National Recommended Water Quality Criteria - Aquatic Life Criteria Table

These criteria are based on the 1980 criteria which used different Minimum Data Requirements and derivation procedures from the 1985 Guidelines. If evaluation is to be done using an averaging period, the acute criteria values given should be divided by 2 to obtain a value that is more comparable to a CMC derived using the 1985 Guidelines.

This value was derived from data for endosulfan and is most appropriately applied to the sum of alpha-endosulfan and beta-endosulfan.

This recommended water quality criterion was derived from data for arsenic (III), but is applied here to total arsenic.

Freshwater and saltwater criteria for metals are expressed in terms of the dissolved metal in the water column.  Refer to Office of Water Policy and Technical Guidance on Interpretation and Implementation of Aquatic Life Metals Criteria.

These criteria are based on the 1980 criteria which used different Minimum Data Requirements and derivation procedures from the 1985 Guidelines. If evaluation is to be done using an averaging period, the acute criteria values given should be divided by 2 to obtain a value that is more comparable to a CMC derived using the 1985 Guidelines.

This value was derived from data for endosulfan and is most appropriately applied to the sum of alpha-endosulfan and beta-endosulfan.

On August 18, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona issued an order vacating EPA’s 2016 national recommended chronic freshwater cadmium aquatic life criterion.  EPA is continuing to evaluate the Order. But as a result of that Order, the current national recommended chronic freshwater cadmium aquatic life criterion can be found in EPA’s 2001 Update of Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Cadmium.

Freshwater acute and chronic criteria are hardness-dependent and were normalized to a hardness of 100 mg/L as CaCO3 to allow the presentation of representative criteria values. . 

Freshwater and saltwater criteria for metals are expressed in terms of the dissolved metal in the water column.  Refer to Office of Water Policy and Technical Guidance on Interpretation and Implementation of Aquatic Life Metals Criteria.

Freshwater and saltwater criteria for metals are expressed in terms of the dissolved metal in the water column.  Refer to Office of Water Policy and Technical Guidance on Interpretation and Implementation of Aquatic Life Metals Criteria.

The freshwater criterion for this metal is expressed as a function of hardness (mg/L). The value given here corresponds to a hardness of 100 mg/L. 

Freshwater criteria calculated using the Biotic Ligand Model. 

Freshwater and saltwater criteria for metals are expressed in terms of the dissolved metal in the water column. Refer to Office of Water Policy and Technical Guidance on Interpretation and Implementation of Aquatic Life Metals Criteria.

The freshwater CCC criterion and both Saltwater criteria are based are based on the 1980 criteria which used different Minimum Data Requirements and derivation procedures from the 1985 Guidelines. If evaluation is to be done using an averaging period, the acute criteria values given should be divided by 2 to obtain a value that is more comparable to a CMC derived using the 1985 Guidelines.

These criteria are based on the 1980 criteria which used different Minimum Data Requirements and derivation procedures from the 1985 Guidelines. If evaluation is to be done using an averaging period, the acute criteria values given should be divided by 2 to obtain a value that is more comparable to a CMC derived using the 1985 Guidelines.

This value was derived from data for heptachlor and there was insufficient data to determine relative toxicities of heptachlor and heptachlor epoxide.

Freshwater and saltwater criteria for metals are expressed in terms of the dissolved metal in the water column.  Refer to Office of Water Policy and Technical Guidance on Interpretation and Implementation of Aquatic Life Metals Criteria.

The freshwater criterion for this metal is expressed as a function of hardness (mg/L). The value given here corresponds to a hardness of 100 mg/L. 

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Freshwater and saltwater criteria for metals are expressed in terms of the dissolved metal in the water column.  Refer to Office of Water Policy and Technical Guidance on Interpretation and Implementation of Aquatic Life Metals Criteria.

The freshwater criterion for this metal is expressed as a function of hardness (mg/L). The value given here corresponds to a hardness of 100 mg/L. 

100 in water

1.18 mg/kg Wet Weight in Invertebrate Whole-Body Tissue

6.49 mg/kg Wet Weight Fish Whole-Body Tissue

0.133 mg/kg Wet Weight Fish Muscle Tissue

The chronic freshwater-based and chronic tissue-based criteria are independently applicable and no one criterion takes primacy.

The value listed as the saltwater CMC represents a benchmark value, not a criterion. Data limitations precluded the development of a CCC in saltwater.

0.25 in water

0.028 mg/kg Wet Weight in Invertebrate Whole-Body Tissue

0.201 mg/kg Wet Weight in Fish Whole-Body Tissues

0.087 mg/kg Wet Weight in Fish Muscle Tissue

The chronic freshwater-based and chronic tissue-based criteria are independently applicable and no one criterion takes primacy.

The value listed as the saltwater CMC represents a benchmark value, not a criterion. Data limitations precluded the development of a CCC in saltwater.

Refer to Quality Criteria for Water, 1986 ("Gold Book") for narrative statement.

For open ocean waters where the depth is substantially greater than the euphotic zone, the pH should not be changed more than 0.2 units from the naturally occurring variation or any case outside the range of 6.5 to 8.5. For shallow, highly productive coastal and estuarine areas where naturally occurring pH variations approach the lethal limits of some species, changes in pH should be avoided but in any case should not exceed the limits established for fresh water, i.e., 6.5-9.0.

2016 Freshwater

1999 Saltwater