Indiana Administrative Code › Title 327 - WATER POLLUTION CONTROL DIVISION › Article 2 - WATER QUALITY STANDARDS › Rule 1.5 - Water Quality Standards Applicable to All State Waters Within the Great Lakes System › Section 1.5-11 - Determination of Tier I aquatic life criteria

Current through July 10, 2024
Authority: IC 13-14-8; IC 13-14-9; IC 13-18-3
Affected: IC 13-18
Sec. 11.
(a) The
				procedures in this section shall be used to determine acute and chronic Tier I
				aquatic life criteria.
(b) The
				following considerations regarding the toxic substance shall be considered
				during the development of Tier I criteria or Tier II values:
(1) Each separate chemical that does not
				ionize substantially in most natural bodies of water should usually be
				considered a separate substance, except possibly for structurally similar
				organic compounds that only exist in large quantities as commercial mixtures of
				the various compounds and apparently have similar biological, chemical,
				physical, and toxicological properties.
(2) For chemicals that ionize substantially
				in most natural bodies of water, for example:
(A) some phenols and organic acids;
(B) some salts of phenols and organic acids;
				and
(C) most inorganic salts and
				coordination complexes of metals and metalloid; all forms that would be in
				chemical equilibrium should usually be considered one (1) substance. Each
				different oxidation state of a metal and each different nonionizable covalently
				bonded organometallic compound should usually be considered a separate
				substance.
(3) The
				definition of the toxic substance should include an operational analytical
				component. Identification of a substance simply as sodium, for example, implies
				total sodium, but leaves room for doubt. If total is meant, it must be
				explicitly stated. Even total has different operational definitions, some of
				which do not necessarily measure all that is there in all samples. Thus, it is
				also necessary to reference or describe the analytical method that is intended.
				The selection of the operational analytical component should take into account
				the analytical and environmental chemistry of the material and various
				practical considerations, such as labor and equipment requirements, and whether
				the method would require measurement in the field or would allow measurement
				after samples are transported to a laboratory. The operational analytical
				considerations shall be as follows:
(A) The
				primary requirements of the operational analytical component shall be as
				follows:
(i) Appropriate for use on samples of
				receiving water.
(ii) Rarely result
				in underprotection or overprotection of aquatic organisms and their
				uses.
(iii) Compatible with the
				available toxicity and bioaccumulation data without making extrapolations that
				are too hypothetical. Toxicity is the property of a substance, or combination
				of substances, to adversely affect organisms.
(B) Because an ideal analytical measurement
				will rarely be available, an appropriate compromise measurement will usually
				have to be used. This compromise measurement must fit with the general approach
				that if an ambient concentration is lower than the criterion or value,
				unacceptable effects will probably not occur, that is, the compromise measure
				must not err on the side of underprotection when measurements are made on a
				surface water. What is an appropriate measurement in one (1) situation might
				not be appropriate for another. For example, because the chemical and physical
				properties of an effluent are usually quite different from those of the
				receiving water, an analytical method that is appropriate for analyzing an
				effluent might not be appropriate for expressing a criterion or value, and vice
				versa. A criterion or value should be based on an appropriate analytical
				measurement, but the criterion or value is not rendered useless if an ideal
				measurement either is not available or is not feasible. The analytical
				chemistry of the substance might have to be taken into account when defining
				the substance or when judging the acceptability of some toxicity tests, but a
				criterion or value must not be based on the sensitivity of an analytical
				method. When aquatic organisms are more sensitive than routine analytical
				methods, the proper solution is to develop better analytical methods.
(4) The use of dissolved metal to
				set and measure compliance with water quality standards for aquatic life is the
				recommended approach, because dissolved metal more closely approximates the
				bioavailable fraction of metal in the water column than does total recoverable
				metal. Reasons for the consideration of total recoverable metals criteria or
				values include risk management considerations not covered by evaluation of
				water column toxicity. The commissioner may, after considering sediment and
				food chain effects for a particular metal, decide to take a more conservative
				approach for the metal. This approach could include the expression of aquatic
				life criteria or values for the metal in the form of total recoverable metal.
				If the commissioner determines that it is appropriate to express aquatic life
				criteria or values for a particular metal in the form of dissolved metal, the
				criteria or values shall be determined as follows:
(A) If sufficient toxicological data in the
				form of dissolved metal are available, these data shall be used in this section
				and sections 12 and 16 of this rule to derive aquatic life criteria or values
				directly in the form of dissolved metal.
(B) If sufficient toxicological data in the
				form of dissolved metal are not available, aquatic life criteria or values
				shall be derived in the form of total recoverable metal using the procedures in
				this section and sections 12 and 16 of this rule and then multiplied by
				criteria conversion factors approved by the commissioner to express the
				criteria or values in the form of dissolved metal.
(C) If sufficient toxicological data in the
				form of dissolved metal are not available and criteria conversion factors for
				the particular metal have not been approved by the commissioner, aquatic life
				criteria or values shall be derived in the form of total recoverable metal
				using the procedures in this section and sections 12 and 16 of this rule and
				expressed in the form of total recoverable metal.