EPA-820-N-23-002
FEDERAL-STATE TOXICOLOGY RISK ANALYSIS COMMITTEE
What Is FSTRAC?
FSTRAC's mission is to strengthen relationships and cooperation among EPA, states and tribes through
the exchange of technical information primarily regarding water-related human health and risk assess-
ment and also share information on ecological effects related to water quality criteria. FSTRAC is composed
of current representatives from governmental agencies (state, tribal, federal health and environmental
agencies, and other regulatory authorities) and representatives from the Association of State Drinking
Water Administrators (ASDWA) and the Association of Clean Water Administrators (ACWA). The goal of
FSTRAC is to share information that supports the development of well-rounded, integrated approaches to
effects assessment, risk assessment, risk management, risk communication, and standard-setting for drink-
ing water, groundwater, and surface water contaminants. Specific objectives of FSTRAC include:
To foster cooperation, consistency, and an understanding of goals and problems in human health and
ecological risk assessment for contaminants in water.
To allow the exchange of technical information, including toxicity/exposure data and analysis, and
methodologies and assumptions related to the development and implementation of regulations, criteria,
advisories, and other toxicity values under the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act, and
other state and tribal rules and policies as applicable.
To allow the exchange of information on research priorities and results.
To share science policy concerns regarding water-related human health and ecological risk assessment.
The purpose of this newsletter is to update Federal-State Toxicology and Risk Analysis Committee (FSTRAC) members
on current developments in toxicology, risk analysis, and water quality criteria and standards. This newsletter also
provides information on recent FSTRAC webinars and upcoming events. Please share this newsletter with those who
may be interested in these topics. If you are interested in joining FSTRAC, please contact the FSTRAC Co-Chairs,
Dr. Shamima Akhter (Akhter.Shamima@epa.gov) or Ms. Katie Fallace (Katie.Fallace@state.mn.us).
Recent Webinars
FSTRAC holds several webinars each year to share
information through presentations and discussions
regarding human health risk analysis and water
quality issues.
fiscal year (FY), including finalizing perfluorooc-
tanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic
acid (PFOS) aquatic life criteria, developing per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) aquatic life bench-
marks for 8 chemicals, expanding the Metals Aquatic
Life Criteria and Chemistry (MetALiCC) map with
state data, developing PFOA and PFOS human health
criteria and additional PFAS human health criteria
using final toxicity values, developing a technical
support material (TSM) for non-human fecal sources
for recreational water quality criteria, and beginning
Fall 2023
Health and Ecological Criteria Division Priorities in FY24
(presented by Colleen Flaherty, HECD/OST/OW/EPA).
Ms. Flaherty described the priorities of EPA's Office
of Science and Technology, Health and Ecological
Criteria Division (OST/HECD) for the upcoming
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to implement recommendations from the Report on
the 2nd Five-Year Review of EPA's Recreational Water
Quality Criteria that was published in May 2023.
She mentioned that EPA OST/HECD's priorities for
the upcoming FY also include providing support for
developing a PFAS National Primary Drinking Water
Regulation (NPDWR) by the end of 2023, providing
support for state-specific nutrient criteria develop-
ment projects and EPA's National Harmful Algal
Bloom (HAB) Program, streamlining development
and implementation of biological condition gradients
(BCGs), providing responses to Science Advisory
Board (SAB) review of the prioritization and screening
process for biosolids, and developing a biosolids risk
assessment for PFOA and PFOS.
Report on the 2nd Five-Year Review of EPA's Recreational
Water Quality Criteria (presented by John Ravenscroft
and Lars Wilcut, HECD/OST/OW/EPA). Mr. Ravenscroft
noted that EPA's Recreational Water Quality Criteria
(RWQC) are designed to protect people from exposure
to feces-associated pathogens during primary contact
recreational waterbody uses, and that they are based
on "fecal indicator bacteria" which are likely to be
present in the same conditions as the disease-causing
agents. For the 2nd five-year review, EPA reviewed
recent scientific literature published since 2016 and
had reviewed or developed new implementation tools.
