Office of Water Envir"onmental Protection R$gulations Stam:iards Agency Criteria and Stan(jards UIVISlon Washington DC 20460 A.mblent Water Quality Criteria for Thallium m & & rt' AMBIENT WATER QUALITY CRITERIA FOR THALLIUM Prepared By U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY Office of Water Regulations and Standards Criteria and Standards Division Washington, D.C: Office of Research and Development Environmental Criteria and Assessment Office Cincinnati, Ohio Carcinogen Assessment Group Washington, D.C. Environmental Research Laboratories Corvalis, Oregon Duluth, Minnesota Gulf Breeze, Florida Narragansett, Rhode Island i DISCLAIMER This report has been reviewed by the Environmental Criteria and Assessment Offi ce, U. S. Envi ronmenta1 Protection Agency, and approved for publication. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use. AVAILABILITY NOTICE This document is available to the public through the National Techn al Information Service, (NTIS), Springfield, Virginia 22161. ii FOREWORD Section 304 (a) (1) of the Clean Water Act of 1977 (P.L. 95-217), requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to publish criteria for water quality accurately reflecting the latest scientific knowledge on the kind and extent of all identifiable effects on hea 1th and we 1fare wh ich may be expected from the presence of pollutants in any body of water, including..ground water. Proposed water quality criteria for the 65 toxic pollutants listed under section 307 (a)(1) of the C1 ean Water Act were developed and a notice of thei r availability was published for public comment on March 15, 1979 (44 FR 15926), July 25, 1979 (44 FR 43660), and October 1, 1979 (44 FR 56628). This document is a revision of those proposed criteria based upon a consideration of comments received from other Federal Agencies, State agencies, special interest groups, and individual scientists. The criteria contained in this document replace any previously published EPA criteria for the 65 pollutants. This criterion document is also published in satisifaction of paragraph 11 of the Settlement Agreement in Natural Resources Defense counci1( et. a1. vs. Train, 8 ERC 2120 (D. D.C. 1976), modified, 12 ERC 1833 D.D.C. 1979). The term "water quality criteria" is used in two sections of the Clean Water Act, section 304 (a)(I) and section 303 (c)(2). The term has a different program impact in each section. In section 304, the term represents a non-regulatory, scientific assessment of ecological ef­ fects. The criteria presented in this publication are such scientific assessments. Such water qual ity criteria associated with specific stream uses when adopted as State water quality standards under section 303 become enforceable maximum acceptable levels of a pollutant in ambient waters. The water quality criteria adopted in the State water quality standards could have the same numerical limits as the criteria deve loped under section 304. However, in many situations States may want to adjust water quality criteria developed under section 304 to reflect local environmental conditions and human exposure patterns before incorporation into water quality standards. It is not until their adoption as part of the State water quality standards that the criteria become regulatory. Guidelines to assist the States in the modification of criteria presented in this document, in the development of water quality standards, and in other water-related programs of this Agency, are being developed by EPA. STEVEN SCHATZOW Deputy Assistant Administrator Office of Water Regulations and Standards iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Aquatic Life Toxicity William A. Brungs, ERL-Narragansett David J. Hansen, ERL-Gulf Breeze U.S. Environmental Protection Agency U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Mammalian Toxicology and Human Health Effects Paul B. Hammond (author) Rolf Hartung University of Cincinnati University of Michigan Christopher DeRosa (doc. mgr.) ECAO-Cin John Carroll U.S. Environmental Protection Agency U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Jerry F. Stara (doc. mgr.), ECAO-Cin S.M. Charbonneau U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Health and Welfare, Canada Thomas Clarkson Patrick Durkin University of Rochester Syracuse Research Corporation Karl L. Gabriel David H. Groth Medical College of Pennsylvania National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health John W. Allis, HERL Terri Laird, ECAO-Cin U.S. Environmental Protection Agency U.S. Environmental Protection Agency J.B. Lal Steven B. Lutkenhoff, ECAO-Cin National Institute of Occupational U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Safety and Health Gordon Newell William W. Sutton, EMSL-Las Vegas National Academy of Sciences U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Technical Support Services Staff: D.J. Reisman, M.A. Garlough, B.L. Zwayer, P.A. Daunt, K.S. Edwards, T.A. Scandura, A.T. Pressley, C.A. Cooper, M.M. Denessen. Clerical Staff: C.A. Haynes, S.J. Faehr, L.A. Wade, D. Jones, B.J. Bordicks, B.J. Quesnell, T. Highland, R. Rubinstein. