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Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) are being discovered in our Nation's waters at very low concentrations. Pharmaceuticals refer to prescription and over-the-counter therapeutic drugs and veterinary drugs. Personal care products refer to products used for personal and cosmetic reasons such as soaps, fragrances, and cosmetics.

EPA's new Fish Kids site is a fun website that uses interactive stories and games to teach kids about fish advisories! It is designed for kids ages 8–12 and is best played with a teacher or parent who can help understand the more advanced topics.

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Water Quality Standards

Water quality standards (WQS) are the foundation of the water quality-based pollution control program mandated by the Clean Water Act. These standards define the goals for a waterbody by designating its uses, setting criteria to protect those uses, and establishing provisions to protect waterbodies from pollutants.

• Water quality standards where you live
• Basic information about standards
• Laws & regulations
• Policy & guidance
• State, tribal & territorial standards
• Training, meetings & educational materials
• Water quality standards and criteria for tribes

Drinking Water Standards are found elsewhere on our Web site.

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Water Quality Criteria

The Clean Water Act (§304(a)(1)) requires us to develop criteria for water quality that accurately reflects the latest scientific knowledge. These criteria are based solely on data and scientific judgments on pollutant concentrations and environmental or human health effects. Section 304(a) also provides guidance to states and tribes in adopting water quality standards. Criteria are developed for the protection of aquatic life as well as for human health.

Current National Recommended Water Quality Criteria

• Aquatic life
• Biological criteria
• Human health
• Microbial (pathogen)
• Nutrients

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Industrial Water Pollution Controls

Effluent limitations guidelines and standards are established by EPA for different non-municipal industries. These guidelines are based on the degree of pollutant reduction that can be attained by an industry when they apply recommended pollutant control technologies.

The Effluent Guidelines Plan is published biennially in the Federal Register. Recent editions provide an overview of the Effluent Guidelines Program, ongoing and future effluent guidelines projects, and preliminary studies.

Cooling water intake structures (§316(b)) cause adverse environmental impact by pulling large numbers of fish and shellfish or their eggs into a power plant's or factory's cooling system. There, the organisms may be killed or injured by heat, physical stress, or by chemicals used to clean the cooling system. Larger organisms may be killed or injured when they are trapped against screens at the front of an intake structure.

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Health Advisories

EPA is committed to protecting human health. The following programs are designed to reduce human exposure to contaminants in water.

• Beaches
• Fish consumption
• Shellfish
• Drinking water advisories
• Federal-State Toxicology and Risk Analysis Committee
• National lake fish tissue study

See also: Drinking Water and Your Health; Protecting Human Health; Children's Health; Related Human Health Topics.

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Water Quality Tools and Models

We have several water quality models and tools that help you model your environment, including simulating the movement of precipitation and pollutants to receiving waters.

• Allocating loads and waste loads in TMDLs
• Analytical test methods are used by industries and municipalities to analyze the chemical and biological components of wastewater, drinking water, sediment, and other environmental samples.
• AQUATOX is a freshwater ecosystem simulation model. It predicts the fate of various pollutants, such as nutrients and organic toxicants, and their effects on the ecosystem
• BASINS is a multi-purpose environmental analysis system that integrates a geographical information system (GIS), national watershed data, and state-of-the-art environmental assessment and modeling tools into one convenient package.
• DFLOW: A tool for low-flow analysis
• Mercury maps is a tool that relates changes in mercury air deposition rates to changes in mercury fish tissue concentrations, on a national scale.

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Training, Grants & other Assistance

We offer opportunities for you to learn about Water Quality Standards and Water Quality Tools and Models. For those that need financial assistance, we may be able to help you as well.

Don't forget the fun stuff, too!

Training

• BASINS and other modelling training
• Biocriteria modules
• Fish forum
• Water quality standards academy
• Water quality standards meetings & educational materials
• Wetlands modules
• Sign up for training opportunities

Funding

• Beach grants
• Funding
• Tribal funding

For Kids and Students

• Kid stuff
• Beaches Kids
• Fish Kids

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