The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a draft Aquatic Life Ambient Estuarine/Marine Water Quality Criteria for Copper on July 29, 2016, for a 60-day public comment period. In short, the updated criteria aims to adopt new copper standards to protect aquatic life, particularly in and around coastal harbors and marinas, by using the Biotic Ligand Model to develop criteria that vary with changing water quality parameters. BPC’s Marinas & Boatyards Committee had a meeting on September 22 to learn more about the EPA’s draft criteria and implications for California’s harbors and marinas. Subsequently, BPC submitted a comment letter to the EPA citing scientific uncertainties among other concerns.
Click here to read BPC’s comment letter submitted to the EPA in regards to the draft Aquatic Life Ambient Estuarine/Marine Water Quality Criteria for Copper 2016.
Tags: bpc, copper, EPA, harbors, marinas