1.
PROI
IEPA ATTACHMENT NO.
,P
PI3-263 943
• U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
Washington, D.C. 20460
REPRODUCtO
?
'-
NATIONAL
TECHNICAL
INFORMATION SERVICE
U:S.DEPARIMENT OF COMMERCE
SPRINGFIELD. VA. 22161
NOTICE
THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED
'iROM .THE BEST
. COPY" FURNISHED
..
?"BY
THE • SPONSORING AGENCY. ALTHOUGH•IT
IS RECOGNIZED THAT CERTAIN. PORTIONS
ARE •ILLEGIBLE, IT. IS .
BEING RELEASED
IN.
T
HE INTEREST OF .MAKING AVAILABLE
AS MUCH INFORMATION
.
AS POSSIBLE.
CONTENTS
Page
PrefaceForeword
?
?
iii
Preparation of this Volume
?
ix
The Philosophy of Quality
Criteria?
1
Aesthetics
?
10
Alkalinity ?
11
Ammonia ?
16
Arsenic
?
25
Barium?
36
Beryllium
?
39
Boron
?
47
Cadmium ?
50
„Chlorine
?
61
,,,Chromium ?
69
Coliform Bacteria ?
79
Color
?
101
Copper?
107
Cyanide
?
128.
Gases, Total Dissolved?
139
Hardness
?
147
Iron
?
•
152
CONTENTS CONT'D
Page
Lead ?
159
Manganese ?
178
Mercury
?
183
Mixing Zones ?
193
Nickel??
196
Nitrates;Nitrites
?
201
Oil and Grease ?
210
Oxygen,
Dissolved
?
224
Pesticides:
Aldrin-Dieldrin
Chlorophenoxy
Chlordane ?
Herbicides
?
?
230
240
250
•?
DDT ?
254
Demeton ?
260
Endosulfan
?
265
Endrin
?
.270
Guthion
?
276
Heptachlor
?
284
Lindane
?
291
Malathion
?
296
Methoxychlor
?
306
Mirex ?
?
312
Parathion
?
320
Toxaphene ?
329
iJ
Page,
pH ?
337
Phenol ?
347
Phosphorus
?
352
Phthalate Esters.
?
361
Polychlorinated Biphenyls
?
364
Selenium-
??
385
Silver?
388
Solids (Dissolved) & Salinity
?
394
Solids (Suspended) & Turbidity ?
494
Sulfides, Hydrogen Sulfide
?
-4-10
CONTENTS CONT'D
-Tainting.Substances
?
• AV
Temperature?
40
Zinc
?
481
GLOSSARY
?
:pa
•••
TABLES
Page,
1?
Maximum alkalinity in, waters used as a
source
of supply prior.to treatment
?
14
?
2.
Maximum color of surface waters that have been.
3...The
. used
acute
as
toxicity
a source
ofcopper
for industrial
to several
water
speciessupplies
?
4.
•?
Maximum
of
fish
hardness
in
water
levels
of various
accepted
water
by
industryqualities
?
5.
'The
as
acute
a raw
toxicity
water.sourceof
lead
?
to several species
of fish in water of various
water qualities
6.
Summary of lethal toxicities of
various
petroleum products to aquatic organisms
?
.... .212
7.
Sug
ary of some sublethal effects of petroleum.
8 .
Derivation
products
of
on
approval
marine life
limits
?
(AL) for
chlorophenoxy herbicides
?
252
?
9
. Dissolved solids hazard for irrigation water (mg/1)
??
399
10.
Total dissolved solids concentrations of surface
waters that have been used as sources for
industrial water supplies
?
.?
40/
11.
Example calculated values, for maximum weekly
average temperatures for growth and short-term
maxima for
survival for juveniles and adults
during the summer (centigrade and fahrenheit)
?
4a1
?
12.
Summary values for maximum weekly average
temperature for spawning and short-term
maxima for embryo survival during the spawning
?
season (centigrade and fahrenheit)
?