Mr. Wilcut noted that there is a chapter in the 2nd
five-year review report that focuses on implemen-
tation tools (including a spreadsheet calculator that
can be used to help implement EPA's Site-Specific
Alternative Recreational Criteria Technical Support
Materials for Alternative Indicators and Methods)
that EPA has instituted as part of the broader recre-
ational water effort. Mr. Ravenscroft mentioned that
EPA made the following recommendations based on
the 2nd five-year review: 1) develop a new qPCR-based
RWQC to improve health risk protection for young
children, the most sensitive age group to the risks of
swimming in contaminated waters, compared to cur-
rent culture-based criteria; 2) expand the protection
of RWQC by developing criteria to protect humans
from exposure to viruses using an indicator; and 3)
explore new methods to better determine whether
a waterbody is contaminated with human feces, as
this type of contamination presents the greatest risk
of illness in recreational waters. While EPA works to
develop updated national recommended RWQC, EPA
encourages states and tribes to begin using or expand-
ing their use of qPCR methods because these methods
can improve prediction of health risk and can provide
more timely results. For additional information, please
refer to EPA's Report on the 2nd Five-Year Review of
EPA's Recreational Water Quality Criteria that was
released in May 2023.
Overview of IRIS PFAS Assessments (presented by Andrew
Kraft, PhD, CPHEA/ORD/EPA). Dr. Kraft mentioned that
an EPA-wide workgroup selected the following PFAS
for EPA toxicity assessments: perfluorobutane sul-
fonic acid (PFBS), hexafluoropropylene oxide (HFPO)
dimer acid and its ammonium salt (GenX chemicals),
perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA), perfluorohexanoic
acid (PFHxA), perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS),
perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and perfluorodeca-
noic acid (PFDA). These seven PFAS were identified
as a priority to inform decision-making for EPA pro-
gram or regional offices, tribes, or state departments
of environmental protection; include studies of in
vivo exposure in animals that could possibly be used
to derive toxicity values; and are quantifiable in the
environment using standardized analytical meth-
ods to allow for site-specific application of toxicity
values to regulatory decision-making. Five of these
(i.e., PFBA, PFHxA, PFHxS, PFNA, and PFDA) are
being developed within EPA's Office of Research and
Development (ORD) as Integrated Risk Information
System (IRIS) assessments. Dr. Kraft described the
IRIS 7-step review process which includes agency
review, review by other federal agencies, public com-
ment, and external peer review. He noted that IRIS
PFAS assessments are final for PFBA and PFHxA, the
external peer review process has been nearly com-
pleted for PFDA, the public comment review process
has been nearly completed for PFHxS, and pre-public
review steps are currently being performed for PFNA.
Dr. Kraft mentioned that individual toxicity assess-
ments are being developed for PFAS with more robust
datasets and these toxicity values can be used in com-
bination with information on human exposure and
other information to support regulatory decisions,
FSTRAC Newsletter ~ Fall 2023
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and they could potentially serve as index values in
read-across for data-poor PFAS in their "group." He
noted that EPA ORD is using tiered toxicity testing
and systematic evidence mapping to generate and
compile evidence for PFAS that are data poor and to
possibly inform future PFAS grouping decisions.
Screening Chemicals for Drinking Water Contaminants of
Emerging Concern Using an Exposure-Focused Workflow
(presented by Kristin Isaacs, PhD, CCTE/ORD/EPA and
Chris Greene, MDH). Mr. Greene mentioned that EPA's
Center for Computational Toxicology and Exposure
(CCTE) and the Minnesota Department of Health
(MDH) are collaborating to use new chemical data
generated from scientific approaches such as read-
across, quantitative structural-activity relationship
(QSAR), high-throughput toxicology screening, and
computational modeling of exposure and toxicoki-
netics to prioritize chemicals for further evaluation
and inform risk assessment. He mentioned that MDH
collaborates with partners and the public to identify
contaminants of interest in drinking water through its
Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CEC) initiative,
and when feasible, the CEC team develops health-
based drinking water guidance values for chemicals
where exposure is known or likely to occur. Mr.
