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Statewide Health Standards

When the Safe Drinking Water Program’s PFOA and PFOS MCLs were published in the PA Bulletin on January 14, 2023, those values automatically became effective as the groundwater MScs. The toxicity values used for these MCL calculations will be used to calculate proposed soil direct contact numeric values used to determine soil MSCs.

These values are:
PFOA: 0.014 µg/L
PFOS: 0.018 µg/L

The value published as the MSC for Bromobenzene in Table 1 was converted incorrectly. This value should be 60 µg/L or 0.06 mg/L.

These tables present the revised statewide health standards that were published November 20, 2021 in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. These standards became effective on that date. Any final report or remedial action completion report using the statewide health standard that is submitted on or after November 20, 2021 must demonstrate attainment of the standards in these tables in order to receive the liability relief afforded by Act 2.

Number Please! (Excel) is a tool to be used to quickly find all information available on the SHS MSCs that apply to a single regulated substance.

Chapter 250: Administration of the Land Recycling Program

Medium Specific Concentrations

On November 20, 2021, revisions to the regulations found at 25 Pa. Code Chapter 250, Administration of the Land Recycling Program (Act 2 cleanup standards), became effective. The Medium Specific Concentrations (MSC) have been updated to incorporate new toxicological information on about 400 chemical substances.

Table 1 - Medium Specific Concentrations (MSCs) for Organic Regulated Substances in Groundwater

Table 2 - MSCs for Inorganic Substances in Groundwater

Table 3a - MSCs for Organic Regulated Substances in Soil: Direct Contact Values

Table 3b - MSCs for Organic Regulated Substances in Soil: Soil-to-Groundwater Values

Table 4a - MSCs for Inorganic Regulated Substances in Soil: Direct Contact Values

Table 4b - MSCs for Inorganic Regulated Substances in Soil: Soil-to-Groundwater Values

Table 5a - Physical and Toxicological Properties: Organic Regulated Substances

Correction: Table 5A of Chapter 250, Appendix A “Physical and Toxicological Properties: Organic Substances” contains incorrect organic carbon-water partition co-efficient (Koc) values for Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) and Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA). The values currently listed in Table 5A are log Koc and should be Koc. The numeric values in the MSC tables were not calculated using Koc values so they do not need to be corrected. The Table 5A Koc values will be corrected during the next Chapter 250 rulemaking process. The Koc value corrections for Table 5A are listed below.

SubstanceCurrent Table 5A KocActual Koc
Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) (CAS: 001763-23-1)2.57372
Pefluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) (CAS: 000335-67-1)2.06115

Table 5b - Physical and Toxicological Properties: Inorganic Regulated Substances

Table 6 - Threshold of Regulation Compounds

Table 7 - Default Values for Calculating Medium-Specific Concentrations for Lead (PDF)

Table 8 - Constituents of Potential Ecological Concern (PDF)

Statewide Health Ecological Screening Process Rationale

Ecological Screening Process Rationale (Word)