United States       Prevention, Pesticides     EPA712-C-96-030
          Environmental Protection    and Toxic Substances     August 1996
          Agency         (7101)
&EPA   Product Properties
          Test Guidelines
          OPPTS 830.7000
          pH

-------
                           INTRODUCTION
     This guideline is one  of a series  of test guidelines  that have been
developed by the Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances,
United States Environmental Protection Agency for use in the testing  of
pesticides and toxic substances, and the  development of test data that must
be submitted to the Agency  for review under Federal regulations.

     The Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances (OPPTS)
has  developed this guideline through  a  process of harmonization that
blended the testing  guidance and requirements that existed in the Office
of Pollution Prevention and Toxics  (OPPT) and appeared in Title 40,
Chapter I,  Subchapter R of the Code of Federal Regulations  (CFR), the
Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) which appeared in publications of the
National Technical  Information Service (NTIS) and  the guidelines pub-
lished by the Organization  for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD).

     The purpose of harmonizing these guidelines into a single set  of
OPPTS  guidelines is to minimize variations among the testing procedures
that must be performed to meet the data  requirements of the U. S. Environ-
mental Protection Agency  under the Toxic  Substances Control Act (15
U.S.C. 2601) and the Federal Insecticide,  Fungicide and Rodenticide Act
(7U.S.C. I36,etseq.).

     Final  Guideline Release: This document is available from the U.S.
Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402 on The Federal Bul-
letin  Board.   By  modem  dial   202-512-1387,   telnet   and  ftp:
fedbbs.access.gpo.gov     (IP     162.140.64.19),    internet:     http://
fedbbs.access.gpo.gov, or call 202-512-0132 for disks or paper copies.
This guideline is available in ASCII and PDF (portable document format)
from the EPA Public Access Gopher (gopher.epa.gov) under the heading
"Environmental Test Methods and Guidelines."

-------
OPPTS 830.7000  pH.
    (a) Scope—(1) Applicability. This guideline is intended to meet test-
ing requirements  of  both  the  Federal  Insecticide,  Fungicide,  and
Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) (7 U.S.C. 136, et seq.} and the Toxic Substances
Control Act (TSCA) (15 U.S.C. 2601).

    (2) Background. The  source materials used in developing this har-
monized OPPTS test guideline are the OPPT  guideline  under 40  CFR
796.1450 pH of water solutions or suspensions and  OPP guideline 63-
12 pH (Pesticide Assessment Guidelines, Subdivision D:  Product Chem-
istry, EPA Report 540/9-82-018, October  1982).

    (b) Purpose. This test guideline references methodology to develop
data on the pH of aqueous solutions and suspensions  of chemical sub-
stances  and mixtures. The  data may be used to calculate the degree  of
acidity or basicity of aqueous solutions or suspensions that will be formed
by a chemical substance and to evaluate the resulting effects the substance
will have on human health  and the  environment. The  pH  may be  used
in the design of other tests.

    (c) Test Procedures. (1) The  electrometric method is recommended
for determining the pH of an aqueous solution or suspension.  The rec-
ommended apparatus should consist of a pH meter and electrodes, meeting
performance  standards and specifications  as  described, for example,  in
ANSI/ASTM E 70-7700  and in ASTM D 1293-78 (see paragraph (d)(l)
of this guideline) or the method as  described in  CIPAC  MT 75 (see para-
graph (d)(2) of this guideline)).

    (2) It is  recommended that the water used in preparing solutions  or
suspensions meet the standards for type I or type II reagent water specified
by ANSI/ASTM D 1193-77 and be free  of C02 (see paragraph (d)(l)  of
this guideline).  For chemical substances that are readily soluble  in water,
the test guideline recommends that a solution of 1 percent by mass be
used.  For chemical substances that are soluble  in water to an  extent  of
less than 1 percent by mass at 25 °C, an aqueous suspension of the chemi-
cal substance should be tested.

    (d) References.  The  following references should be consulted for ad-
ditional background material on this test guideline.

    (1) American  Society for Testing and Materials, "Annual Book  of
ASTM  Standards," ASTM,  1916  Race St., Philadelphia, PA, (latest edi-
tion).

    (2)  Collaborative International Pesticide  Analytical Council,  Ltd.
(CIPAC) Handbook,  "MT  75 Determination of pH,"  CIPAC,  Hatching
Green, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, England (1970).

-------