal EPA review and an independent
contractor-led external peer review.
IV. Solicitation of Scientific Views
EPA is soliciting additional scientific views, data, and
information regarding the science and technical approach used in the
derivation of this draft technical document.
[[Page 7786]]
Dated: February 4, 2016.
Elizabeth Southerland,
Director, Office of Science and Technology.
[FR Doc. 2016-03119 Filed 2-12-16; 8:45 am]
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