Types and Sources of Water-Quality Benchmarks for Pesticides

by Lisa Nowell

This guidance provides sources of current (December 2012) standards and guidelines for pesticides in water, bed sediment, and fish tissue. Standards and guidelines can be used as benchmarks for comparison with measured pesticide concentrations in applicable media to help assess the potential effects of pesticides on water quality in the hydrologic systems being studied. This guidance emphasizes national standards and guidelines established for freshwater systems in the United States or Canada. Selected regional and State guidelines also are included for sampling media and beneficial uses for which national guidelines are limited (for example, whole-fish guidelines for protection of wildlife).

The following terms are used in this guidance:

Standard: threshold values that are legally enforceable by agencies of the U.S. Government
Guideline: threshold values that have no regulatory status but are issued in an advisory capacity
Benchmark: generic term for a threshold value against which measured concentrations can be compared; it encompasses both standards and guidelines

Each type of benchmark applies to a specific sampling medium (drinking water, ambient surface water, bed sediment, whole fish, or edible fish tissue) and is designed to protect a specific beneficial use of the hydrologic system (human health, aquatic life, or wildlife). In selecting the appropriate benchmarks to use in comparison with water-quality data, consider both sampling medium and the beneficial uses of the hydrologic system being studied. More than one type of benchmark may be appropriate for some hydrologic systems (such as surface water that is used for drinking water and that also supports aquatic life).

The appropriate and effective use of benchmarks in water-quality assessment requires an understanding of what it means when benchmarks are exceeded—which in turn requires information on how individual benchmarks were derived, and on the specific hydrologic system being studied. Therefore, users are encouraged to consult the original sources (maintained by the originating agency), for up-to-date benchmark values, and for information on the technical bases and underlying assumptions of these benchmarks.

Pesticide benchmark sources below are listed by sampling medium, along with links to the originating agency or source:

I. WATER


II. BED SEDIMENT

III. FISH AND SHELLFISH TISSUE

BENCHMARK SOURCES

I. WATER COLUMN

A. DRINKING WATER

1. USEPA Drinking Water Standards and Health Advisories

   Sampling medium:	Drinking water
   Resource protected:	Human health
   Internet sources:	Drinking Water Standards and Health Advisories (2012 Edition, PDF version) National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (List of Contaminants and their MCLs)

2. USEPA Human Health Benchmarks for Pesticides

   Sampling medium:	Drinking water
   Resource protected:	Human health
   Internet source:	Human Health Benchmarks for Pesticides (available for noncancer effects only, for pesticides without drinking water regulations or health advisories) (2012) Supporting document: Human Health Benchmarks for Pesticides - Technical Document (2012)

3. USGS Health-Based Screening Levels

   Sampling medium:	Drinking water
   Resource protected:	Human health
   Internet source:	Health-Based Screening Levels: A Tool for Evaluating What Water-Quality Data May Mean to Human Health (2012) Supporting document: Development and Application of Health-Based Screening Levels for Use in Water-Quality Assessments (2007)

4. Canadian Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality

   Sampling medium:	Drinking water
   Resource protected:	Human health
   Internet source:	Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality, Summary Table (August 2012)

5. NAS Drinking Water and Health Recommendations

   Sampling medium:	Drinking water
   Resource protected:	Human health
   Source:	References (1977 - 1989)
   Internet source:	Available from National Academy Press

B. AMBIENT SURFACE WATER

1. USEPA Ambient Water-Quality Criteria for the Protection of Human Health

   Sampling medium:	Ambient surface water
   Resource protected:	Human health
   Internet sources:	National Recommended Water Quality Criteria

2. USEPA Ambient Water-Quality Criteria for the Protection of Aquatic Organisms
   

   Sampling medium:	Ambient surface water
   Resource protected:	Aquatic life
   Internet sources:	National Recommended Water Quality Criteria

3. USEPA (Office of Pesticide Programs) Aquatic Life Benchmarks

   Sampling medium:	Ambient surface water
   Resource protected:	Aquatic life
   Internet source:	Office of Pesticide Programs' Aquatic Life Benchmarks

4. Canadian Water Quality Guidelines for Aquatic Life

   Sampling medium:	Ambient surface water
   Resource protected:	Aquatic life
   Internet source:	Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines, Summary Table (online searchable database and access to downloadable excel file)

5. Great Lakes Water Quality Objectives

   Sampling medium:	Ambient surface water
   Resource protected:	Aquatic life
   Internet sources:	Specific Objectives Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1978, as amended by Protocol signed November 18, 1987

