Applying what it calls the “latest scientific information,” the EPA has updated its recommended aquatic life water quality criteria for cadmium. This is the fifth time—and the first time since 2001—that the Agency has changed the recommended criteria for cadmium since they were first issued 1980. There are four recommended criteria—two each (acute and chronic) for both freshwater and estuarine/marine bodies. In one case, the criterion has been raised (made less stringent); in the other three cases, the criteria have been lowered.
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The recommendations are neither rules nor requirements and are intended solely to assist states and tribes that are authorized under the Clean Water Act (CWA) to set water quality standards. Under the Act, designated states and tribes must set water quality criteria that will protect the designated uses of the water bodies within their areas.