NewUSEPAwater quality criteria by 2012 : GOMA concerns and recommendations Gulf of Mexico Alliance ( GOMA ) , Water Quality Priority Issue Team , GOMA Pathogens Workgroup Writing Team

The Gulf of Mexico Alliance (GOMA) was tasked by the five Gulf State Governors to identify major issues affecting the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and to set priorities for ameliorating these problems. One priority identified by GOMA is the need to improve detection methods for water quality indicators, pathogens and microbial source tracking. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) is tasked with revising water quality criteria by 2012; however, the locations traditionally studied by the USEPA are not representative of the GoM and this has raised concern about whether or not the new criteria will be appropriate. This paper outlines a number of concerns, including deadlines associated with the USEPA Consent Decree, which may prevent inclusion of research needed to produce a well-developed set of methods and criteria appropriate for all regulated waters. GOMA makes several recommendations including ensuring that criteria formulation use data that include GoM-specific conditions (e.g. lower bather density, nonpoint sources), that rapid-testing methods be feasible and adequately controlled, and that USEPA maintains investments in water quality research once the new criteria are promulgated in order to assure that outstanding scientific questions are addressed and that scientifically defensible criteria are achieved for the GoM and other regulated waterbodies. This paper is in the public domain: verbatim copying and redistribution of this paper are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the paper’s original DOI. Anyone using the paper is requested to properly cite and acknowledge the source as J. Wat. Health 9(4), 718–733. doi: 10.2166/wh.2011.156 Janet Gooch-Moore (corresponding author) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service, Center for Coastal Environmental Health & Biomolecular Research, Charleston, SC 29412, USA E-mail: [email protected] Kelly D. Goodwin National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Ocean Chemistry Division, Miami, FL 33149, USA and Stationed at the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, La Jolla, CA, USA Carol Dorsey Mobile Division Laboratory, Alabama Department of Public Health, Mobile, AL 36608, USA R. D. Ellender Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS 39406, USA Joanna B. Mott Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi, TX 78412, USA Mark Ornelas Alabama Department of Environmental Management, Mobile, AL 36608, USA Chris Sinigalliano National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratories, Ocean Chemistry Division, Miami, FL 33149, USA Bob Vincent Bureau of Water Programs, Florida Department of Health, Tallahassee, FL 32399, USA David Whiting Bureau of Laboratories, Biology Section, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Tallahassee, FL 32399, USA Steven H. Wolfe Office of Coastal and Aquatic Managed Areas, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Tallahassee, FL 32399, USA