Greene described the CEC screening and selection
process, including exposure screening and scoring,
which in its current form is highly labor-intensive.
Dr. Isaacs mentioned that she is a co-lead of EPA
ORD's ExpoCast project which develops exposure
new approach methodologies (NAMs) that help char-
acterize exposure of the thousands of chemicals used
in commerce to complement and provide context to
the toxicity NAMs being developed under ToxCast.
She described how NAMs and other data were used to
develop an automated screening workflow consistent
with MDH's screening criteria. Dr. Isaacs described
how the workflow was applied to a case study of 1,867
chemicals, including 82 chemicals that MDH had
previously evaluated using its manual screening pro-
cess (additional details are provided in the following
peer-reviewed publication: https://doi.org/10.1038/
s41370-023-00552-y). She noted that final workflow
scores differed from the manual scores by an average
of 25.1% and that agreement between the scores was
dependent on data availability in the automated work-
flow source. Dr. Isaacs mentioned that in the future,
EPA will continue to work with MDH to refine their
process to incorporate new NAM data, refine scor-
ing if needed, and apply the workflow to new lists or
libraries of chemicals relevant to CEC.
Sociodemographic Factors Are Associated with the
Abundance of PFAS Sources and Detection in U.S. Community
Water Systems (presented by Jahred Liddie, Harvard
University). Mr. Liddie mentioned that the primary
hypothesis of his study was that sociodemographic
factors are associated with the siting of PFAS sources
and PFAS detections in community water systems.
In collaboration with Dr. Laurel Schaider and Prof.
Elsie Sunderland, he synthesized PFAS statewide
sampling data from 18 states from public water sys-
tem databases, PFAS contamination sources, and
sociodemographic data. Using these data, they per-
formed statistical modeling and found that major
industrial facilities, military fire training areas, and
airports are associated with the largest changes in
PFAS concentrations; community water systems
sharing a watershed with PFAS sources served higher
proportions of people of color; and community water
systems with detectable PFAS concentrations served
higher proportions of people of color. Based on these
results, they concluded that these statewide data show
sociodemographic disparities in PFAS exposures
through drinking water and that several PFAS sources
are predictors of PFAS concentrations in community
water systems, which is in line with prior research. In
his presentation, Mr. Liddie mentioned that moving
forward, environmental justice concerns highlighted
from this study should be a component of efforts to
mitigate risk and ongoing government efforts, along-
side increased monitoring, to provide avenues to
address exposure disparities. For additional informa-
tion, refer to the following open access publication:
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.2c07255
NHDES Development of PFAS Soil Remediation Standards
(SRS) (presentation from Jeffrey Marts, PG, presented
by Kate Emma Schlosser, PE, NHDES). Ms. Schlosser
indicated that the New Hampshire Department of
Environmental Services (NHDES) is required by
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statute to initiate rulemaking by November 1, 2023
for Soil Remediation Standards (SRS) for PFNA,
PFOA, PFOS, and PFHxS. She noted that these PFAS
are the four PFAS that have Ambient Groundwater
Quality Standards (AGQS) established in rule. Ms.
Schlosser described the factors considered in the
development of the proposed SRS: direct contact risk,
soil-to-groundwater leaching risk, background condi-
tions, analytical capabilities, and ceiling conditions.
She described NHDES' selection of a computer model
and NH-specific input parameters used to calcu-
late leaching-based soil concentrations expected to
be protective of groundwater quality. Ms. Schlosser
described a recent study that demonstrated the poten-
tial for certain PFAS to be present statewide in shallow
soil and mentioned that although the proposed
statewide SRS values do not account for background
conditions, NHDES plans to consider anthropogenic
ambient background conditions for PFAS on a site-by-
site basis.
Addressing PFAS in Wastewater Discharged to Groundwater
(presented by Jennifer Harfmann, PhD, NHDES).