434
?
13.. Selected Thermal
Requirsments
and
i
zimitimg
Temperature
Data ald
Temperate
Zone, Atlantic Coast: South of
Long Island, N.Y. to Cape Hatteras, N.C. . .....
?
41.
14. The acute toxicity (24-,
48-,
96-hour TL50 values)
of zinc
to
several
species of fish in water of
various water. qualities
?
486
?
104
112
166:
213
t
FIGURES
1.
Median Resistance Times To High Temperatures
?
429
2.
Graph to determine the maximum weekly average
temperature of plumes for various ambient
temperatures,
0C
( 0F)
?
432
44
-coo
s
1
,4
'''42;11
4
UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
47z
?
WASHINGTON. D.C. 20460
-
?-2 6 JU 1976
OFFICE OF WATER AND
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
To the Reader:
Thousands of fine scientists throughout the country have
contributed directly or indirectly, to this publication on
"Quality Criteria for Water." This volume represents a stock- .
taking effort on the part of this Agency to identify as precisely
as possible at this time, on a national scale, the various water
constituents that combine to form the concept of
"Quality Criteria
for Water". This process of definition will continue.far into
the future because research related to water'quality is a never-
ending evolutionary process, and the water environment is so
complex that man's efforts to crefine.it will never attain finite
precision.
Water quality criteria do not have direct regulatory use, but
they form the basis for judgment in several Environmental Protection
Agency and State programs that are associated with water quality
considerations. The criteria presented in this publication should not
be used as absolute values for water quality. As it is stated in the
chapter on "The Philosophy of Quality Criteria" there
is
variability
in the natural quality of water and certain organisms become adapted.
to that quality, which may be considered extreme in other areas.
These criteria represent scientific judgments based upon literature
and research about the concentration-effect relationship to a particular
water quality constituent upon a particular aquatic species within the
limits of experimental investigation. They should be used with con-
. sidered judgment and with an understanding of their development. The.
judgment associated with their use should include the natural quality
of water under consideration, the kinds of organisms that it contains,
the association of those species to the particular species described
in this volume upon which criteria values have bee•placed, and the
local hydrologic conditions.
It must be emphasized that national criteria can never be de-
veloped to meet the individual needs of each of the Nation's water-
ways--the natural variability within the aquatic ecosystem can never
-2-
be identified with a single numerical value. Water quality criteria
?
WillChangr
er
in-
thefUtiire as our knowledge and perception of the
intricacies of water improve. There is no question but that criteria
for some constituents will change within a period of only two years
based upon research now in progress. That is a mark of continuing
progressive research effort, as well as a mark of a better under-
standing by
man of the environment that he inhabits.
This, then, is the challenge for the future: to expand upon our
present baseline of knowledge of the cause-effect relationships of
water constituents to aquatic life and of the antagonistic and syner-
gistic reactions among many quality constituents in water; and to mold
such future knowledge into realistic, environmentally protective
criteria to insure that the water resource'Can,falfill soctgty's
needs.
/
(
K2:"
ckardt C. Beck
Deputy Assistant Administrator
for Water Planning and Standards
IRON
CRITERIA:
0.3 mg/1 for domestic water supplies (Welfare).
- —
for freshwater aquatic life..
INTRODUCTION: .
Iron is:the fourth most abundant,. by weight,
of the elements that
make up the earth's crust. -Common in many rocks. it is in . :important
component
of many sails, especially the
-
clay soils where
usually it is.-a major
constituent. Iron in water may be present'in'verying quantities dependent
upon the geology of the area
.
and other chemical.components of the waterway.
.?
.
Iron is an essential trace element required by both plants'e.nd animals,
in some waters it may be a limiting factor for'the.growth of algae and other
plants;
.
especially this is true in some marl lakes where it is precipitated
tY'the'highly
.
