Technical Support Document for Water Quality-based Toxics Control

TLDR

The original Technical Support Document was published in 1985, and since then the Clean Water Act was amended in 1987 to emphasize toxic pollutant control, with new policies, regulations, and accumulated knowledge guiding the field. This revised TSD aims to provide the most current procedural recommendations and guidance for identifying, analyzing, and controlling adverse water quality impacts caused by toxic discharges to U.S. surface waters, following recent regulatory changes. The document offers updated procedural guidance for identifying, analyzing, and controlling toxic discharges to surface waters, incorporating the latest regulatory and scientific developments. The TSD updates interim guidance on metal criteria, supersedes previous criteria expressed in acid‑soluble analytical terms, and corrects typographical errors.

Abstract

The purpose of this revised Technical Support Document (TSD) for Water Quality-based Toxics Control is to provide the most current procedural recommendations and guidance for identifying, analyzing, and controlling adverse water quality impacts caused by toxic discharges to the surface waters of the United States. The original TSD was published in September 1985. Since then, the Clean Water Act (CWA) was amended in 1987 with an emphasis on controlling toxic pollutants. New policies and regulations have been promulgated and a vast amount of knowledge and experienced has been gained in controlling toxic pollutants. Because of these changes, EPA revised and updated the TSD. NOTE: Changes made to this document reflect corrections of typographical errors and the following update of the interim guidance on criteria for metals: The Agency has issued “Interim Guidance Interpretation and Implementation Aquatic Life Criteria for Metals.” The interim guidance supersedes criteria document statements expressing criteria in terms of a acid soluble analytical method and also the metals discusses of Section 5.7.3. The availability of this document appeared in the June 5, 1992 Federal Register (Vol. 57, No. 109, pg. 24407).