Member Pipeline - Regulatory - Alert (RA 04-10)
To: Members & Affiliates
From: National Office
Date: April 23, 2004
Subject: EPA TO PROMULGATE BACTERIA STANDARDS IN 24 STATES
Reference: RA 04-10
Printer friendly versionThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) officially announced on April 20 its decision to federally promulgate bacteria standards for 24 coastal states and territories that had not updated their existing water quality criteria as of April 10, 2004, a deadline imposed by the Beaches, Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act of 2000. EPA has committed to propose federal standards for bacteria, consistent with its 1986 criteria, for the states and territories that have not yet done so by June 30, 2004. This rule will ultimately impact publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) discharging to coastal waters, and AMSA is recommending that its members in the affected states, who have not already done so, begin to evaluate whether their plants will be able to comply with limits based on the new standards. AMSA has developed a table (attached) outlining the status of all 35 coastal states and territories to help you determine whether your state is affected.
EPA’s April 20 announcement also outlined the Agency’s "Clean Beaches Plan," designed to accelerate progress at the federal and state level to meet all of the requirements of the BEACH Act. Additional details about EPA’s "Clean Beaches Plan" are available on the Agency’s website at http://www.epa.gov/beaches/plan.htm.
Federal Promulgation of Bacteria Standards
The BEACH Act requires coastal states and territories, including
those bordering the Great Lakes, to adopt water quality criteria for pathogens
and pathogen indicators for all coastal recreation waters by April 10, 2004,
that are at least as protective as EPA’s 1986 bacteria criteria, which use E.
coli and enterococci as the indicator organisms. According to the Act, if a
state fails to meet this deadline, EPA must promptly propose federal standards.
To date, only 11 of the 35 affected states and territories have adopted criteria
that would comply with the BEACH Act. A map of the coastal states and
territories and copies of the letters sent from EPA’s Acting Assistant
Administrator for Water Benjamin Grumbles to each state reminding them of their
obligations under the BEACH Act and outlining the current status of their
criteria are also available on EPA’s website (http://www.epa.gov/beaches/plan.htm#letters).
EPA hopes to issue a final rule within 90 days of publishing the proposal
and, again, has committed to propose federal standards for bacteria, consistent
with the 1986 criteria, for the states and territories that have not yet done so
by June 30, 2004. In its letters to the affected states, EPA indicates that if a
state
adopts its own standards that comply with the BEACH Act during the Agency’s
regulatory development process, the Agency will exclude them from the proposed
and/or final rule. AMSA recommends that members in the affected states
begin examining the new indicators (E. coli and enterococci) and whether your
plants may have difficulty meeting limits based on them. Facilities that
do not provide full secondary, such as combined sewer overflow treatment
facilities, may have a particularly difficult time meeting the new standards and
chlorine contact times at all facilities may need to be reevaluated.
AMSA has expressed concern over the past few years regarding the adoption of E. coli and enterococci-based standards, including in AMSA’s comments on EPA’s Draft Bacteria Criteria Implementation Guidance, which are available on AMSA’s website at http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/outreach/080202bacteriaguid.pdf. One of AMSA’s major concerns has been the lack of EPA-approved test methods for measuring the indicators in wastewater effluent. AMSA has learned that EPA is planning to propose test methods later this year that would be approved for use on wastewater effluent. EPA is currently conducting a follow-up study to its full-scale validation study of these methods to address issues associated with false negatives.
Clean Beaches Plan
In addition to outlining its plans to federally promulgate
standards for the 24 coastal states and territories that have not yet complied
with the BEACH Act, EPA outlined a number of other planned activities to guide
its efforts to comply with other provisions in the Act. Among these were two
planned epidemiological studies for this summer to develop better pathogen
indicators of illnesses at beaches, a Report to Congress by December 31, 2004,
on EPA’s efforts to comply with the BEACH Act, and the development of new water
quality criteria for the protection of swimmers based on new epidemiological
studies by the statutory deadline of October 2005.
Ongoing AMSA Efforts
AMSA will continue to keep the membership apprised of
developments related to the BEACH Act, the development of EPA-approved E.
coli and enterococci test methods for use on wastewater effluent, and the
impending release of EPA’s implementation guidance for its 1986 criteria. Again,
AMSA encourages its members in states affected by the BEACH Act to begin
examining the new indicators and whether their plants will be able to comply
with limits based on them. AMSA has formed a Pathogen Workgroup to track and
advise the Association on these issues. If you or someone from your agency is
interested in joining the Workgroup or would like additional information on the
BEACH Act or related issues, please contact Chris Hornback, AMSA’s Director of
Regulatory Affairs at 202/833-9106 or
chornback@amsa-cleanwater.org.
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