An official website of the United States government.

This is not the current EPA website. To navigate to the current EPA website, please go to www.epa.gov. This website is historical material reflecting the EPA website as it existed on January 19, 2021. This website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may not work. More information »

Are the quantities of different hazardous constituents additive?

In determining whether a Reportable Quantity (RQ) has been released, are the quantities of different hazardous constituents additive under the mixture rule?

No. RQs of different substances are not additive under the mixture rule; releasing a mixture containing half an RQ of one hazardous substance (other than radionuclides) and half an RQ of another hazardous substance does not require a report.