1. Aquatic Life Metals Criteria Under Development in OW
Kathryn Gallagher, Ph.D.
Chief, Ecological Risk Assessment Branch
Health and Ecological Criteria Division
Office of Science and Technology
US EPA

2. Criteria Process Overview
All EPA aquatic life criteria documents undergo a rigorous scientific development and review process:
Develop criteria document draft
Intra-agency peer review process
Independent external peer review
Revisions based on external peer review
Intra-agency review of draft criteria document
Release to the public in draft form to obtain scientific views
Revisions considering public comments
Intra-agency review of final criteria document
Publication of final criteria document
States may then consider this recommended criteria in the development and legal adoption of state water quality standards.

3. Metals Aquatic Life Criteria Updates
Aluminum – Freshwater and Estuarine/marine
Revises 1988 criteria
Updates toxicity data and expands applicability to broader range of pH conditions and includes consideration of hardness
Draft expected early 2017
Cadmium – Freshwater and Estuarine/marine
Revises 2001 criteria
Updates toxicity data; approach to criteria derivation remains consistent with development procedures used in 2001
Freshwater criteria derived using hardness adjustment, while estuarine/marine criteria are not adjusted based on site conditions
Final web-posted March 30, 2016, Federal Register Notice issued April 4, 2016

4. Additional Metals Aquatic Life Criteria Updates
Copper – Freshwater
Revises 2007 criteria
Extensive update of toxicity data
Still BLM-based, which was also used in 2007 revision
Draft expected early 2017
Copper Freshwater Missing Parameters
Recommends default values for water quality parameters that can be used in freshwater BLM when site specific data are lacking
Final expected summer 2016

5. EPA Office of Water - Missing Parameters Document
Available at:

6. Oregon DEQ Support Document
Available at:

7. Additional Metals Aquatic Life Criteria
Copper – Saltwater BLM criteria
Draft criteria under development
Independent external peer review (completed 2/16)
Draft target date: summer 2016
Final criteria document: late Fall 2016

8. Interest in Overarching Approach for Metals Criteria
OW is interested in an overarching/umbrella approach for metals criteria
Open to different scientific potential approaches
e.g., BLM/MLR
Working towards a Collaborative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to facilitate scientific information sharing