160.07 Establishment of enforcement standards; substances of public health concern.
(1) The department of health services and the department shall enter into a memorandum of understanding setting forth the procedures and responsibilities of each agency in establishing enforcement standards under this section. The memorandum shall include those standards to be used by the department in making the designation required under s. 160.05 (6).
(2) Within 10 days after placing the name of a new substance within a category or changing the category of a substance under s. 160.05, the department shall submit the current list of categories and rankings of substances to the department of health services.
(3) The department of health services shall recommend to the department an enforcement standard for each substance submitted to it under sub. (2) which is designated as of public health concern, in the order of rankings within each category under s. 160.05 (4).
(4) The department of health services shall develop recommendations for enforcement standards for substances of public health concern as follows:
(a) If a single federal number exists for a substance, the federal number shall be the enforcement standard.
(b) If more than one federal number exists for a substance, the most recently established federal number representing the most current data shall be the enforcement standard.
(c) If no federal number exists for a substance, but there is a state drinking water standard, the state drinking water standard shall be the enforcement standard.
(d) If neither a federal number nor a state drinking water standard exists for a substance, the department of health services shall develop a recommended enforcement standard using the methodology under s. 160.13.
(e) Notwithstanding pars. (a) and (b), the department of health services may recommend an enforcement standard different than the federal number if there is significant technical information which is scientifically valid and which was not considered when the federal number was established, upon which the department of health services concludes, utilizing the methodology under s. 160.13 and with a reasonable scientific certainty, that such a standard is justified. The department of health services may recommend a change in an enforcement standard previously adopted by utilization of a federal number. In evaluating the evidence for establishing an enforcement standard different than a federal number, the department of health services shall consider the extent to which the evidence was developed in accordance with scientifically valid analytical protocols and may consider whether the evidence was subjected to peer review, resulted from more than one study and is consistent with other credible medical or toxicological evidence.
(5) Within 9 months after transmitting the name of a substance to the department of health services under sub. (2), the department of natural resources shall propose rules establishing the recommendation of the department of health services as the enforcement standard for that substance and publish the notice required under s. 227.16 (2) (e), 227.17 or 227.24 (3).
(6) If a federal number is established or changed for a substance after an enforcement standard is recommended by the department of health services and if any person or regulatory agency submits a request, the department of natural resources shall determine whether the enforcement standard needs revision based on recommendations under sub. (4).
History: 1983 a. 410; 1985 a. 182 s. 57; 1995 a. 27 s. 9126 (19); 2007 a. 20 s. 9121 (6) (a).