Site Feedback

Title 40

Displaying title 40, up to date as of 8/06/2026. Title 40 was last amended 8/06/2026.
eCFR Content

The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is the official legal print publication containing the codification of the general and permanent rules published in the Federal Register by the departments and agencies of the Federal Government. The Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR) is a continuously updated online version of the CFR. It is not an official legal edition of the CFR.

Learn more about the eCFR, its status, and the editorial process.

§ 131.40 Puerto Rico

(a) Use designations for marine waters. In addition to the Commonwealth's adopted use designations, the following waterbodies in Puerto Rico have the beneficial use designated in this paragraph (a) within the bays specified below, and within the Commonwealth's territorial seas, as defined in section 502(8) of the Clean Water Act, and 33 CFR 2.05-5, except such waters classified by the Commonwealth as SB.

Waterbody segment From To Designated use
Coastal Waters 500m offshore 3 miles offshore Primary Contact Recreation.
Guayanilla & Tallaboa Bays Cayo Parguera Punta Verraco Primary Contact Recreation.
Mayaguez Bay Punta Guanajibo Punta Algarrobo Primary Contact Recreation.
Ponce Port Punta Carenero Punta Cuchara Primary Contact Recreation.
San Juan Port mouth of Río Bayamón Punta El Morro Primary Contact Recreation.
Yabucoa Port Punta Icacos Punta Yeguas Primary Contact Recreation.

(b) Criteria that apply to Puerto Rico's marine waters. In addition to all other Commonwealth criteria, the following criteria for bacteria apply to the waterbodies in paragraph (a) of this section:

Bacteria: The fecal coliform geometric mean of a series of representative samples (at least five samples) of the waters taken sequentially shall not exceed 200 colonies/100 ml, and not more than 20 percent of the samples shall exceed 400 colonies/100 ml. The enterococci density in terms of geometric mean of at least five representative samples taken sequentially shall not exceed 35/100 ml. No single sample should exceed the upper confidence limit of 75% using 0.7 as the log standard deviation until sufficient site data exist to establish a site-specific log standard deviation.

(c) Water quality standard variances. The Regional Administrator, EPA Region 2, is authorized to grant variances from the water quality standards in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section where the requirements of § 131.14 are met.

[69 FR 3524, Jan. 26, 2004, as amended at 80 FR 51050, Aug. 21, 2015]