Dr. Harfmann mentioned that groundwater con-
tamination in New Hampshire can be derived from
wastewater discharges to ground/groundwater. She
noted that groundwater discharges that may con-
tain PFAS are waste management facilities (e.g.,
landfills, wastewater effluent), small commercial
operations (e.g., cleaning businesses, marinas), and
floor stripping/waxing for schools, grocery stores, and
department stores. NHDES performed PFAS sampling
at groundwater discharge sites for cleaning busi-
nesses (carpet cleaning) and schools (floor stripping/
waxing) and analyzed them for 70 PFAS compounds.
They found that carpet cleaning activities can gener-
ate high levels of PFAS (up to 130,000 ng/L PFAS in
wastewater) with nearly 10 mg/L detected in cleaning
products, and that floor stripping/waxing can gener-
ate levels of PFAS of up to 229,000 ng/L in wastewater
with 39,000 ng/L detected in cleaning products. She
noted that NHDES' site-specific response includes
sending letters to businesses to cease discharges and
performing neighboring private well sampling, as well
as reaching out to trade groups, stakeholders, and
state partners to provide information on best manage-
ment practices. Dr. Harfmann mentioned that some of
NHDES' future initiatives include investigating other
potential sources of PFAS in non-domestic wastewa-
ters, characterizing a domestic wastewater signature,
and performing wastewater treatment plant effluent
sampling.
Other PFAS Initiatives in New Hampshire (presented by
Jonathan Petali, PhD, DABT, NHDES). Dr. Petali described
the New Hampshire funding sources for addressing
PFAS which consist of PFAS-focused consolidation
study and assistance grants, the PFAS remediation
loan and grant fund, PFAS private well testing and
removal rebate programs, and the PFAS Response
Program's PFAS response fund. He mentioned that
NHDES is working on several ongoing human health
and ecological risk related projects (many of which are
being performed in collaboration with federal agen-
cies, universities, or non-governmental organizations),
including a study on estuary bivalves, finfish, surface
water, and sediments; a freshwater lakes investigation
of bioaccumulation in invertebrates, fish, surface
water, and sediments; an analysis of loon eggs from
multiple lakes and years; performing testing of bio-
solids and training facility operators to conduct PFAS
sampling; a greenhouse and community garden study
of PFAS into common vegetables; and an aqueous film
forming foam (AFFF) take back program.
Risk Assessment
Drinking Water
EPA's Second Quarterly Release of Nationwide
Monitoring Data on 29 PFAS and Lithium
Quarterly, the EPA will publicly release the finished
drinking water data collected at public water systems
for 29 PFAS and lithium under the Fifth Unregulated
Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 5) until com-
pletion of data reporting in 2026. The most recent
installment of data was released on November 9th on
the UCMR Occurrence Data webpage and represents
approximately 15% of the total results that EPA
FSTRAC Newsletter ~ Fall 2023
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expects to receive. The data collected under UCMR 5
will ensure science-based decision-making and help
EPA better understand national-level exposure to
these 29 PFAS and lithium, where and to what extent
PFAS co-occur with each other, and whether they
disproportionately impact communities with envi-
ronmental justice concerns. The EPA also released the
UCMR 5 Data Finder that will improve data accessi-
bility for users.
Answers to common questions on accessing and
understanding the UCMR 5 data, and on PFAS and
lithium in drinking water, are provided here. Before
conducting your own assessment of the data, please
review the UCMR 5 Data Summary.
Clean Water
N-(l,3-Dimethylbutyl)-N'-phenyl-p-
phenylenediamine (6PPD)
On November 2nd, EPA's Office of Chemical Safety
and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP) responded (press
release) to a Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)
Section 21 petition submitted by Earthjustice on
behalf of three Pacific Northwest Tribal Nations
requesting that EPA "establish regulations pro-
hibiting the manufacturing, processing, use, and
distribution ofN-(l,3-Dimethylbutyl)-N'-phenyl-p-
phenylenediamine ("6PPD")." See the TSCA 21 web
page for the petition and response letter. To learn
more about 6PPD and its degradant, 6PPD-quinone,
see EPA's 6PPD-quinone web page.
