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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 This website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may not work.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 »

FSTRAC Products

Human Health Benchmarks for Pesticides

EPA has updated its Human Health Benchmarks for Pesticides (HHBPs) in drinking water to reflect the latest scientific information. HHBPs are levels of certain food use pesticides in drinking water or source waters for drinking water at or below which adverse health effects are not anticipated from one-day or lifetime exposures. First developed by EPA in 2012, HHBPs are intended to be used for informational purposes by states, tribes, water systems and the public to help interpret monitoring data for pesticides for which there are no drinking water standards or health advisories. EPA develops HHBPs using the same equation we use to calculate health advisories for drinking water. These revised benchmarks incorporate updated toxicity assessments from the pesticide registration process and exposure assumptions derived from EPA’s Exposure Factors Handbook.

Points of Contact:

  • For information regarding EPA’s derivation of HHBPs: Jamie Strong (strong.jamie@epa.gov).
  • For information regarding the toxicity values and documentation used by EPA for deriving the benchmarks: Brenda May (may.brenda@epa.gov).

FSTRAC SharePoint Site

Meeting summaries are available through the FSTRAC SharePoint site. Contact us for information on how to use the FSTRAC SharePoint site or to obtain a user name and password.

Points of Contact:

State Derived Health-Based Water Criteria and Guidance

FSTRAC members have developed a summary of state derived health-based water criteria and supported development of the Connecticut Department of Public Health’s Bathing and Showering Guidance Support Document, the Connecticut Department of Public Health’s Bathing and Showering Guidance for Private Wells, and the Minnesota Department of Health’s State Derived Health-Based Water Criteria summary.