:alkalinecendition. .1tAs a-vital-oxygen transport mechanism
in the blood
of
all vertebrate and some
invertebrate
.The .
ferreuS, or bivalent (Fe
++
), and the ferric, or trivalent (Fe+++).:
irons, are the primary forms of concern in the aquatic
• environment,
although
• other forms may be in organic and inorganic wastewater streams.' The ferrous.;.
(Fe++ ) form can persist in waters void of dissolved oxygen and originates
usually from groundwaters or mines when these are pumped or drained. For
practical purposes the ferric
(Fe
w)
form is
.
insoluble. Iron can exist
in
natural organometallic or humic compounds and colloidal forms. Black or.
brown swamp waters may contain iron concentrations
of several mg/1 in the presence
or absence of dissolved oxygen, but this iron form has litte effect on aquatic
life because it is complexed or relatively inactive chemically or
physiologically.
In stratified lakes with anaerobic hypolimnia, soluble ferrous iron
-occursAn-the-deein-anaerobtd-WateiS.
?
-Oil-ring
the autumnal or vernal overturns
and with aeration of these lakes, it is oxidized rapidly to the ferric ion
that precipitates to the bottom sediments as a hydroxide, Fe(OH)
3
, or with
other anions. If hydrogen sulfide (H
2S)
is present in anaerobic bottom
waters or muds, ferrous sulfide (FeS) may be formed. Ferrous sulfide is'a
black compound and results in
the
production of black mineral muds.
Prime iron pollution sources are industrial wastes, mine drainage
waters, and iron-bearing groundwaters. in the presence of dissolved oxygen,
iron-in water from mine drainage is
precipitated as a
hydroxide, Fe(OH).1.
These yellowish or ochre precipitates produce "yellow boy" deposits found
in many streams draining coal mining regions of Appalachia. Occasionally
ferric oxide (Fe
203
) is precipitated forming red waters. Both of these
precipitates form as gels or flocs that may be detrimental, when suspended
in
.
water,.to fishes and other aquatic life. They can settle to form flocculent
materials that cover stream bottoms thereby destroying bottom-dwelling
invertebrates, plants or incubating fish eggs. With time these flocs can
consolidate to form cement-like materials, thus consolidating bottom gravels
into pavement-like areas that are unsuitable as spawning sites for nest
building fishes; particularly this is detrimental to trout and salmon
populations whose eggs ere protected in the interstices of gravel and
incubated with oxygen-bearing waters passing through the gravel.
153
RATIONALE:
Iron is an objectionable constituent. in water
.
suppl
ies
-fOr either
domestic,:
or industrial use. Iron appreciably affects the taste of beverages (Riddick,
.•
?
.
?
..•
-----et-Ar.-,--1958)—a-ffd-calf-stain-laundered
clothes and plumbing'fixtures.--;A-study.
?
by the Public Health Service (Cohen, et al., 1960) indicates that the taste
of.iron may be detected readily, at 1.8
.
mg/1 in spring water and at 3.4 mg/1
in distilled Water.
The daily nutritional requirement for
iron is
1 to 2 mg, but intake of
.?
•.
?
•
larger quantities is required as a result of poor
.
absorption., Diets contain
7 to 35 mg per day and average 1.6 mg (Soliman, 1957). The iron
.
criterion
in
water Is to
prevent objectionable testes or laundry staining 40.3-mg/1)
constitutes only a. small fraction of the iron normally consumed and is of
aesthetic rather than toxicological significance.
.,Warnick and Bell (1969) obtained 96-hour LC
50
values
of
0.32mg/1
irok
•
constituents measured were suitable fOr the presence of 'trout" (FWPCA, 1967).
'Ferric hydroxide flocs
have been observed to coati .
the: gills
* Of.
white
perch,
Roccus americanus; minnows and silversides, Menidia
?