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Criteria Summary Introduction A-1 Aquatic Life Toxicology B-1 Introduction B-1 Effects B-1 Acute Toxicity B-1 Chronic Toxicity B-2 Plant Effects B-2 Residues B-a Miscellaneous B-3 Summary B-3 Criteria B-4 References B-11 Mammalian Toxicology and Human Health Effects C-1 Exposure C-1 Ingestion from Water C-1 Ingestion from Food C-3 Inhalation C-5 Dermal C-6 Exposure to Thallium from Food, Water, and Air as a Basis for Estimating Daily Absorption C-6 Pharmacokinetics C-7 Absorption C-8 Distribution C-9 Excretion C-11 Total Daily Excretion of Thallium as a Basis for Estimating Daily Absorption C-18 Body Burden of Thallium as a Basis for Estimating Daily Absorption C-22 Effects C-23 Acute, Subacute and Chronic Toxicity C-23 Synergism and/or Antagonism C-32 Teratogenicity C-33 Mutagenicity C-34 Carcinogenicity C-34 Criterion Formulation C-35 Existing Guidelines and Standards C-35 Current Levels of Exposure C-35 Special Groups at Risk C-37 Basis and Derivation of Criterion C-38 References C-42 v CRITERIA DOCUMENT THALLIUM CRITERIA Aauatic Life The available data for thallium indicate that acute and chronic toxicity to freshwater aauatic life occur at concentrations as low as 1,400 and 40 Ug/1, respectively, and would occur at lm'ler concentrations among species that are more sensitive than those tested. Toxicity to one species of fish occurs at concentrations as low as 20 ug/l after 2,600 hours of exposure. The available data for thallium indicate that acute toxicity to salt­ water aauatic 1ife occurs at concentrations as low as 2,130 ugH and woul d occur at lower concentrations among species that are more sensitive than those tested. No data are available concerning the chronic toxicity of thallium to sensitive saltwater aquatic life. Human Health For the protection of human health from the toxic properties of thallium ingested through water and contaminated aquatic organisms, the ambient water criterion is determined to be 13 ug/l. For the protection of human health from the toxic properties of thallium ingested through contaminated aauatic organisms alone, the ambient water criterion is determined to be 48 ug/l. vi INTRODUCTION Thallium is an element having the chemical symbol Tl and is a soft, mal­ leable, heavy metal with a silver-white luster (Lee, 1971). Industrial uses of thallium include the manufacture of alloys, electronic devices, and spe­ cial glass. Many thallium-containing catalysts have been patented for in­ dustrial organic reactions (Zitko, 1975).",. Production and use of thallium and its compou,nds approximated 680 kg in 1976 (U.S. Dept. Interior, 1977; Zitko, 1975). Thallium has an atomic weight of 204.37, a melting point of 303.5°e, a boiling point of 1,457 ~ lOoe, and a specific gravity of 11.85 at 20°C (Weast, 1975). Thallium exists in either the monovalent (thallous) or tri­ valent (thallic) form, the former being the more common and stable and therefore forming more numerous and stable salts (Hampel, 1968). Thallic salts are readily reduced by common reducing agents to the thallous salts (Standen, 1967). Thallium is chemically reactive with air and moisture, oxidizing slowly in air at 20 0 e and more rapidly as the temperature increases, with the pre­ sence of moisture enhancing this reaction (Standen, 1967). Thallous oxide, formed by oxidizing the metal at low temperature, is easily oxidized to thallic oxide or reduced to thallium. Thallous oxide is a very hygroscopic compound and has a vapor pressure of 1 mm Hg at 580 0 e (Lee, 1971). Thallous hydroxide is formed when thallium contacts water containing oxygen (Hampel, 1968). While thallium itself is relatively insoluble in water (Windholz, 1976), thall ium compounds exhibit a wide range of soluoil ities, as shown in Tab le 1. TABLE 1 Water Solubilities of some Thallium Compounds a Compound Molecular Formula So 1ubil ity Temperature (mgt 1) (OC) Thallium sulfide T12S 220 20 Thallium bromide TlBr 240 0 Thallium chromate Tl2 Cr04 300 60 Thallium chloride TlCl 2,100 0 Thallium sulfate Tl2 S04 27,000 ° Thallium carbonate Tl2 C03 42,000 15 Thallium bromide TlBr 160,000 20 Thallium hydroxideb TlOH 259,000 0 520,000 40 Thallium fluoride TlF 780,000 15 aSource: Standen, 1967 bWeast, 1975 A-2 REFERENCES Hampel, C.A. (ed.) 1968. The Encyclopedia of Chemical Elements. Reinhold Publishers, New York. Lee, A.G. 1971. The Chemistry of Thallium. Elsevier pUblisning Co., Amsterdam. Standen, A. (ed.) 1967. Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology. Interscience Publishers, New York. U.S. Department of the Interior. 1977. Convnodity data sUl11TIaries. Bur. Mines. Weast, R.C. (ed.) 1975. Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. 56th ed. CRC Press, Cleveland, Ohio. Windholz, M. (ed.) 1976. The Merck Index. 9th ed. Merck and Co., Inc., Rahway, New Jersey. Zitko, V. 1975. Toxicity and pollution potential of thallium.