Office of Science and Technology

What We Do

The Office of Science and Technology (OST) sets national environmental baselines for the quality

of the Nation’s waters. OST ensures these baselines reflect the latest water pollution science and

best available water pollution control technologies to support the Office of Water’s programs to

keep water safe and clean. Every year under the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act,

OST produces major water pollution control regulations, guidelines, methods, standards, sciencebased criteria and studies that are critical components of national programs that protect people

and the aquatic environment.

Developing the Scientific Basis for a Regulatory Framework

OST conducts and sponsors extensive research

and empirical studies that help other EPA

programs, states and tribes protect their drinking water supplies and minimize the effects

of pollutants on fish, wildlife, and the

aquatic environment. Federal, state, tribal

and local governments use this information

to set limits on the kinds of pollutants that

may be discharged by industries directly into

waters and through wastewater treatment

plants. OST works closely with stakeholders,

who include states, tribes, local governments,

industry, environmental groups and academics, to help them set and meet their water quality

goals. Our stakeholders also participate in identifying manufacturing processes that reduce or

prevent the production of polluting chemicals and in setting our future regulatory goals. While

OST’s products form the scientific basis for most water programs that protect human health and

the aquatic environment, EPA’s ten regional offices communicate the information to our coregulators and the public. Together with EPA’s Office of Research and Development, other Office

of Water offices, and the regions, OST provides the tools and the training that states and tribes

need to develop and maintain strong scientifically-based water pollution control programs.

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What OST Works On

Effluent Guidelines

Water Quality Standards

Water Quality Criteria

Analytical Test Methods

Beach Water Quality

Fish and Wildlife Consumption

Advisories

Drinking Water and Health

Advisories

Contaminated Sediments

Water Quality Economics,

Benefits, and Statistics

Water Quality Models

Office of Wastewater Management

Office of Wetlands, Oceans, & Watersheds

Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water

American Indian Environmental Office

Other EPA Water Offices:

Engineering and Analysis

Standards and Health Protection

Health and Ecological Criteria

United States

Environmental Protection

Agency

Office of Water

(4501F)

EPA 820-B-01-002

September 2001

www.epa.gov/waterscience

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OST works in three main program areas:
Point source discharge programs

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Nonpoint source programs

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Wetlands programs

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Drinking water programs

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Dredged material management

programs

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Geographic specific programs (e.g.

Great Lakes, coastal areas, estuaries)

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Total Maximum Daily Loads

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Engineering and Analysis

The Engineering and Analysis Division (EAD) develops National technology-based

limitations and guidelines that control pollutant discharges from industry into surface

waters and waste and wastewater treatment works. EAD regulations also control the intake of

cooling water. To do this, EAD identifies appropriate and achievable industrial processes and

wastewater treatment technologies and develops laboratory analytical test methods. These

processes, technologies, and methods are the basis of the effluent limitation guidelines that

underlie NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) discharge permits.

Many of the pollutants our guidelines address are persistent toxic compounds like lead or

benzene, but the guidelines also address conventional pollutants.

We develop technology-based effluent guideline regulations that limit pollution from over 50

industrial categories (including chemical and pulp and paper manufacturing). These rules

involve extensive industry-specific engineering and economic studies, wastewater analyses, and

treatment option assessments. Effluent guidelines ensure that industrial wastewaters will achieve

levels of pollutants based on the best technology that is economically possible. EPA issues effluent

guidelines for categories of existing sources and new sources under Title III of the Clean Water Act.

Effluent Guidelines

• Aquaculture

• Centralized Waste Treatment

• Coal Mining

• Coastal Oil and Gas

• Commercial Hazardous Waste Combustors

• Construction and Development

• Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations

• Iron and Steel Manufacturing

• Landfills

Effluent Guidelines Under Development

and Recently-Published

• Meat Products

• Metal Products and Machinery

• Offshore Oil and Gas

• Pesticide Formulating & Packaging

• Pesticide Chemicals Manufacturing

• Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

• Pulp, Paper, and Paperboard

• Synthetic-Based Drilling Fluids

• Transportation Equipment Cleaning

www.epa.gov/waterscience/guide

Concentrated C

Animal

Feeding F

Operations O

Iron

&

Steel

OST Gives Scientific & Technical

Support to:

Water quality monitoring programs

• Other Government Agencies

• Other EPA Offices

• Other OW Programs

• Regional Offices

• State/Interstate/Tribal/Local

 Partners

• Regulated Community

• General Public

Key OST Partnerships
OST assesses the extent, severity, and sources

of contaminated sediment in the United

States. We develop tools designed to prevent

the volume of contaminated sediment

from increasing and to reduce the existing

volume. As required by the Clean Water Act,

SHPD develops and submits to the Congress

the biennial National Sediment Quality

Inventory. We also play a leadership role in

assuring EPA implements the Agency’s

Contaminated Sediment Management

Strategy.

