[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 Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or withdrawn.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]
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