HF3960 - External Peer Review of Water Quality Standards

• Every new or revised numeric water quality standard must be supported by a technical support document that has undergone external, scientific peer review, except when adopting unchanged EPA criteria that have already been peer reviewed.

• The commissioner must release technical support documents in draft form for public comment before peer review and must provide public notice identifying the draft document, proposed charge questions, and location where the document can be found.

• All public comments received during the comment period must be made available to external peer reviewers, and peer reviewers must not have participated in developing the scientific basis of the standard.

• External peer review must be conducted according to EPA's Peer Review Handbook guidance, with panel review required when the agency develops significant new science or science that expands significantly beyond current documented scientific practices.

• The commissioner must post an annual report by December 15 on the agency website identifying water quality standards development work in progress or completed, the lead agency scientist for each effort, and opportunities for public input.