PHA United States
Environmental Protection
Agency	April2022
Fact Sheet: Draft 2022 Aquatic Life Ambient Water Quality
Criteria for Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and
Perfluorooctane Sulfonic Acid (PFOS)
Summary
As part of EPA's commitment to safeguard the
environment from per-and polyfluoroalkyl
substances (PFAS), the agency has published draft
national recommended aquatic life criteria for PFOA
and PFOS for a 30-day public comment period. These
draft Clean Water Act criteria reflect the latest
scientific knowledge regarding the effects of PFOA
and PFOS on freshwater organisms. Elevated
concentrations of PFOA and PFOS in aquatic
ecosystems can result in death of aquatic organisms
and affect their growth and reproduction. When
finalized, states and authorized tribes can adopt
these criteria into their water quality standards or
can adopt other criteria that are scientifically
defensible based on local or site-specific conditions.
These draft aquatic life ambient water quality
criteria are not a regulation, nor do they impose a
legally binding requirement.
Background
On October 18, 2021, EPA Administrator Regan
announced the Agency's PFAS Strategic Roadmap—
laying out a whole-of-agency approach to addressing
PFAS. The PFAS Strategic Roadmap identified
development of aquatic life criteria for PFOA and
PFOS as a priority EPA action. The 2022 draft PFOA
and PFOS aquatic life ambient water quality criteria
are being released for a 30-day comment period for
the public to provide their scientific views. Following
the comment period, EPA will prepare a response to
public comments document, update the draft PFOA
and PFOS criteria documents considering public
comments, and consider new toxicity data published
since September 2021 prior to the agency issuing
final recommended criteria.
What are PFOA and PFOS, and How Do They
Enter the Water?
PFOA and PFOS are two of the most widely used and
studied chemicals in the PFAS group. PFAS have
been manufactured and used by a broad range of
industries since the 1940s. PFAS are used in many
applications because of their unique physical
properties such as resistance to high and low
temperatures, resistance to degradation, and
nonstick characteristics. PFOA and PFOS can enter
the aquatic environment during the manufacturing,
use, and disposal of industrial and consumer
products. Major sources of PFOA and PFOS to
aquatic environments include municipal and
industrial wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs);
landfill leachate, runoff and leachate from
contaminated biosolids; and atmospheric
deposition.
How Do PFOA and PFOS Affect Aquatic Life?
PFOA and PFOS are not naturally occurring and have
no biologically important functions or beneficial
properties to aquatic life. The mechanisms
underpinning the toxicity of PFOA and PFOS to
aquatic organisms, like other PFAS, is an active and
on-going area of research. The draft criteria are
based on observed effects of PFOA and PFOS to the
survival, growth, and reproduction of aquatic
organisms. Based on the available ecotoxicity data,
aquatic plants are generally reported to be less
sensitive to PFOA and PFOS than fish and other
aquatic life.
What are the Recommended Criteria for
PFOA and PFOS in Freshwater for the
Protection of Aquatic Life?
The draft criteria documents provide a review of
PFOA and PFOS aquatic toxicity data, quantify the

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toxicity of PFOA and PFOS to aquatic life, and
provide criteria to protect aquatic life from the acute
and chronic toxic effects of PFOA and PFOS
(individually, not in combination). EPA derived these
criteria based on the latest scientific knowledge
using the available data on the toxicological effects
of PFOA and PFOS on aquatic life. In developing
these draft criteria, EPA followed the general
approach outlined in the Agency's "Guidelines for
Deriving Numerical Water Quality Criteria for the
Protection of Aquatic Organisms and Their Uses."
EPA established the national recommended draft
criteria for PFOA and PFOS to be protective of most
aquatic organisms in the community (i.e.,
approximately 95 percent of tested aquatic
organisms representing the aquatic community). The
draft criteria are protective of aquatic life designated
uses for freshwaters. The draft PFOA and PFOS
criteria documents contain acute and chronic criteria
for freshwaters (see Table 1). The draft criteria
documents also contain chronic criteria expressed as
tissue-based concentrations to protect aquatic life
from PFOA and PFOS bioaccumulation (see Table 1).
The chronic freshwater and chronic tissue criteria
are intended to be independently applicable and no
one criterion takes primacy.
EPA also derived acute estuarine benchmarks for
PFOA and PFOS using available toxicity data
supplemented with modeled estimates of acute
toxicity. The acute estuarine/marine benchmarks are
recommendations for states and tribes to consider
as protective values in their water quality protection
programs.
The draft criteria reflect the maximum
concentrations, with associated frequency and
duration specifications, that would support
protection of aquatic life from acute and chronic
effects associated with PFOA and PFOS in
freshwaters (see Table 1).
Where can I find more information?
Information on the draft PFOA criteria is available at:
www.epa.gov/wqc/aquatic-life-criteria-
perfluorooctanoic-acid-pfoa. Information on the
draft PFOS criteria is available at:
www.epa.gov/wqc/aquatic-life-criteria-
perfluorooctane-sulfonate-pfos. Please email any
questions to James Justice at
iustice.jamesr@epa.gov.
Table 1. Draft Recommended Freshwater Aquatic Life Water Quality Criteria for PFOA and PFOS
Criteria
Component
Acute Water
Column (CMC)1
Chronic Water
Column (CCC)2
Invertebrate
Whole-Body
Fish Whole-
Body
Fish Muscle
PFOA
Magnitude
49 mg/L
0.094 mg/L
1.11
mg/kg ww
6.10
mg/kg ww
0.125
mg/kg ww
PFOS
Magnitude
3.0 mg/L
0.0084 mg/L
0.937
mg/kg ww
6.75
mg/kg ww
2.91
mg/kg ww
Duration
1-hour average
4-day average
Instantaneous3
Frequency
Not to be
exceeded more
than once in three
years, on average
Not to be
exceeded more
than once in three
years, on average
Not to be exceeded more than once in ten
years, on average
1	Criterion Maximum Concentration.
2	Criterion Continuous Concentration.
3Tissue data provide instantaneous point measurements that reflect integrative accumulation of PFOA or PFOS over time and space
in aquatic life population(s) at a given site.

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