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Basic Information

The Office of Science and Technology (OST) is one of five water offices at EPA. We set national environmental baselines for the quality of the Nation's waters. We help ensure the latest water pollution science and best available control technologies to support Office of Water program goals to keep water safe and clean.

Every year under the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act, OST produces regulations, guidelines, methods, standards, science-based criteria, and studies that are critical components of national programs that protect people and the aquatic environment.

Developing the Scientific Basis for a Regulatory Framework

OST applies and sponsors water research and studies that help other EPA programs, states and tribes to protect their drinking water supplies and minimize the effects of pollutants on fish, wildlife, and the aquatic environment. Federal, state, tribal and local governments use this information to set limits on pollutants that may be discharged into all types of waters—rivers, lakes, and streams.

OST works closely with states, tribes, local governments, industry, and environmental groups to help them set and meet their water quality goals. Stakeholders also participate in identifying manufacturing processes that reduce or prevent the production of polluting chemicals and in setting our future regulatory goals.

While OST's products form the scientific basis for most water programs that protect human health and the aquatic environment, EPA's ten regional offices communicate the information to our co-regulators and to the public.

Together with EPA's Office of Research and Development, other Office of Water offices, and the regions, OST provides the tools and the training that states and tribes need to develop and maintain strong scientifically-based water pollution control programs.

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Organization Chart

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Engineering and Analysis Division

The Engineering and Analysis Division (EAD) develops National technology-based Effluent Guidelines that control pollutant discharges from industry into surface waters and into wastewater treatment plants.

EAD regulations also control the intake of cooling water at many industrial facilities. Intake regulations keep fish and shellfish from being killed or injured as a result of being pulled into cooling systems or trapped against intake screens. Additionally, EAD identifies and analyzes industrial processes and wastewater treatment technologies.

This division also develops laboratory analytical test methods that are the basis of national regulations and of thousands of discharge permits. Many of the pollutants controlled by these regulations are persistent toxic compounds like lead or benzene, but the guidelines also address conventional pollutants like ammonia and phosphorous.

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Standards and Health Protection Division

The Standards and Health Protection Division (SHPD) directs the national program for adoption of state and tribal water quality standards. It develops policies and guidance and provides assistance to EPA regional offices and states on adopting appropriate uses, water quality criteria, and antidegradation protection for specific water bodies. SHPD also helps states and EPA Regions develop Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) to meet water quality standards.

SHPD runs the Agency's programs to limit the public's exposure to toxics and pathogens from swimming and consuming non-commercial fish. It maintains the National Listing of Fish Advisories, a database available to the public via the Internet, and develops technical documents and guidance materials that help states and tribes monitor, assess, and notify the public when and where non-commercial fish are not suitable to eat.

Under the BEACH Program, EPA develops new laboratory test methods for detecting contaminants in beach water and SHPD provides grants to state, tribal, interstate, and local agencies to establish effective monitoring and public notification programs for beaches.

SHPD conducts environmental assessments to help evaluate the effects of regulations on water quality. The Division also develops other tools—water quality models, flow and tissue analysis methods, and approaches for better understanding options for how to allocate pollutant loadings across sources—to help states, territories, and tribes effectively implement their Water Quality Standards.

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Health and Ecological Criteria Division

The Health and Ecological Criteria Division (HECD) conducts risk assessments and develops criteria for surface and drinking water to ensure they are safe for aquatic life and human use and consumption.

Division scientists also provide technical assistance to states, tribes, local governments and drinking water authorities on criteria implementation, site specific adjustment, data analysis, and drinking water health advisories.

To protect aquatic life, HECD develops and publishes nutrient criteria that protect waters from nutrient over-enrichment; biological criteria designed to describe and maintain the biological condition of aquatic communities; chemical criteria to define the chemical concentration below which aquatic life are protected; and clean sediment criteria that protect aquatic life from excessive non-contaminated sediment.

HECD also has the lead for conducting risk assessments for the use and disposal of biosolids, and for developing appropriate regulations that protect human health and the environment.

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Our Work & Links to Programs

You can learn more about the specific programs for which we are responsible by visiting these links

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Other Water Topics:
Drinking Water | Wastewater Management | Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds

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