&EPA
United States Environmental Office of Water EPA-822-F-03-016
Protection Agency 4304T December 2003
FACT SHEET
Technical Summary of Information
Available on the Bioaccumulation of
Arsenic in Aquatic Organisms
EPA announces the release of Technical Summary of Information Available on the Bioaccumulation
of Arsenic in Aquatic Organisms, a technical document that summarizes available scientific
information on the amount and chemical forms of Arsenic that bioaccumulate in aquatic organisms.
Background
Aquatic organisms can accumulate chemicals in their bodies when they are exposed to these
chemicals through water, their diet, and other sources. This process is called bioaccumulation.
In 2000, EPA published the Methodology for Deriving Ambient Water Quality Criteria for the
Protection of Human Health ("2000 Human Health Methodology"), updating and revising the
existing 1980 Guidelines and Methodology. The 2000 Human Health Methodology incorporated
scientific advancements from the past two decades in chemical risk assessment, exposure assessment,
and bioaccumulation.
In the 2000 Human Health Methodology, EPA established that, in order to prevent harmful exposures
to chemicals in water through eating contaminated fish and shellfish, national 304(a) water quality
criteria for protecting human health must address chemical bioaccumulation in aquatic organisms.
EPA also outlined procedures and methods for estimating bioaccumulation factor values for deriving
or revising ambient water quality criteria in the 2000 Human Health Methodology.
As a first step in updating the national recommended 304(a) water quality criteria for arsenic, EPA
conducted a search of the scientific literature to identify data available for developing
bioaccumulation factors for arsenic in aquatic organisms. The literature search conducted by EPA
covers the published literature through 2002. EPA acknowledges that additional data on arsenic
bioaccumulation are continuously being gathered. The EPA is interested in obtaining any additional
data or references on the bioaccumulation of arsenic in aquatic organisms that have been published
since 2002 or that are not available in the published literature. To provide additional information on
the bioaccumulation of arsenic in aquatic organisms, please contact Dr. Tala Henry at 202-566-1323
or henry.tala@epa.gov.
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About this Technical Summary Document
The Technical Summary of Information Available on the Bioaccumulation ofArsenic in Aquatic
Organisms contains currently available information about the bioaccumulation including:
• the strategy and results of the literature search, including a bibliography of articles and a
discussion of the suitability the data for deriving bioaccumulation factors,
• summaries of experiments and results from the references that are suitable for deriving
bioaccumulation factors,
• the methods EPA uses to derive bioaccumulation factors from the scientific literature and to
calculate species-mean bioaccumulation factors, and
• tables of individual species and species-mean bioaccumulation factors.
This document presents the information available which may be useful for determining
bioaccumulation factors for arsenic. National trophic-level specific BAFs are not included in this
document because OST is in the process of determining if the data identified in our literature search
is sufficient to derive national BAFs. In the interim, we are making the results of the literature search
available to States and authorized Tribes so that they have access to a current compilation and review
of available data as they develop their Water Quality Standards.
How do I get a copy of the new technical summary document?
You can get copies of “Technical Summary of Information Available on the Bioaccumulation of
Arsenic in Aquatic Organisms” (EPA-822-R-03-032) from EPA’s Water Resource Center by calling
(202) 566-1735. You can request a copy by sending an e-mail to center.water.resource( epa.gov or
by conventional mail to: EPA Water Resource Center, 4lOlT, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.,
Washington, DC 20460. You can also download the document from EPA’s web site at
https ://www.epa.gov/watersciencelhumanhealthldocs.
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