[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 110 (Wednesday, June 10, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27535-27536]
[FR Doc No: E9-13600]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2008-0553; FRL-8913-6]

Notice of Availability of National Recommended Water Quality
Criteria for Acrolein and Phenol

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability of updated water quality criteria for
acrolein and phenol.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: Pursuant to section 304(a) of the Clean Water Act (CWA), the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the availability of
updated national recommended water quality criteria for the protection
of human health for acrolein and phenol. These criteria are based on
EPA's Methodology for Deriving Ambient Water Quality Criteria for the
Protection of Human Health (2000), EPA-822-B-00-004 (2000 Human Health
Methodology) and supercede criteria for these chemicals previously
published by EPA. EPA's recommended section 304(a) water quality
criteria are guidance to States and authorized Tribes in adopting water
quality standards for protecting human health and provide guidance to
EPA for promulgating Federal regulations under CWA section 303(c), when
such action is necessary.

ADDRESSES: Copies of documents specifically referenced in this notice
are in Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2008-0553. Materials in the public
docket are available for public viewing 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 Office of Water Docket is
(202) 566-2426. A reasonable fee will be charged for copies. An
electronic version of the public docket is available through EPA's
electronic public docket and comment system at http://www.regulations.gov. Once in the system, select ``search,'' then key in
the appropriate docket identification number.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Heidi L. Bethel, Health and Ecological
Criteria Division (4304T), U.S. EPA, Ariel Rios Building, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460;<PHONE_NUMBER>;
<EMAIL_ADDRESS>
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information

A. Interested Entities

    Entities potentially interested in today's notice are those that
produce, use, or regulate acrolein or phenol. Categories and entities
interested in today's notice include:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
              Category                 Examples of interested entities
------------------------------------------------------------------------
States, Authorized Tribes and        NPDES Authorized States, Tribes and
 Jurisdictional Governments..         Jurisdictions.
Industry...........................  Industries discharging pollutants
                                      to surface waters or to publically-
                                      owned treatment works discharging
                                      pollutants to surface waters.
Municipalities.....................  Publically-owned treatment works
                                      discharging pollutants to surface
                                      waters.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    This table is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather provides a
guide for readers regarding entities likely to be interested in this
notice. This table lists the types of entities that EPA is now aware
could potentially be interested in this notice. Other types of entities
not listed in the table could also be interested.

B. How Can I Get Copies of the National Recommended Water Quality
Criteria for the Protection of Human Health and Other Related
Information?

    1. Docket. EPA established an official public docket for this
notice under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2008-0553. The official public
docket consists of the documents specifically referenced in this
notice, any public scientific views received, and other information
related to this announcement. Although a part of the official docket,
the public docket does not include Confidential Business Information
(CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
The official public docket is the collection of materials that is
available for public viewing 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 Office of Water Docket

is<PHONE_NUMBER>. A reasonable fee will be charged for copies.
    2. Electronic Access. You may access this Federal Register document
electronically through the EPA Internet under the ``Federal Register''
listings at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/. An electronic version of the
public docket is available through EPA's electronic public docket and
comment system. You may access EPA Dockets at https://www.regulations.gov to access the index listing of the contents of the
official public docket, and to access those documents in the public
docket that are available electronically. Although not all docket
materials may be available electronically, you may still access any of
the publicly available docket materials through the docket facility
identified in section B.1. Once in the system, select ``search,'' then
key in the appropriate docket identification number.

II. Background Information

A. What Are Human Health Water Quality Criteria?

    Human health water quality criteria are numeric values that
describe ambient water concentrations that protect human health from
the harmful effects of pollutants in ambient water. These criteria are
developed under CWA section 304(a) and are based solely on data and
scientific judgments about the relationship between pollutant
concentrations and environmental and human health effects. Human health
water quality criteria do not reflect consideration of economic impacts
or the technological feasibility of meeting the chemical concentrations
in ambient water. CWA section 304(a)(1) requires EPA to develop and
publish and, from time to time, revise criteria for water quality that
accurately reflect the latest scientific knowledge. EPA's recommended
section 304(a) water quality criteria provide guidance to States and
authorized Tribes in adopting water quality standards for protection of
human health. The criteria also provide guidance to EPA when
promulgating Federal regulations under CWA section 303(c), when such
action is necessary. They do not substitute for the CWA or regulations,
nor are they regulations themselves. Thus, 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 standards that may differ from
these recommendations and reflect State-specific circumstances.

