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December 18, 1998
AMSA Comments on Draft Human Health Criteria Methodology
On December 14, AMSA submitted comments on EPA's proposed, "Draft Revisions to the Methodology for Deriving Ambient Water Quality Criteria for the Protection of Human Health." The proposal contains numerous changes from the 1980 AWQC National Guidelines that may result in more restrictive water quality criteria. These include: 1) replacing bioconcentration factors (BCFs) with bioaccumulation factors (BAFs); 2) replacing the default fish intake rate of 6.5 grams/day to 17.8 grams/day (for protection of the general adult population and sport anglers) and 86.3 grams/day (for protection of subsistence fishers); and, 3) use of an exposure decision tree that could potentially allocate as little as 20 percent of a bioaccumulative pollutant's acceptable dose level merely because of insufficient data to quantify other exposures.
In its comments, AMSA supported revision of the existing criteria for water quality, noting that information and data collected during the past 18 years should be utilized. AMSA did note, however, that revised criteria should be based upon sound science and superior quality data. AMSA members had particular concerns regarding development of site specific criteria and use of bioaccumulative factors in criteria derivation. AMSA's comments reflected the Association's belief that additional data and research are required to derive scientifically defensible ambient water quality criteria, and that steps should be taken to obtain the necessary information before new AWQC are implemented.
EPA proposes to finalize the revised methodology sometime in 1999. It is anticipated that, when finalized, the revised methodology will provide guidance to States for use in developing human health criteria as part of their water quality standards.
AMSA Testifies Before Senate Special Committee on Y2K
Earlier today, Patrick Miles, Director of Information Technology/CIO at the County Sanitation Districts of Orange County, CA presented AMSA's perspective on Year 2000 readiness in the wastewater management sector before the Senate's Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem. The AMSA testimony emphasized data collected in AMSA's updated Year 2000 Survey Analysis (see MU 98-21, December 4, 1998).
Clean Water on the Web Now Features New Y2K Section
AMSA's web site, http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org, now features a special Year 2000 section, Y2K Readiness…The Nation's POTW's Prepare. Simply click on the Y2K icon to access the results of AMSA's Year 2000 Survey, the EPA's Y2K Enforcement Policy, the Year 2000 Information & Readiness Disclosure Act passed by Congress this year, and hot links to numerous related web sites.
Resource Guide Deadline Extended to January 8, 1999
AMSA and AMWA this week extended the deadline for submittal of competitive practice profile forms to January 8, 1999. To become one of the featured utilities simply look for the AMSA/AMWA Resource Guide logo at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org.
Due to the upcoming holidays, there will be no AMSA FaxAlert on Friday, December 25, 1998 and Friday, January 1, 1999. The first FaxAlert of the new year will be forwarded to you on Wednesday, January 6. Thereafter we will resume our weekly Friday schedule. Happy Holidays!