Member Pipeline - Clean Water Current - October 13, 2006
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for the Clean Water Currents ArchiveOctober 13, 2006
NACWA Comments Support Draft Guidance for Implementing Fish Tissue Criteria
NACWA submitted comments (http://www.nacwa.org/getfile.cfm?fn=2006-10-13mmerccmts.pdf) Oct. 13 generally supporting EPA’s Draft Guidance for Implementing the January 2001 Methylmercury Water Quality Criterion but recommending several ways to improve the draft. The Association supports the agency’s approach for basing the water quality criteria for methylmercury on concentrations found in fish tissue rather than in the water column but said these criteria should be implemented directly and not use bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) to determine water column concentrations. NACWA urged EPA to strengthen its recommendation that site-specific information be used, instead of national defaults, to implement a water column-based standard should a state choose not to directly implement the fish tissue criterion. National default information creates too much uncertainty, particularly in calculating BAFs, NACWA’s comments said.NACWA supports developing plans to minimize pollutants for quantifiable discharges in some situations where there is no impairment of fish tissue, but believes that fish tissue criteria are best for assessing whether the water body is meeting its goals for methylmercury. “Requiring NPDES effluent monitoring in water bodies that do not exhibit fish tissue impairment is not scientifically valid,” NACWA’s comments said, adding that a demonstration of no impairment should be sufficient to show that further action is unnecessary. The Association also agreed that states should be allowed to modify the methylmercurcy criterion using other scientifically defensible methods or different assumptions, including local fish consumption rates. EPA should not require a water quality-based effluent limit for mercury if it is determined that the discharge does not significantly contribute to the impairment, the NACWA comments added. NACWA will continue its close involvement on this important issue and will keep members informed of new developments.
ORSANCO Takes Positive Steps in Developing New Wet Weather Standards
The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) adopted revisions to its pollution control standards Oct. 5 that acknowledge the unique site-specific challenges clean water agencies face during wet weather events. This action resulted from months of hard work by both ORSANCO and NACWA to enact new standards that reflect the site-specific nature of wet weather events. ORSANCO’s new policy will allow a discharger to seek alternative site-specific bacteria criteria during a wet weather event, provided that a long-term control plan and a use attainability analysis have been completed. NACWA has worked closely with ORSANCO to promote these revisions, and has supported ORSANCO’s efforts as an example of how clean water agencies can incorporate site-specific criteria in wet weather standards. NACWA looks forward to providing the membership with a more detailed discussion of ORSANCO’s recent success in an upcoming edition of Legal Perspective.Plan to Attend Upcoming NACWA Events: Law Seminar, WEFTEC Hot Topics Breakfast
NACWA will continue its tradition of keeping its members up to date on the latest happenings in the clean water arena with two important events taking place in the coming weeks. First is NACWA’s annual Hot Topics Breakfast (http://www.nacwa.org/private/faxalerts/20060929se.cfm) to be held in conjunction with WEFTEC 2006, Tuesday, Oct. 24 in the Reunion A & B rooms at the Hyatt Regency in Dallas. It will feature key EPA policymakers and an in-depth discussion on succession planning. Next is NACWA’s 2006 Developments in Clean Water Law: A Seminar for Public Agency Attorneys & Managers (http://www.nacwa.org/meetings/06law) Nov. 15-17 in cooperation with the American Bar Association and the New England Water Environment Association at the Sheraton Boston in Boston, Mass. Plan to attend one or both of these important events.