II. BED SEDIMENT

1. USEPA Equilibrium Partitioning Sediment Benchmarks

   Sampling medium:	Bed sediment
   Resource protected:	Aquatic life
   Internet sources:	Procedures for the Derivation of Equilibrium Partitioning Sediment Benchmarks (ESBs) for the Protection of Benthic Organisms: Compendium of Tier 2 Values for Nonionic Organics. See Table 3-2. (March 2008) EPA-600-R-02-016 Procedures for the Derivation of Equilibrium Partitioning Sediment Benchmarks (ESBs) for the Protection of Benthic Organisms: Dieldrin Endrin Sediment Quality Guidelines EPA listing of EPA publications and related links from other agencies and organizations

2. Canadian Interim Sediment Quality Guidelines

   Sampling medium:	Bed Sediment
   Resource protected:	Aquatic Life
   Internet sources:	Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines, Summary Table (online searchable database and access to downloadable excel file) Supporting document: Protocol for the Derivation of Canadian Sediment quality Guidelines (1995)

3. Consensus-Based Sediment Quality Guidelines

   Sampling medium:	Drinking water
   Resource protected:	Human health
   Source:	Reference (2000)
   Internet source:	Prediction of Sediment Toxicity Using Consensus-based Freshwater Sediment Guidelines

III. FISH AND SHELLFISH TISSUE

A. EDIBLE FISH AND SHELLFISH TISSUE

1. USEPA Tolerances

   Sampling medium:	Edible fish and shellfish
   Resource protected:	Human health
   Internet sources:	What the Pesticide Residue Limits are on Food (links and instructions for searching the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations) Code of Federal Regulations, go to current year, Title 40, Chapter I, Part 180, Subpart C

2. FDA Action Levels

   Sampling medium:	Edible fish and shellfish
   Resource protected:	Human health
   Internet source:	Compliance Policy Guide, Sec. 575.100, Pesticide Residues in Food and Feed - Enforcement Criteria

3. USEPA Recommended Screening Values

   Sampling medium:	Edible fish and shellfish
   Resource protected:	Human health
   Internet sources:	Guidance for Assessing Chemical Contaminant Data for Use in Fish Advisories, Vol. 1, 3rd ed., Fish Sampling and Analysis (November 2000) See especially Ch. 5 which includes Table 5-3 (Dose-response variables and recommended screening values for target analytes - Recreational fishers) and Table 5-4 (Dose-response variables and recommended screening values for target analytes - Subsistence fishers)

4. USEPA database of U.S. State, Territory, and Tribal fish consumption advisories

   Sampling medium:	Edible fish and shellfish
   Resource protected:	Human health
   Internet source:	National Listing of Fish Advisories Database (2010)

5. Great Lakes Water Quality Objectives

   Sampling medium:	Edible fish
   Resource protected:	Human health
   Internet sources:	Specific Objectives Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1978, as amended by Protocol signed November 18, 1987

B. WHOLE FISH

1. Canadian Tissue Residue Guidelines for the Protection of Wildlife Consumers of Aquatic Biota

   Sampling medium:	Whole fish
   Resource protected:	Fish-eating wildlife
   Internet sources:	Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines, Summary Table (online searchable database and access to downloadable excel file) Supporting Document: Protocol for the Derivation of Canadian Tissue Residue Guidelines (1997)

2. New York Fish Flesh Criteria for Piscivorous Wildlife
   

   Sampling medium:	Whole fish
   Resource protected:	Fish-eating wildlife
   Internet source:	New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (1987; reprinted February 2000)

3. NAS/NAE Recommended Maximum Tissue Concentrations

   Sampling medium:	Whole fish
   Resource protected:	Fish-eating wildlife
   Source:	Reference (1973)

4. Great Lakes Water Quality Objectives

   Sampling medium:	Whole fish
   Resource protected:	Fish-eating wildlife
   Internet sources:	Specific Objectives Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1978, as amended by Protocol signed November 18, 1987

5. Whole-Fish Benchmark Ranges for Protection of Fish-Eating Wildlife, Compiled by the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment Program

   Sampling medium:	Whole fish
   Resource protected:	Fish-eating wildlife
   Internet sources:	Whole-Fish Benchmark Ranges for Protection of Fish-Eating Wildlife (2006) Derivation (see page 109)

Contact: Lisa Nowell
lhnowell@usgs.gov, (916) 278-3096