benchmarks {inldata}R Documentation

Benchmark Concentrations

Description

Water-quality benchmark concentrations of selected radionuclides, organic compounds, and chemical constituents. These benchmarks include the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs), Human Health Benchmarks for Pesticides (HHBPs), and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Health-Based Screening Levels (HBSLs).

Usage

benchmarks

Format

A data frame with columns:

parm_nm

Long parameter name, such as "Strontium-90, water, unfiltered, picocuries per liter".

pcode

U.S. Geological Survey 5-digit parameter code used to identify the constituent measured, see parameters dataset for details. For example, the parameter code for Tritium is "07000".

mcl

Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs), a standard set by the EPA for drinking water quality. An MCL is the legal threshold limit on the amount of a substance that is allowed in public water systems under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

hhbp_noncancer

EPA Chronic Noncancer HHBPs.

hhbp_cancer_min

EPA Carcinogenic HHBPs for a one-in-one million cancer risk.

hhbp_cancer_max

EPA Carcinogenic HHBPs for a one-in-ten thousand cancer risk.

hbsl_noncancer

USGS Noncancer HBSLs.

hbsl_cancer_min

USGS Cancer HBSLs for a one-in-one million cancer risk.

hbsl_cancer_max

USGS Cancer HBSLs for a one-in-ten thousand cancer risk.

remark

Benchmark remarks that provide additional information about some MCLs, HHBPs, and HBSLs.

Source

Many of the water-quality benchmarks were accessed from the U.S. Geological Survey Health-Based Screening Levels database, accessed on April 4, 2023, from https://water.usgs.gov/water-resources/hbsl/. Benchmarks for total Trihalomethanes, Tritium, and Strontium-90 were provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2015). Note that MCL benchmark values reported in millirem per year were substituted with a 50 picocuries per liter screening level.

References

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2015, Protection of environment—Code of Federal Regulations 40, Part 141, Subpart G, National Primary Drinking Water Regulations, Maximum Contaminant Levels and Maximum Residual Disinfectant Levels: Washington, D.C., Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration.

Examples

str(benchmarks)

[Package inldata version 1.2.5 Index]