Aquatic Life Toxics Criteria

We are proposing revisions to aquatic life toxics criteria to provide additional water quality protection for organisms that live in water. 

Comments due: May 7, 2024

Submit by: Online, mail, or at one of the public hearings

This rulemaking would adopt changes to WAC 173-201A Water Quality Standards for Surface Waters of the State of Washington. We are considering revisions to aquatic life toxics criteria in WAC 173-201A-240 Toxic Substances to provide additional water quality protection for organisms that live in water.

For more information, see our Aquatic Life Toxics Criteria rulemaking page.

We write rules to implement and enforce state and federal environmental laws and rules.  Ecology follows a 3-phase process for rulemaking:

1. Announcement and development
2. Proposal
3. Adoption

For each phase of the process, we update the rulemaking web page and notify interested parties. We also file notice in the Washington State Register. To learn more about Ecology’s rulemaking process, read the Frequently Asked Questions.