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UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Region 1

5 Post Office Square Suite 100

Boston MA 021093912

December 2 2013

Michael Kuhns

Director

Bureau of Land and Water Quality

Department of Environmental Protection

17 State House Station

Augusta Maine 043330917

Dear Mr Kuhns

I would like to take this opportunity to highlight for you EPAs recent publication of final

ammonia and recreational water quality criteria recommendations and urge you to

consider adoption of these criteria into your water quality standards These recently

published criteria documents reflect once again the Agencys commitment to improving

and updating the science bolstering protection of our Nations water resources As you

know EPAs water quality standards regulations at 40 CFR 13111a1 require states to

adopt protective criteria that are based on sound scientific rationale The publication of

EPA recommendations under Clean Water Act section 304a provides an excellent

opportunity for you and your stakeholders to review existing water quality criteria and

determine whether those existing criteria are still in fact protective and based on sound

scientific rationale I encourage you to consider adoption of these or equivalently

protective criteria and to use your triennial public hearings required by 40 CFR

13120a to provide a venue for public feedback on the need to adopt new or modify

existing WQS to reflect the latest science

EPAs CWA section 304a criteria recommendations provide scientific

recommendations to states and authorized tribes in developing new or revised water

quality standards States and authorized tribes have the discretion to adopt EPAs criteria

recommendations EPAs recommendations modified to reflect sitespecific conditions

or criteria based on other scientifically defensible methods

EPA last issued final ambient water quality criteria recommendations for recreational

waters in 1986 and for ammonia in 1999 The new water quality criteria reflect the

significant research that has taken place between then and now on these pollutants and

the levels that are protective of designated uses

Recreational Water Quality Criteria

The recreational water quality criteria were developed based on a review of historic

studies and more recent scientific information including the National Epidemiological

and Environmental Assessment of Recreational water studies at US beaches in 2003

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2004 2005 2007 and 2009 Those studies enrolled 54250 participants encompassed

nine locations and collected and analyzed numerous samples from a combination of

fresh marine tropical and temperate waters The resulting criteria have numerous

improvements over the 1986 criteria

The criteria consist of both a geometric mean and statistical threshold value

The criteria now comprise a magnitude duration and frequency

States may choose from two different sets of recommended criteria values to

protect primary contact recreation waters

The criteria recommendations for fresh and marine waters are based on the same

illness rate

The criteria no longer refer to different use intensities

States may take advantage of newly developed rapid test qPCR methods in

adopting WQ S

States may now use Beach Action Values in their beach notification programs

As you know as a BEACH Act state Maine has specific requirements regarding

recreational water criteria Section 303iIB of the Clean Water Act as amended by

the BEACH Act of 2000 directs each state with coastal recreational waters to adopt and

submit to EPA new or revised water quality standards for those waters for all pathogens

and pathogen indicators to which the new or revised water quality criteria are applicable

The deadline for state adoption and submittal to EPA of revised WQS is three years from

EPA publication of new recommendations Since EPA published final recreational water

quality criteria recommendations in December 2012 states should complete this action

by December 2015 EPAs 2012 recommendations apply to all waters designated for

primary contact recreation

You can find more information on the 2012 recreational water quality criteria on EPAs

website at httpwaterepagovscitechswguidancestandardscriteriahealthirecreation

Ammonia Criteria

In updating the 1999 ammonia criteria EPA conducted an extensive literature review that

incorporates new toxicity data from 69 studies including new data on freshwater mussels

and gill bearing snails which are both sensitive to ammonia toxicity In particular the

freshwater mussels are more sensitive to ammonia than the organisms included in the

1999 criteria dataset You can find more information on the 2013 ammonia water quality

criteria on EPAs website at

httpwaterepagoviscitechswguidancestandardscriteriaaqlifeaminonia

Because both these newly published criteria rely on the latest research and science I

encourage you when reexamining your water quality standards during the next triennial

review to consider adoption of these criteria into your water quality standards If after

you review your existing water quality standards you conclude that updates to your

ammonia and recreational water quality standards are not necessary to protect the

designated uses I urge you to submit in your triennial review your rationale for not

making a change

I hope these new criteria provide you with the information you need to move forward as

you consider changes to your water quality standards in the near future I appreciate your

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commitment to protecting water quality and look forward to continuing to work

collaboratively towards our mutual goals Ifyou should have any additional questions

please feel free to contact me or Ellen Weitzler for more information

Sincerely

Ken Moraff Director

Office of Ecosystem Protection

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