Code of Colorado Regulations
1000 - Department of Public Health and Environment
1002 - Water Quality Control Commission (1002 Series)
5 CCR 1002-31 - REGULATION NO. 31 - THE BASIC STANDARDS AND METHODOLOGIES FOR SURFACE WATER
Section 5 CCR 1002-31.52 - STATEMENT OF BASIS, SPECIFIC STATUTORY AUTHORITY AND PURPOSE; APRIL 11, 2016 RULEMAKING; FINAL ACTION MAY 9, 2016; EFFECTIVE DATE JUNE 30, 2016
Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 17, September 10, 2024
The provisions of sections 25-8-202(1)(b), 25-8-204; and 25-8-402, C.R.S., provide the specific statutory authority for adoption. The Commission also adopted, in compliance with section 24-4-103(4) C.R.S., the following statement of basis and purpose.
BASIS AND PURPOSE:
A. Basic Standards for Organic Chemicals
In this rulemaking, the Commission adopted revised and new organic chemical standards in section 31.11 . In an effort to keep ground water and surface water organic chemical standards consistent, the changes to section 41.5 were considered during the same hearing that addressed changes to the statewide surface water organic chemical standards in Regulation No. 31 (Basic Standards and Methodologies for Surface Water).
In adopting these new and revised organic chemical standards, the Commission continued to rely on its past policy decisions and precedence documented in Commission Policy 96-2. Additionally, as per Departmental policy, the Commission has relied on the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) as its first tier source of toxicological data. Review of the IRIS data that had been updated since the last revisions to 41.5(C)(3) indicated that the water quality standard for tetrachloroethylene (TCE), needed to be revised. EPA expressed concerns regarding the proposed hybrid standard approach for TCE. In light of the impact that a decision on the hybrid standard for TCE may have on other hybrid standards adopted by the WQCC, and because the human health risk of maintaining the current standard of 5 mg/L is not an order of magnitude above the risk for a standard of .76 mg/L, the Commission decided to not modify the TCE standard at this hearing. The Commission expects the broader issue of hybrid standards will be discussed with EPA and the stakeholders, and that the issue may be revisited at a future hearing. The IRIS review also identified new compounds in the IRIS data that the Commission elected to adopt as water quality standards, these were: biphenyl, methanol, and tetrahydrofuran.
PARTIES TO THE RULEMAKING