Publications
Annual Beach Swimming Season Reports
EPA releases an annual report that contains national
level statistics of beach closings and advisories that
states, territories, and tribes issued during the swim-
ming season as well as beach data trends over several
years. You can also create a report for any year from
2014 to the present that uses the most up-to-date
information in EPA's database (that may have been
updated after our reports were released) using the
dynamic report using the following link: https://
ordspub.epa.gov/ords/beacon2/f?p=BEACON2:DNR.
EPA's 2022 Beach Swimming Season Report (EPA
823-R-23-005) is available here: https://www.epa.gov/
system/files/documents/2023-06/beach-report-2022.
pdf.
EPA Case Studies that Demonstrate the Benefits
of Water Reuse
EPA has developed a water reuse webpage that pro-
vides a description of the ways that water reuse is used
to benefit communities across the United States and
highlights example projects from across the United
States that describe how a particular benefit drove the
adoption of water reuse. Water reuse projects often
provide multiple benefits, which can make water
reuse more attractive. Additional links to general
information about the benefits of water reuse and
details about the benefits of water reuse and example
projects are provided on this webpage. For updates on
water reuse activities, please refer to the Water Reuse
Monthly and Quarterly Updates webpages.
Mitigating Risks and Maximizing Sustainability
of Treated Wastewater Reuse for Irrigation
EPA and coauthors from an interdisciplinary group
from the United States, Israel, and Europe that con-
vened in Israel last October at the treWAG 2022
Conference published a paper in December 2023
that highlights the challenges and solutions involved
in using treated wastewater for irrigation, identifies
agronomic and public health considerations, and
presents recommendations on sustainability. Refer
to the published paper for additional information:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/
S2589914723000397
National Fish Forum
EPA hosted the virtual 2023 National Forum on
Contaminants in Fish on February 28, March 2, 7 and
9, 2023. The event brought together approximately
1,000 attendees from state, tribal, and federal govern-
ments/agencies, local governments, environmental
advocacy groups, utilities, academia, consultants, and
non-governmental organizations, among others. The
FSTRAC Newsletter ~ Fall 2023
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2023 National Fish Forum Proceedings (EPA 820-R-
23-006) is available here: https://www.epa.gov/system/
files/documents/2023-06/2023proceedings.pdf.
EPA CyanoSymposium 2023
This October, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency hosted CyanoSymposium 2023 that was open
to the public. This online symposium featured 15
speakers and 5 panelists from across academia and
government agencies who spoke on a wide range of
subjects related to freshwater Harmful Algal Blooms
(HABs)from basic biology to monitoring and anal-
ysis technology and from genes to satellites. Each
day featured focused topical presentations as well as
state and tribal HAB program spotlights. Following
welcoming remarks from Deborah Nagle, Office of
Science and Technology Director and Co-Chair of the
Interagency Working Group under HABHRCA, the
first day focused on the biology and ecology of cya-
nobacteria and methods for sampling cyanobacteria
from a range of freshwater types. The day ended with
a highlight of Ohio's HAB program. The focus of Day
two was on cyanotoxins. It started with a deep dive
into the chemistry and human health and ecologi-
cal toxicity of dominant freshwater toxins and then
a presentation on the wide variety of methods with
which these toxins are measured. The day ended with
a presentation on the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians
HAB program. Day 3 took participants to space and
started with a talk on satellite technologies being used
to monitor and forecast HABs. This was followed by
a presentation on participatory science tools devel-
oped by the Cyanobacteria Monitoring Collaborative.
This day ended with a presentation on the State of
Washington HAB program. The final day was all about
program application. It featured presentations on the
many Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act
tools provided by the EPA. This was followed by an
engaging panel on federal funding opportunities for
HAB work provided by representatives from the EPA,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA),
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This
final day came to a close with a presentation on the
California HAB program. While primarily introduc-
tory, it is likely that even experienced HAB program
staff will find something new in the presentations
given the fast rate at which the science is evolving. The
Symposium Agenda and presentations, including the
panel discussion, are available online through the EPA
HABs website at: https://www.epa.gov/cyanohabs/epa-
cyanosymposium-2023-october-16-18-23-and-26-2023
Thornton Hampton, L., H. De Frond, K. Gesulga, S.