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Under the BEACH Program, EPA develops

new laboratory test methods for detecting

contaminants in beach water and SHPD

provides grants to state, tribal, interstate,

and local agencies to establish effective

monitoring and public notification

programs for beaches. BEACH Watch is the

first federal Internet-based information

system to inform the public about local

beach closings and conditions.

SHPD supports the development of TMDLs

(Total Maximum Daily Load) for impaired

waterbodies through the development and

use of modeling tools such as BASINS and

AQUATOX.

Water Quality

Modeling

Protecting Water

Quality Through

Science

www.epa.gov/waterscience/models/ www.epa.gov/waterscience/cs www.epa.gov/waterscience/beaches/

Contaminated

Sediments

The Standards and Health Protection Division (SHPD) directs the national program for adoption

of State and Tribal water quality standards. It develops policies and guidance, and provides

assistance to EPA regional offices and states on adopting appropriate uses, water quality criteria,

and antidegradation protection for specific water bodies, and on development of total maximum

daily loads to meet water quality standards. SHPD also develops and manages cross-media,

agency wide policies to limit the public’s exposure to toxicants and pathogens. Lastly, SHPD

conducts environmental assessments to help evaluate the effects of regulations on water quality.

Standards and Health Protection

Water Quality Standards

SHPD is improving the process for developing, adopting, and approving water quality standards

that support our regions and their partners in defining, and then maintaining, their locallydesignated state and tribal water uses. We are committed to building productive working

relationships as states and tribes improve their water quality standards programs and, where

needed, revise their water quality standards regulations to support those improvements.

Fishable

Swimmable

Drinkable

www.epa.gov/waterscience/standards

Analytical Methods and

Laboratory Services

www.epa.gov/waterscience/methods

EAD is the arm of OST that develops and

validates laboratory analytical methods to

analyze wastewater, drinking water,

sediment, and other environmental media

to be used by industries, states, municipalities, and tribes. In addition, EAD provides a

wide spectrum of laboratory analytical

services to support data collection projects,

such as National Fish and Biosolids Surveys.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa This SHPD program assists states and tribes

in communicating to their residents the

risks of eating contaminated fish and

providing the tools they need to help lessen

these risks. SHPD maintains the National

Listing of Fish and Wildlife Advisories, a

user-friendly database that is available to

the public via the Internet, and develops

technical documents and guidance

materials that help states and tribes

monitor, assess, and notify the public when

and where non-commercial fish are not

suitable to eat.

Fish and Wildlife

Consumption Advisories

www.epa.gov/waterscience/fish The Health and Ecological Criteria Division (HECD) develops goals for surface waters and

drinking water to ensure they are safe for aquatic life, human use, and consumption.

Health and Ecological Criteria

www.epa.gov/waterscience/criteria

Aquatic Life

Nutrient Criteria to Protect Surface Waters

• Rivers & Streams

• Lakes & Resevoirs

• Estuarine & Coastal

• 17 Criteria Documents

Chemical Criteria to Protect Aquatic Life

• Lead

• Nonylphenol

• PCP Pentachlorophenol

• Selenium

• Salt Water Dissolved Oxygen

• Tributyltin

• Silver

• National Recommended Water

 Quality Criteria Table

• Ammonia

• Atrazine

• Cadmium

• Copper

• Diazinon

Biological Criteria for Surface Water Integrity

• Estuarine & Coastal

• Lakes & Resevoirs

• Large Rivers

Human Health

Goals Under Development and Recently Published Goals Under Development and Recently Published

• Acanthamoeba

• Aeromonas

• Arsenic

• Disinfection Byproducts

• Drinking Water Intake Report

• Enteroviruses & Hepatitis A

• Giardia

• Legionella

• Manganese

• Mycobacteria

• Radionuclides

• Radon

• Viruses

• Waterborne Infectious Disease

 Strategy

Surface Water Surface Water

• Methylmercury Fish

 Concentrations

• Methodologies

• 26 Updated Criteria

www.epa.gov/waterscience/biocriteria

Drinking Water Drinking Water

Economics & Benefits Assessment

www.epa.gov/waterscience/economics

OST develops data and models to strengthen the EPA’s ability to estimate the benefits

associated with improving water quality. These tools can be used to estimate the aggregate

benefits of the Clean Water Act, and of various individual regulatory policies.

• Rivers & Streams

• Stressor Guidance

• Wetlands

www.epa.gov/waterscience/standards/nutrient.html

www.epa.gov/waterscience/criteria

www.epa.gov/waterscience/criteria