Tribal Consultation

EPA Released Three Draft Chapters of the Water Quality Standard Handbook on Designated Uses, Antidegradation, and WQS Variances

Deadline Extended: April 11, 2025

On December 12, 2024, the EPA released three draft chapters of the WQS Handbook on Designated Uses, Antidegradation, and WQS Variances for a 90-day public comment period. The WQS Handbook provides a plain language discussion of the relevant regulatory and statutory requirements and the EPA’s recommendations for how states, authorized Tribes and U.S. territories can develop and implement WQS consistent with both. The EPA has updated Chapter 2 on Designated Uses, Chapter 4 on Antidegradation, and developed a new chapter on WQS Variances to include the EPA’s most recent WQS programmatic policy and guidance to implement the regulation at 40 CFR Part 131.

All comments must be submitted through the Docket. Visit the EPA’s WQS Handbook webpage to review the three draft chapters and for information on how to provide comments.

EPA’s Draft Sewage Sludge Risk Assessment for PFOA and PFOS

Deadline: April 16, 2025

The EPA released the Draft Sewage Sludge Risk Assessment for Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctane Sulfonic Acid (PFOS) for public comment. The draft risk assessment reflects the agency’s latest scientific understanding of the potential risks to human health and the environment posed by the presence of PFOA and PFOS in sewage sludge that is land applied as a soil conditioner or fertilizer (on agricultural, forested, and other lands), surface disposed (e.g., placed in a sewage sludge-only landfill called a monofill), or incinerated.

The EPA will accept written comments on the draft risk assessment through April 16, 2025, via Regulations.gov (Docket ID no. EPA-HQ-OW-2024-0504). For more information, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/biosolids/draft-sewage-sludge-risk-assessment-perfluorooctanoic-acid-pfoa-and-perfluorooctane

EPA’s Draft National Recommended Water Quality Criteria for the Protection of Human Health for PFOA, PFOS, and PFBS

Deadline Extended: April 25, 2025

The EPA has released draft national recommended health-based levels (human health criteria) for three per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water bodies. The three PFAS are perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), and perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS). Human health criteria are not legally enforceable, rather they are information for local entities to consider when making local decisions about water quality.

The EPA will accept written comments on the draft human health criteria until April 25, 2025. Section 304(a) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) directs the EPA to develop and publish water quality criteria that accurately reflect the latest scientific knowledge about the effects of particular pollutants on human health and welfare. The EPA’s CWA Section 304(a) human health criteria are recommendations to states and Tribes authorized to establish their own water quality standards under the CWA. Once final, these recommended criteria can be used by states and authorized Tribes to develop their own water quality criteria that help protect people from exposure through consuming water, fish and shellfish from inland and nearshore water bodies that may be contaminated by any of these PFAS. For more information: https://www.epa.gov/wqc/human-health-water-quality-criteria-pfas