Criteria

{
  "id": "MLC-T-ENV-006902",
  "term": "Criteria",
  "field": "Environment",
  "definition": "1. Descriptive factors taken into account by EPA in setting standards for pollutants. For example, water quality criteria describe the concentration of pollutants that most fish can be exposed to for an hour without showing acute effects.\n\n2. Statements of the conditions presumed to support or protect the designated use or uses of a waterbody. Criteria may be narrative or numeric.\n\n3. The numeric values and the narrative standards that represent contaminant concentrations that are not to be exceeded in the receiving environmental media (surface water, ground water, sediment) to protect beneficial uses.\n\n4. Descriptive factors taken into account by EPA in setting standards for various pollutants. These factors are used to determine limits on allowable concentration levels, and to limit the number of violations per year. When issued by EPA, the criteria provide guidance to the states on how to establish their standards.\n\n5. The specific conditions or indicators that have to be met in order for an entity to attain a standard and/or be awarded the use of an eco-label.\n\n6. Standards that define minimum conditions, pollutant limits, goals, and other requirements that the waterbody must attain or maintain to support its designated use or uses. Criteria describe physical, chemical, and biological attributes or conditions as measurable (e.g., parts per million of a certain chemical) or narrative (e.g., no objectionable odors) water quality components.",
  "subject": "Water",
  "references": [
    "Environmental Issues Terms & Acronyms; Pesticides Glossary; EPA 2005e",
    "Aquatic Biodiversity Glossary; Biocriteria Glossary; Glossary of Wetland Bioassessment Terms",
    "National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Glossary",
    "Terms of Environment",
    "Greener Products Glossary",
    "Watershed Planning Glossary of Terms"
  ],
  "url": "https://mlchart.com/terminology/environment/criteria/"
}