AEMC adopts water rules to comply with new environmental regulation
Alabama regulators adopted water-quality rule amendments to comply with SB71, which restricts environmental standards and defaults to federal toxicity assessments.
The Alabama Environmental Management Commission adopted amendments Friday removing requirements that the Alabama Department of Environmental Management use certain federal toxicity assessments by default when calculating limits for pollutants in state waters.
The amendments affect two rules governing toxic pollutants and water-quality criteria for specific lakes. ADEM proposed the changes to comply with Act 2026-81, which restricts how state agencies establish environmental standards and requires them to revise rules mandating the default use of values from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Integrated Risk Information System, or IRIS.
The changes to Rule 335-6-10-.07 remove language requiring ADEM to use IRIS reference doses for pollutants classified as noncarcinogens and cancer potency factors for pollutants classified as carcinogens. Those values are used in formulas that calculate numerical water-quality criteria based on factors including body weight, water consumption and fish consumption.
The rule sets criteria for toxic pollutants based on the designated uses of state waters. It includes separate criteria for public water supplies and fish consumption. The calculations help determine allowable pollutant concentrations in waterways.
The amendments also remove a provision allowing ADEM, in consultation with the Alabama Department of Public Health, to calculate criteria using toxicity values from sources other than IRIS or EPA water-quality criteria documents. That provision required the agencies to adopt alternative values through formal rulemaking before they could take effect.
An amendment to Rule 335-6-10-.11 corrects a typographical error in Woodruff Lake's listed surface area, changing the figure to 12,510 acres.
The changes follow a dispute over Alabama's water-toxicity standards that began before the new law took effect.
In June 2025, the commission voted 6-1 to grant a petition from seven environmental groups seeking updated toxicity standards for 12 pollutants. The groups argued that Alabama's standards had not incorporated updated EPA assessments published in 2015 and could allow higher concentrations of certain toxic substances in waterways used for drinking water and fishing.
The pollutants included arsenic, cyanide, ethylbenzene, toluene and trichloroethylene. The petition sought updated oral reference doses for five pollutants, revised cancer potency factors for six others and a different toxicity measure for a 12th chemical.
ADEM's then-acting director, Jeffery Kitchens, argued that the petition was premature because the department was already conducting a broader review of its water-toxicity standards. He told the commission that ADEM expected to propose updates in late 2026. The commission nevertheless granted the petition, with Chairman Frank McFadden casting the lone dissenting vote.
The Legislature subsequently passed Act 2026-81, restricting standards that exceed comparable federal requirements. The law also requires agencies to revise rules that mandate IRIS values as the default for numerical water-quality criteria by November 19, 2026.
ADEM held a public hearing on the proposed amendments August 24 before the commission adopted them Friday.
