Pennsylvania Code › Title 25 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Part I - Department of Environmental Protection › Subpart C - Protection of Natural Resources › Article II - Water Resources › Chapter 93 - WATER QUALITY STANDARDS › WATER QUALITY CRITERIA › Section 93.8a - Toxic substances

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
(a) The
						waters of this Commonwealth may not contain toxic substances attributable to
						point or nonpoint source waste discharges in concentrations or amounts that are
						inimical to the water uses to be protected.
(b) Water quality criteria for toxic
						substances shall be established as described under Chapter 16 (relating to
						water quality toxics management strategy-statement of policy). The Department
						will develop water quality criteria for toxic substances not listed in Chapter
						93, Table 5 in accordance with §
												93.8d (relating to development of
						site-specific water quality criteria) and Chapter 16. The Department will
						maintain a publicly available online table of site-specific human health and
						aquatic life criteria that have been recently developed or adopted by the
						Department based on approved methodologies and the best scientific information
						currently available. For any analytical procedures or detection limits that are
						not EPA approved, the approved analytical procedures and detection limits for
						these substances will also be listed in Chapter 16. Chapter 16, along with
						changes made to it, is hereby specifically incorporated by reference.
(c) Water quality criteria for toxic
						substances which exhibit threshold effects will be established by application
						of margins of safety to the results of toxicity testing to prevent the
						occurrence of a threshold effect.
(d) Nonthreshold carcinogenic effects of
						toxic substances, will be controlled to a risk management level of one excess
						case of cancer in a population of 1 million (1 x
						10-6) over a 70-year lifetime. Other nonthreshold
						effects of toxic substances will be controlled at a risk management level as
						determined by the Department.
(e)
						Water quality criteria for toxics shall be applied in accordance with Chapter
						96 (relating to water quality standards implementation) and any other
						applicable State and Federal laws and regulations. For carcinogens, the design
						conditions shall result in a lifetime-70 years-average exposure corresponding
						to the risk management level specified in subsection (d).
(f) The Department will consider both the
						acute and chronic toxic impacts to aquatic life and human health.
(g) The Department may consider synergistic,
						antagonistic and additive toxic impacts.
(h) The Department will periodically, but at
						least once every 3 years, review, revise as necessary, and publish new or
						revised water quality criteria for toxic substances, and revised procedures for
						criteria development in the
Pennsylvania Bulletin
.
(i) A person challenging criteria established
						by the Department under this section shall have the burden of proof to
						demonstrate that the criteria does not meet the requirements of this section.
						In addition, a person who proposes an alternative site-specific criterion shall
						have the burden of proof to demonstrate that the site specific criterion meets
						the requirements of this section.
(j) The requirements for discharges to and
						antidegradation requirements for the Great Lakes System are as follows:
(1)
Definitions
. The
						following words and terms, when used in this section, have the following
						meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
BAF-Bioaccumulation Factor
-The ratio
						  in liters per kilogram of a substance's concentration in tissues of an aquatic
						  organism to its concentration in the ambient water, when both the organism and
						  its food are exposed and the ratio does not change substantially over
						  time.
BCC-Bioaccumulative Chemical of
						  Concern
-A chemical that has the potential to cause adverse effects
						  which, upon entering the surface waters, by itself or its toxic transformation
						  product, accumulates in aquatic organisms by a human health BAF greater than
						  1,000, after considering metabolism and other physiochemical properties that
						  might enhance or inhibit bioaccumulation, under the methodology in
						  40 CFR Part
						  132 Appendix B (relating to Great Lakes Water
						  Quality Initiative). Current BCCs are listed in
						  40 CFR
						  132.6, Table 6.A (relating to pollutants of
						  initial focus in the Great Lakes Water Quality Initiative).
Great Lakes System
-The streams,
						  rivers, lakes and other bodies of surface water within the drainage basin of
						  the Great Lakes in this Commonwealth.
Open Waters of the Great Lakes
-The
						  waters within the Great Lakes in this Commonwealth lakeward from a line drawn
						  across the mouth of the tributaries to the lakes, including the waters enclosed
						  by constructed breakwaters, but not including the connecting channels.
(2)
Total Maximum Daily
						Loads (TMDLs)
. TMDLs for Open Waters of the Great Lakes shall be
						derived following the procedures in 40 CFR Part 132 , Appendix F, Procedure 3.D
						(relating to Great Lakes Water Quality Initiative implementation
						procedures).
(3) Statewide
						antidegradation requirements in this chapter and Chapter 96 (relating to water
						quality standards implementation) as applicable, apply to all surface waters of
						the Great Lakes System.
(4) If, for
						any BCC, the quality of the surface water exceeds the levels necessary to
						support the propagation of fish, shellfish and wildlife and recreation in and
						on the waters, that quality shall be maintained and protected, unless the
						Department finds that allowing lower water quality is necessary to accommodate
						important economic or social development in the area in which the surface water
						is located.