The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) recently announced during its August 29, 2023 stakeholder meeting that it anticipates revising Surface Water Quality Standards for 94 toxic substances, and also adding 4 new substances to the toxic substances list.
According to the NJDEP’s stakeholder meeting presentation, the anticipated revisions include:
- Revising the freshwater criteria for 87 substances;
- Adding new freshwater criteria for 7 substances;
- Revising the saline water criteria for 86 substances;
- Adding saline water criteria for 8 substances; and
- Adding 4 new surface water quality criteria for toxic substances, including 1,4-dioxane, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS):
- Perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA)
- Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)
- Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS)
The anticipated new criteria will be more stringent for 72 freshwater constituents and 66 saline water constituents, and less stringent for 13 freshwater constituents and 19 saline water constituents.
The new Surface Water Quality Standards will be applied at all active site remediation sites involving a groundwater to surface water pathway.
The rule proposal is anticipated to be published for public comment by end of 2023 or early 2024.
To view the full NJDEP presentation, click here.
Contact
For more information about these anticipated changes, or to find out how your site might be impacted, please contact:
Michael Metlitz, LSRP
Principal LSRP
mmetlitz@whitmanco.com
(732) 390-5858
Posted on September 14, 2023
