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Clean Water Report
Copyright 2002 Gale Group Inc. All rights reserved. COPYRIGHT 2002 Business
Publishers, Inc.
Monday, June 3, 2002
ISSN: 0009-8620; Volume 40; Issue 11
EPA Developing Watershed Rule To Move TMDL Program Forward.
Water managers and states will need to develop watershed plans to
guide the existing total maximum daily load (TMDL) program, according to
an upcoming rule from EPA.
EPA is drafting a new proposal requiring the plans that should be
available for public comment later this year. But agency officials gave
managers a preview of the watershed rule at the Policy Forum of the
Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies, held May 18-22 in
Washington, D.C.
The watershed rule is a new aspect of the TMDL program initiated by
Administrator Christie Whitman. EPA had published a new version of the
TMDL rule during the Clinton administration in July 2000. But Congress
objected to the rule and halted its implementation. When the Bush
administration came into office, it froze all previous rules to review
them. The agency is now reconsidering certain elements of the rule and
is developing a new watershed regulation, Chuck Sutfin, EPA's director
of the Office of Water's assessment and watershed protection division,
told CWR.
Goals of the new watershed rule are to:
[check] Improve state monitoring and assessment programs that support
the TMDL program;
[check] Strengthen existing federal, state and local watershed
planning processes to foster TMDL implementation and harmonize programs
dealing with watersheds;
[check] Increase TMDL program flexibility to enhance stakeholder
participation;
[check] Accomplish TMDL implementation through the state continuing
planning process (CPP) and not within the TMDL itself; and
[check] Enhance opportunities for innovation, including trading.
Corrections Made Along the Way
The CPP describes how states manage water programs, from establishing
water-quality standards to permit issuance and nonpoint source
management. It promotes a management systems approach in which states
and EPA will collaborate periodically to assess program performance and
make corrections. EPA will review the CPP every five years to determine
if TMDL implementation is taking place.
Features in the permitting regulations include: EPA having
discretionary authority to veto administratively continued state permits
and more flexibility for watershed-based permitting, such as there being
only one permit for discharges into a watershed.
Late last year, EPA held listening sessions to gather comments on
issues associated with the TMDL program. To find out more about those
sessions, go to the Web site,
www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/meetings.
Contact:
Chuck Sutfin, EPA, (202) 566-1155.