Clean Water Act Aquatic Life Benchmarks for PFAS
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency developed aquatic life benchmark values for eight individual per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) because current data limitations do not allow the agency to develop recommended water quality criteria for these PFAS that follow the EPA’s Aquatic Life Guidelines. The EPA based these benchmark values on the latest available information about the short-term (acute) toxicity of these PFAS to aquatic organisms. To do so, the agency used available empirical test data along with data derived using new approach methods (NAMs).