B. What Are the Criteria Revisions?

    Today, EPA is publishing an update of national recommended water
quality criteria (NRWQC) for protecting human health for acrolein and
phenol. Information regarding these criteria updates was published in a
Federal Register (FR) Notice (73 FR 53246; September 15, 2008)
announcing the availability of the draft criteria for acrolein and
phenol. In that notice, information on how to submit scientific views
on the criteria updates was also provided. The FR Notice contained
information regarding the criteria revision process; the relationship
between the water quality criteria and State or Tribal water quality
standards; the status of existing recommended criteria while criteria
are under revision; and the location of additional information about
water quality criteria and water quality standards.
    These criteria are based on EPA's Methodology for Deriving Ambient
Water Quality Criteria for the Protection of Human Health (2000), EPA-
822-B-00-004 (2000 Human Health Methodology). This methodology
describes the Agency's current approach for deriving national
recommended water quality criteria to protect human health.
    The revision of these criteria represents a partial update of the
304(a) criteria as described in the FR Notice that accompanied the 2000
Human Health Methodology (65 FR 66443; November 3, 2000). EPA believes
that updating a limited number of components for which there are
available data or improved science (i.e., a partial update) is a
reasonable and efficient means of publishing revised 304(a) criteria
more frequently. EPA has also previously described its process for
publishing revised criteria [see National Recommended Water Quality
Criteria; Notice; Republication (63 FR 68354; December 10, 1998 or EPA
822-Z-99-001) and National Recommended Water Quality Criteria; Notice;
Republication; Correction (64 FR 19781; April 22, 1999) or the Federal
Register Notice for the 2000 Methodology]. EPA indicated that when
making minor revisions to existing criteria based on new information
pertaining to individual components of the criteria, it would typically
publish the recalculated criteria directly as the Agency's national
recommended water quality criteria.
    The criteria for acrolein and phenol are being updated with
reference dose (RfD) values from EPA's Integrated Risk Information
System (IRIS) (http://www.epa.gov/iris). No other components of the
criteria calculation have changed. Because recalculation of these two
criteria resulted in significant changes, EPA published them in draft
form in the Federal Register (73 FR 53246; September 15, 2008) and
accepted scientific views for 45 days. However, EPA did not intend to
subject this recalculation to additional peer review because the IRIS
reference doses being updated in this partial criteria update have been
previously peer reviewed. EPA did not receive any scientific views on
these revisions. Therefore, these criteria are being published as final
and will supersede any criteria previously published for acrolein and
phenol by EPA. The criteria being published are listed in the tables
below along with the updated IRIS values which are being changed. In
the Federal Register Notice (73 FR 53246; September 15, 2008)
announcing the draft criteria revisions for acrolein and phenol, EPA
inadvertently failed to follow the Agency's 2000 Human Health
Methodology when rounding two of the criteria values for phenol. The
guidance specifies that the number of significant figures at the end of
the criterion calculation should be rounded to the number of
significant figures in the least precise input parameter for the
calculation. The correct values have been included in the tables below:

 Table 1--Final National Recommended Water Quality Criteria for Acrolein
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Acrolein                         Updated criteria
------------------------------------------------------------------------
IRIS RfD...............................  0.0005 mg/(kg-d) (published 6/
                                          03)
                                         (http://www.epa.gov/ncea/iris/subst/0364.htm)
Water + Organisms......................  6 [mu]g/l
Organisms Only.........................  9 [mu]g/l
------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Table 2--Final National Recommended Water Quality Criteria for Phenol
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  Phenol                          Updated criteria
------------------------------------------------------------------------
IRIS RfD.................................  0.30 mg/(kg-d) (published 9/
                                            02)
                                           (http://www.epa.gov/ncea/iris/subst/0088.htm)
Water + Organisms........................  10,000 [mu]g/l
Organisms Only...........................  860,000 [mu]g/l
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Dated: May 27, 2009.
Ephraim S. King,
Director, Office of Science and Technology.
[FR Doc. E9-13600 Filed 6-9-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P