Final Technical Support Document on Updated Public Health Goal for Antimony in Drinking Water

Sep 23, 2016

The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) of the California Environmental Protection Agency is announcing the publication of the updated Public Health Goal (PHG) for antimony in drinking water. A PHG is the level of a drinking water contaminant at which adverse health effects are not expected to occur from a lifetime of exposure. The California Safe Drinking Water Act of 1996^[1] requires OEHHA to develop PHGs based exclusively on public health considerations.^[2] PHGs published by OEHHA are considered by the State Water Resources Control Board in setting drinking water standards (Maximum Contaminant Levels, or MCLs) for California.^[3]

The technical support document, available for download below, presents an update of the antimony PHG, originally published in 1997. The update includes changes in critical study and endpoint selection, and updated dose-response analysis and exposure estimates. These changes resulted in the revision of the antimony PHG from 20 parts per billion (ppb) to 1 ppb.

A companion document, also available for download below, contains responses to public comments received during two public comment periods that ended in September 2009 and August 2016, and comments received in February 2016 from an external scientific peer review. OEHHA has evaluated all the comments received and revised the technical support document as appropriate.

If you would like to receive further information on this announcement or have questions, please contact Hermelinda Jimenez at PHG.Program@oehha.ca.gov or at (916) 324-7572. Written inquiries can also be addressed to:

Pesticide and Environmental Toxicology Branch
Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
California Environmental Protection Agency
P.O. Box 4010, MS-12B
Sacramento, California 95812
Attention: PHG Program