View Rule

In 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) disapproved 143 surface water quality criteria adopted by the State of Washington because those criteria were not based on the latest sound science and were therefore not protective of human health and promulgated protective federal criteria in their place. EPA later decided to reverse the 2016 disapproval and approve the same State-adopted criteria in 2019 and then withdraw the rule setting federal criteria in 2020. The State, several tribes, and environmental groups voiced strong opposition to the reversals. EPA has decided to proceed with a federal rulemaking to restore protective and science-based human health criteria for Washington to meet Clean Water Act requirements.