UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 


REGION 10 


1200 Sixth Avenue. Suite 900 

Seattle. WA 98101-3140 

January 17,2012 

Me Kelly Susewind Me Jim Pendowski 

Washington Department of Ecology Washington Department of Ecology 

Water Quality Program Manager· Toxies Cleanup Program Manager 

Comments submitted electronically to fishconsumption@ecv.wa.gov 

Re: Comments on Ecology's Fish Consumption Rates Technical Support Docwnent 

Dear Mr. Susewind & Mr. Pendowski: 

This letter provides the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) general comments on the 

Washington Department of Ecology's (Ecology's) process to undergo revisions to the state's fish 

consumption rate. Ecology has initiated this evaluation through the release of a draft repOlt 

titled, Fish Consumption Rates Technical Support Document: A Revie}v (~lDat(/ and b{/rmnation 

About Fish Consumption in Washington dated September 2011 and a request for public 

comments by January 18,2012 on the draft document. 

EPA would like to thank Ecology for the opportunity to provide comments on the draft 

document. This document provides a strong framework for your upcoming process to choose a 

fish consumption rate that more accurately reflects the fish and shellfish consumed by people in 

Washington. In turn, this rate may be used to adopt criteria that protect the health of those 

consumers. You and your staff should be commended for the quality, substance and readability 

of the document. 

Defining appropriate fish consumption rates are critical to adopting water quality standards that 

ensure adequate human health protection. In Washington, this analysis affects future revisions to 

the state's Surface Water Quality Standards (WQS) at WAC 173-201 A and Sediment 

Management Standards (SMS) at WAC 173-204 since both will involve protection of human 

health from toxic substances through criteria derived using a fish consumption rate. We look 

forward to our continued work with you throughout your revision processes to ensure that the 

criteria can be approved under the Clean Water Act. 

Ecology currently recognizes two separate default fish consumption rates used to establish 

regulatory req uirements: 
• 	 For cleanup actions, the Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) Cleanup Regulations 

includes a default fish consumption rate of 54 grams per day. The SMS currently do not 

have numeric human health criteria, but instead rely on a narrative statement. (Ecology 

expects that upcoming revisions to the SMS will utilize a fish consumption rate to 

calculate numeric human health criteria.) 

• 	 For water quality standards, the Surface Water Quality Standards are based on the 

National Toxics Rule (NTR) which sets water quality standards for human health criteria 

based on a fish consumption rate of 6.5 grams per day. 

The water quality standards regulation at 40 C.F.R. 131.11 (a) requires stares to adopt water 

quality criteria to protect all designated uses. Such criteria must be based on sound scientific 

rationale and must contain sufficient parameters or constituents to protect the designated use. In 

2000, EPA updated its methodology for deriving human health criteria (2000 Methodology). I In 

that document EPA urges states and tribes to use a fish intake level derived from local or 

regional data. Consideration of local data is important to ensure protection of the local 

populations, especially when that population includes subpopulations that eat larger quantities of 

fish and shellfish. A four preference hierarchy concerning the use of fish consumption rate data 

is set forth: (1) use of local data; (2) use of data reflecting similar geography/population groups; 

(3) use of data from national surveys; and (4) use of EPA's default intake rate of 17.5 grams per 

day if no' state/site-specific information is available. 

Washington's human health criteria were issued by EPA in 1992 and derived using a fish 

consumption rate of 6.5 grams per day. As identified in your draft document, several studies of 

Northwest populations indicate that this rate is not reflective of the amount of fish and shellfish 

consumed by some in the state of Washington. Therefore, it is appropriate and consistent with 

EPA guidance for Ecology to examine the current science to determine an appropriate fish 

consumption rate to use for deriving criteria protective of the state's designated uses. EPA 

recognizes that Ecology has begun this process in the draft Fish Consumption Rates Technical 

SlIpport DoclIment and believes it is important for you to Lise the recommendations presented in 

this document along with the comments received to determine an appropriate rate to use in 

deriving the human health criteria in your SMS and WQS. 

In the draft Fish Consumption R([{es Technical Sllpport Document a preliminary 

recommendation for a revised fish consumption rate in the range of 157 to 267 grams per day is 

proposed for lise in the state's regulations. This range is primarily based on Ecology's 

evaluation of four studies: 

• 	 A Fish Consumption Surve.v (~fthe Umatilla. Nez. Perce, Yakama, and Warm Springs Tribes 

ofthe Columhia River Basin (Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. 1994). 

• 	 A Fish Consllmption Survey ofthe Tula/ip and Sqlltlxin Island Trihes ofthe Puget Sound 

Region (Toy et aI., 1996). 

I EPA. 2000. Methodologyji)1' Deril';lIg Ambient Water Quality Criteria/iJr the Protection O/'HlIIIIClIl Health. U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency. Office of Water. Washington. D.C. EPA-822-8-00-004. Availahle at: 

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• 	 Fish Consumption Survey (~f tile Suquamish Indian Tribe (dthe Port Madison Indian 


Reservations, Puget Sound Region (Suquamish Tribe, 2000). 


• 	 Asian and Pac{tic [slander Seafood Consllmption Study (Sechena et a!., 1999). 

To reiterate, EPA believes the approach for developing a revised fish consumption rate should be 

based on current scientific information and local/regional data. The initial approach put forth in 

the draft report is aligned with this thinking. While we understand the need for continued 

coordination with your stakeholders and the Tribes, we encourage you to quickly incorporate this 

information into your rulemaking process and move forward with adopting revised criteria. 

EPA is aware that Ecology has been following the work previously completed in Oregon to 

make similar revisions to their WQS invol ving a revised fish consumption rate based on 175 

grams per day and associated new and revised implementation tools. The revisions to Oregon's 

WQS were approved by EPA on October 17, 20 II. To avoid duplication of efforts, we 

recommend that you continue to consult with the state of Oregon as you move forward. 

EPA urges Ecology to continue the process of revising Washington's human health criteria in a 

timely manner. However, EPA recognizes that several key questions still need to be decided. 

For example, Ecology will need to decide on implementation tools in order to put into practice 

revised human health criteria and Ecology will need to decide if a consistent number will be 

chosen for the state's SMS and WQS. Nonetheless, EPA believes the information is currently 

available to make decisions on these matters and requests Ecology to quickly move through the 

process necessary to do so. EPA remains committed to working with Ecology, the Tribes and 

Washington's stakeholders to facilitate the adoption of water quality criteria that retlect 

appropriate fish consumption rates for Washington's waters and are protective of human health. 

Since this is a priority for EPA Region 10, we are available and willing to work closely with you 

throughout your human health criteria update process. EPA greatly appreciates your engagement 

on this significant topic. Please feel free to contact me at (206) 553-2724 or have your staff 

contact Matthew Szelag at (206) 553-5171 as we continue to move forward on this important 

effort. 

],mnine ]e~nings Manager, WQS Unit 

Office of Water and Watersheds 

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