United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Water
EPA 821-F-15-001
January 2015
Proposed Clean Water Act Methods
Update Rule for the Analysis of Effluent
Summary
EPA proposes specific changes to analytical test
procedures that are used by industries and
municipalities to analyze the chemical, physical, and
biological components of wastewater and other
environmental samples that are required by
regulations under the Clean Water Act. The
proposed changes include revised EPA methods and
new and/or revised methods published by voluntary
consensus standard bodies, such as ASTM
International and the Standard Methods Committee.
EPA also proposes to add certain methods reviewed
under the alternate test procedures (ATP) program
and to make changes to clarify the procedures for
EPA approval of nationwide and limited use ATPs.
Further, EPA proposes amendments to the
procedure for determination of the method
detection limit.
Background
EPA approves analytical methods for measuring
regulated pollutants in wastewater, as contained in
the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Title 40 Part
136. The regulated community and laboratories use
these approved methods for determining
compliance with National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES) permits or other
monitoring requirements. Often, these entities have
a choice in deciding which approved method they
will use to measure a pollutant because more than
one approved method is available.
To promote method innovation, the EPA also
maintains a program whereby method developers
may apply for an EPA review and potentially for
approval of ATPs. This ATP program is described for
Clean Water Act applications at 40 CFR Parts 136.4
and 136.5.
Periodically, EPA updates the approved test
procedures in 40 CFR Part 136.
What would EPA's updates change?
If promulgated, the proposed changes would provide
increased flexibility to the regulated community,
improve data quality, and update Clean Water Act
methods to keep current with technology advances.
This rule would also provide clarification of the
process for requesting limited or nationwide review
of ATPs and approving modifications to holding
times, preservatives, and sampling container types.
Finally, the proposed minor amendments to the
procedure for determination of the method
detection limit would address laboratory
contamination and better account for intra-
laboratory variability.
Where can I find more information?
You can view the Federal Register notice at
http://www.regulations.gov under Docket ID: EPA-
HQ-OW-2014-0797. EPA will also provide a link to
the Federal Register on our Clean Water Act
Methods website.
You may also contact Adrian Hanley at 202-564-1564
or hanley.adrian@epa.gov.
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