(Olsen,
et
al.,
for mayfl i es , s tonefli es, and caddi sf 1 i es ;
all
are important-T.11h' food
Orlin i Stai
Brandt (1948) found iron toxic
to
carp,
Cyprinus carpi°,
at concentrations:-
0.9 mg/1 when the pH of the water was 5.5. .Pike,
Esox lucius,,and
trout:
(species not known) died at iron concentrations of I to 2 mg/1 (Doudorofr
And Katz,'1953). Inan iron polluted Colorado stream, neither trout nor other fish,
*e
;
round until the waters were diluted or the iron had precipitated
.to
effect a concentration of less than 1.0 mg/1 even though
.
other:water
quality
1-5'1,
•
•
.1441). The smothering effects of settled iron precipitates may be particularly"
detrimental to fish eggs and bottom-dwelling fish
-food
organisms. Iron deposits
in the Brule River, Michigan and Wisconsin were found to have a residual long-
1
--term-adverse-effect-an-fist_food_organisms even atter_the pumping of iron-
bearing waters from deep shaft iron mines had ceased (West, et al., 19e3).
Settling. iron flocs have also been,reported to trap and carry diatoms
downward
in waters (Olsen, et
al., 1941).
Ellis (1937) found that in 69 of 75
study
sites
with good fish fauna,
.the iron concentration was less than MO mg/1. The European Inland.Fisheries
Advisory Commission (1964) recommended that iron concentrations not exceed
MO/1 1n waters to be managed for aquatic life.
.
?
.
Based2On
.
.field observations principally, a criterion of 1 mg/1 iron
.10r-
frahwater aquatic
life
is believed to be adequately protective.
As noted, data obtained under laboratory conditions suggest a greater
toxicity for
iron than that obtained in natural ecosystems. Ambient
natural waters will vary with respect to alkalinity, pH, hardness,
.temperature and the presence of ligands Which change the valence state
and solubility, and. therefore the toxicity of the metal.
The
effects of iron on maririe life havenot been investigated adequately
to determine a water, quality criterion. Dissolved iron readily precipitates
in:alkaline
sea waters::
Fears have
been expresseOhat.these settled iron
flocs may have adverse effects
. on
important benthic commercial mussels and
other
shellfish resources.
'55
Iron has not been reported to have a direct effect on
the recreational'
i
_uses
of water other than its, effects on aquatic life.
Suspended .
i
.
j7cui precipitates=:
may interfere with swimming
and be aesthetically objectionable. .Deposits''of.,iellnw
ochre
or
reddish iron oxides can be
aesthetically: objectionable.
,
Iron at exceedingly high concentrations has been reported to
.
be
tOkic`,to.
livestock
and interfere with the metabolism
of phosphorplhAS/197444--f
Dietary
supplements of phosphorus can
?used to OveretiMe"
.?
.?
.
deficiency (McKee and Wolf, 1965). In aerated soils, iron'in rriga
?
•
Watiti
.is hot toxic.. Precipitated iron may complex phosphorus and molybdenum making
them less available as plant nutrients..
:
Inalkaline? May: be' so
insoluble
as to be deficient as a •trace element
. arid result
.
in chlorosit; n
objectionable plant
nutrient
deffcienCy .
disease.: Rhoades (1971),
reduction
in• the
quality of tobacco because of precipitated iron
.oxides
the leaves
when
the crop was spray, irrigated With water..contitinihg g mg
of
soluble iron.
For some industries,
iron
concentrations
in
proCesi.wateri
1
ot4et.'
that
:
.
prescribed above for public: water supplies are
required
Examples include high pressure boiler feed waters; scouring,
bleaching,
and dyeing of-
.
.textiles; certain types of
.
paper production;
some chetuiCals1
some
food
processing; and leather finishing industries.:.
15(;,
LITERATURE CITED:
Brandt, H.H., 1948. Intensified injurious effects on fish, especially
?
--the-increased
=toxic-effett-prOtuced-by
-
a
combination
of sewage poisons.
Beitr. Wass. Abwass., Fischereichemi. 15.
_ Cohen, J. t.1., et al., 1960. Taste,threshold'concentrations of metals
in drinking water.. Jour. Amer. Water Works Assn., 52: 660.