Kotar, W. Lao, C. Matuch, S. Weisberg, C. Wong, S.
Brander, S. Christiansen, C. Cook, F. Du, S. Ghosal, A.
Gray, J. Hankett, P. Helm, K. Ho, T. Kefela, G. Lattin,
A. Lusher, L. Mai, R. McNeish, O. Mina, E. Minor,
S. Primpke, K. Rickabaugh, V. Renick, S. Singh, B.
van Bavel, F. Vollnhals, and C. Rochman. 2023. The
influence of complex matrices on method perfor-
mance in extracting and monitoring for microplastics.
Chemosphere 334:138875. https://doi.Org/10.1016/j.
chemosphere.2023.138875.
Gobindlal, K., E. Shields, A. Whitehill, C. Weber,
and J. Sperry. 2023. Mechanochemical destruction
of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in aque-
ous film-forming foams and contaminated soil.
Environmental Science: Advances 2:982-989. https://
doi.org/10.1039/D3VA00099K.
Upcoming Events and Conferences
Upcoming FSTRAC Webinar
The next FSTRAC Webinar is scheduled for spring
2024. Additional details, including the date of the
next FSTRAC Webinar, will be provided to FSTRAC
members in the coming weeks.
SETAC North America Annual Meeting -
Society of Environmental Toxicology and
Chemistry
SETAC will be holding its 45th annual North
America meeting on October 20-24, 2024 in Fort
Worth, Texas. Additional information is provided
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on the SETAC website: https://www.setac.org/
discover-events/ems-event-calendar/setac-north-
america-45th-annual-meeting.html
SOT Annual Meeting - Society of
Toxicology
SOT will be holding its annual meeting on March
10-14, 2024 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Additional infor-
mation is provided on the SOT website:
https://www.toxicology.org/events/am/AM2024/
session-proposals.asp#
SRA Annual Meeting - Society for Risk
Analysis
SRA will be holding its 2024 annual meeting in
Austin, Texas, from December 8-12, 2024. Additional
information is provided on the SRA website:
https://www.sra.org/event/2024-sra-annual-meeting/
ASM - American Society for Microbiology
ASM Microbe will be holding its annual meeting in
Atlanta, Georgia, on June 13-17, 2024. Additional
information is provided on the ASM website:
https://asm.org/events/asm-microbe/home
ECOS - Environmental Council of the States
The ECOS will be holding its 2024 ECOS Spring
Meeting in Austin, Texas on March 25-27,
2024. Additional information is provided
on the ECOS website: https://www.ecos.org/
event/2024-ecos-spring-meeting/
The ECOS will be holding its 2024 ECOS Fall
Meeting in Newport, Rhode Island on September
4-6, 2024. Additional information is provided
on the ECOS website: https://www.ecos.org/
event/2024-ecos-fall-meeting/
ITRC Webinar - Interstate Technology
Regulatory Council
ITRC will host its 2024 Annual Meeting in Long
Beach, California from April 8-11, 2024. More infor-
mation will be provided on ITRC's website: https://
itrcweb.org/itrcwebsite/events/2024-annual-meeting
NACWA Winter Meeting - National
Association of Clean Water Agencies
NACWA will host its 2024 Winter Meeting
in Austin, Texas from February 13-16,
2024. More information will be provided on
NACWA's website: https://www.nacwa.org/
conferences-events/event-at-a-glance/2024/02/13/
nacwa-events/2024-winter-conference
AWWA Annual Conference and Expo -
American Water Works Association
AWWA will host it's 2024 Annual Conference and
Expo in Anaheim, California from June 10-13, 2024.
More information is provided on AWWA's website:
https://www.awwa.org/ace
EPA ORD Upcoming Events
EPA Research Webinar Series
EPA ORD hosts several webinar series dedicated
to providing the latest information and training
on cutting-edge scientific research activities and
results in order to provide assistance and solutions to
environmental and public health issues. The webinars
are free of charge and open to the public. Additional
information, schedules, and registration can be found
on the individual webinar series webpages here.
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