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U n ited States Office of Water EPA 822-F10-002
Environments I Protection 4301T November2010
Agency
CWA-FIFRA Common Effects Characterization Methodology
Summary Abstract: Both Office of Water (OW) and the Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP)
have responsibilities for evaluating aquatic ecotoxicity data to assess ecological effects of
chemicals in surface water. EPA's goal is to build on the substantial high quality science
developed and used hy both programs and make these effects assessment methodologies
consistent. Efforts are underway to develop and test approaches to support a common effects
assessment methodology.
Background:
Both the Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) and the Office of Water (OW) assess the effects of
pesticides on aquatic ecosystems using approaches that afford a high degree of protection for
aquatic life and that were developed with high quality data using rigorously peer-reviewed
assessment methodologies. In characterizing pesticide effects, both programs consider acute
effects as well as chronic and sub-lethal effects on growth, survival, and reproduction in their
assessments. Stakeholders have identified a need for consistent and timely Federal input that
will allow EPA, states, tribes and the public to gauge whether pesticides represent a concern for
aquatic life, for example, based on water monitoring results. EPA is now exploring how to build
on the substantial high quality science developed under both programs to develop additional
tools and approaches to support a consistent and common set of effects characterization methods
using best available information.
EPA held six regional public meetings in January 2010 to solicit stakeholder input on its initial
thinking regarding a common effects assessment process and tbe scope and content of three
white papers that will explore the following topics: (1) the use of various tools to estimate
aquatic toxicity data; (2) approaches for deriving community-level benchmarks; and (3)
procedures for better integrating plant effects data into community-level assessments. The
meetings were held in the following regions: (3,4,5,7,9, and 10)
Region 2,3 Edison, NJ Region 7 Kansas City, KS
Region 4 Atlanta, GA Region 9 Oakland, CA
RegionS Chicago, IL Region 10 Seattle, WA
Current Status & Next Steps:
EPA is holding a national public stakeholder meeting in Washington, D.C on December I, 2010
to solicit input on methods being evaluated by the OPP, the OW, and the Office of Research and
Development to characterize aquatic ecosystems effects using available data. EPA expects to
solicit stakeholder input on the tools and approaches presented in the three draft white papers
through a Federal Register notice and at the national stakeholder meeting. The EPA then plans to
hold a formal peer review of these methodologies (SAB/SAP) in the summer of 2011.
More information on this project, including access to a docket to provide comments is available
at: http://www.epa.gov/oppefed l/cwa_fifra_effects_methodology/index.htrnl or at
http://wwAv.regulations.gov, identified hy Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0773.
To get more information
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Contacts:
• Joe Beaman (Office of Water): Bcaman.Joe@epa.gov;
• Mark Corbin (Office of Pesticide Programs): Corbin.Mark@epa.gov
• Cindy Roberts (Office of Research and Development): Roberts.Cindy@epa.gov
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