In special circumstances, when the basis of a health assessment is a developmental effect, EPA recommends the following parameter values.

Women of childbearing age (ages 15-44), when fetal developmental effects are the most sensitive health endpoint:

BW = 67 kg; average body weight.
DI  = 2 L/day; 90th percentile estimate.

Children:

BW = 30 kg; ages 1-14.
BW = 13 kg; toddlers (ages 1-3).
BW = 7 kg; infants.
DI = 1 L/day for all three sub-categories above.

As was the case for adults, the body weights used for women of childbearing age and children are averages for the population of concern, while the drinking water intakes are 90 percentile values.

In addition to the FI value of 17.5 g/day for its national recommended water quality criteria, EPA recommends the following intake values for other groups of concern as appropriate.

For Chronic Health Effects When Targeting

• Recreational fishers: 17.5 g/day, which is an estimate of the 90th percentile consumption of fish and shellfish from estuarine and fresh waters for adults in the general population. This value is also recommended as an estimate of average consumption of fish/shellfish from estuarine and fresh waters for recreational fishers.
• Subsistence fishers: 142.4 g/day, which is an estimate of average consumption of fish and shellfish from estuarine and fresh waters for this population.

For Developmental Health Effects When Targeting

• Women of childbearing age (i.e., ages 15 to 44) (i.e., fetal effects):  165.5 g/day, which is an estimate of the 90th percentile consumption of fish and shellfish from estuarine and fresh waters for this population. This value represents the consumers-only data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Continuing Survey of Food Intake by Individuals for this particular group; specifically, the survey respondents who actually consumed fish on any of the survey days (i.e., the non-zero values only). The point of considering consumers-only data here (as defined above) is to produce an estimate of meal size for circumstances where acute or short-term exposures may result in adverse developmental health effects in the fetus.
• Children (i.e., ages 14 and under): 156.3 g/day, which is an estimate of the 90th percentile consumption of fish and shellfish from estuarine and fresh waters for this population. This value represents consumers-only data (again, the non-zero consumption values only) from the survey for this particular group. The point of considering consumers-only data here is to produce an estimate of meal size for circumstances where acute or sub-chronic exposures may result in adverse health effects in children.

All of the default intake values recommended are based on the uncooked weights of the fish analyzed. EPA strongly encourages States/Tribes to use the results from local or regional fish intake surveys as more representative of their target population group(s).

Return to Supplemental Module: Human Health Ambient Water Quality Criteria