EPA > Water > Water Science > Analytical Methods > Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) Methods > Final Rule - Technical Corrections > Fact Sheet

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Water Science

Analytical Methods

United States 

Environmental Protection

Agency

Office of Water (4303)

Washington, DC 20460

EPA-821-F-98-022

January 1999

Technical Corrections to EPA Approved Whole Effluent Toxicity Test

Methods

Summary

EPA announces publication of a Federal Register notice that revises the whole effluent toxicity (WET) final rule

and aquatic toxicity test methods manuals approved at 40 CFR Part 136 under the Clean Water Act to correct

non-substantive errors and omissions, provide technical clarifications, and heighten consistency. Today's rule

incorporates by reference and makes available to the public an errata document that lists the specific corrections

to each test manual.

Background

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes analytical testing methods that are used by industrial

and municipal facilities to analyze chemical and biological components of wastewater, drinking water, sediment,

and other environmental samples, for the purpose of data gathering and compliance monitoring under the Clean

Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.

In 1995, EPA amended the "Guidelines Establishing Test Procedures for the Analysis of Pollutants" at 40 CFR

Part 136, by adding methods that employ standardized freshwater, marine, and estuarine vertebrates,

invertebrates, and plants to directly measure the acute and short-term chronic toxicity of effluents and receiving

waters under the Clean Water Act (60 FR 53529, October 16, 1995).

The 1995 WET rule incorporated the following three aquatic toxicity test method manuals by reference: Methods

for Measuring the Acute Toxicity of Effluents and Receiving Water to Freshwater and Marine Organisms

(EPA/600/4-90/027F); Short-Term Methods for Estimating the Chronic Toxicity of Effluents and Receiving

Water to Freshwater Organisms (EPA/600/4-91/002); and Short-Term Methods for Estimating the Chronic

Toxicity of Effluents and Receiving Water to Marine and Estuarine Organisms (EPA/600/4-91/003).

Technical Corrections

This rule revises the 1995 WET rule language and the three test manuals to correct typo-graphical errors and

minor omissions, provide technical clarifications, and establish consistency. The majority of the corrections were

brought to the Agency's attention by stakeholders experienced in application of the approved WET methods.

This rule incorporates by reference an errata document that lists the specific corrections to each test manual. The
EPA > Water > Water Science > Analytical Methods > Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) Methods > Final Rule - Technical Corrections > Fact Sheet

file:////acfnas/perm/netsite-docs/lps67821/tmfs.html[3/9/2017 11:06:45 AM]

title of the errata document is: Errata for Effluent and Receiving Water Toxicity Testing Manuals: Acute Toxicity

of Effluents and Receiving Waters to Freshwater and Marine Organisms; Short-Term Methods for Estimating the

Chronic Toxicity of Effluents and Receiving Waters to Freshwater Organisms; Short-Term Methods for

Estimating the Chronic Toxicity of Effluents and Receiving Waters to Marine and Estuarine Organisms. January

1999. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Duluth, MN. EPA-600/R98/182.

Additional Information and Availability of Documentation

For additional information concerning this action, you may contact the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,

Office of Water, Engineering and Analysis Division, Mail Code 4303T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW,

Washington, DC 20460, call (202) 566-1000; or contact Teresa J. Norberg-King at the U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Mid-Continent Ecology Division, National Health and

Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, 6201 Congdon Boulevard, Duluth, MN 55804, call (218) 529-5163,

or send an e-mail to norberg-king.teresa@epa.gov

The Federal Register notice for this rule contains instructions on how to get additional information, view or

obtain copies of the errata document, and review the public record for this rulemaking or the 1995 WET rule.

The complete text of the Federal Register notice for this rule is available from the USEPA Water Docket, 401 M

Street, SW, Washington, DC 20460 by phone at (202) 260-3027 or may be viewed or downloaded on the Internet

from the Superintendent of Documents homepage at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/. or the

OST homepage at http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/guide/.

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