Doudoroff,- P., and M. Katz, 1953. Critical review of literature on the
toxicity of indu
s
trial wastes and their components to fish. II. The
metals, as salts. Sew. Ind. Wastes, 25:802.
Ellis, L ,
M.,-1931, Detection and measurement of.stream pollution.-
U,-S„ Bur. Fisheries, 48: 365.
European Inland Fisheries Advisory CommisSjon, 1960 Water quality criteria::
for European freshwater fish, Report
on
finely divided
solids and inland
fisheries. Tech. Paper
. 1:
FWPCA, 1967. 'Effects of
pollution on the aquatic life resources of the
.
?
.
South Platte'River
. Basin:. Two volumes. South Platte,River.Basin.
Project, Denver, Colorado and Technical
.
Advisory and Investigations
Branch, Cincinnati, Ohto, Fed. Water Pollution. Cont. Admin., U.S.
Dept. of Interior.
`McKee, J. E., .and H. W. Wolf, 1963. Water quality criteria. State
Water
Quality COntitoI Board. SacraMento, California, Pub. 3-A.
1•,
151
National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, 1974.
Water quality criteria, 1972. U.S. Governm
yntjrinting
Office,
Washington, D. C.
Olsen, P.A., et al., 1941. Studies of the effects of industrial pollution
in the lower Patapsco River area. 1: Curtis Bay Region, Chesapeake.
.Biological Laboratory, SolomaAs Island, Maryland.
Rhoades, F.M., 1971. Relations between .
Fe in irrigation water and leaf.
quality of cigar wrapper tobacco. Agron. Jour., 63: 939.
Riddick, T.M., et al., 1958..1rOn and
manganese in water supplies.
- Jour. Amer. Water Works Assn., 501.. 688.
Stillman, T.M., 1957. A manual
of
pharmacology, 8th ed. W.B.*Saunders
Co.., Philadelphia, Pa..
Warnick, S.L. and H.L. Bell,1969. The acute toxicity of some heavy
metals to different species of aquatic insects. Jour. Water Poll,.
Cant. Fed., 41(Part 2): 280.
West,. A.W., et Al..1963. Report on pollution of the interstate water's::
of the Menominee and Brule rivers, Michigan-Wisconsin. U.S. Dept.-
Of Health, Education and Welfare, Public Health Service; R.A.:Jaft
Sanitary Engineering Center, Cincinnati, Ohio.
15g
LEAD
CRITERIA:
50 ughl for domestic water supply (health).
0. 01 tines the 96-hour LC value, using the receiving
or comparable 'Water as the diluent and soluble lead
measurements (non-filtrable lead using
an.Q.. 45
micron filter), for sensitive freshwater resident spEcies.
INTRODUCTION:
In addition to their natural occurrence, lead and its compounds
may enter and contaniinate the global environment at any stage during
mining, smelting, processing, and use. The annual increase in lead
consumption in the U. S. during the 10-year period from 1962-1971
averaged 2.9 percent, largely due to increased demands for electro-
chemical batteries and gasoline additives (Ryan, 1971). In 1971 the
total U. S.. lead consumption was.1, 431, 514 short tons,. of which 42
percent came from recycled lead (Ryan, 1971). Of the 1971 U. S. lead
consumption, approximately. 2.5 percentwas as metallic lead or lead
alloy. (Ryan, 1971; NAS, .19.72). Nón-industrial Sources that may
contribute to the possibility
.?
•?
of ingestion
.?
of.lead by man
•
include the
indoor use of lead-bearing paints and plaster, improperly glazed
earthenware, lead fumes on ashes produced in burning lead battery
casings, and exhaust from internal combustion engines.
- Most lead salts are of low soltibility, Lead exists in nature mainly
as lead sulfide (galena); other common natural forms are lead carbonate
•(cerussite),
lead sulfate (anglesite), andlead ChloroPhosphate
(pyroraorphite). Stable complexes reaultatiO•
from the interaction
•
of
k5q