Download or read book Achieving Water Quality Standards Through the Use of Total Maximum Daily Loads written by Valarie Watkins and published by Nova Science Publishers. This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Clean Water Act (CWA) contains a number of complex and interrelated elements of overall water quality management. Foremost is the requirement in Section 303 that states establish ambient water quality standards for water bodies, consisting of the designated use or uses of a water body (eg: recreational, public water supply, or industrial water supply) and the water quality criteria which are necessary to protect the use or uses. Standards are then used to determine which waters must be cleaned up, how much effluent may be discharged, and what is needed for protection. Through permitting, states or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) impose wastewater discharge limits on individual industrial and municipal facilities to ensure that water quality standards are attained. However, Congress recognised in the act that, in many cases, pollution controls implemented by industry and cities would be insufficient to attain and maintain water quality standards, due to pollutant contributions from other unregulated sources. This book discusses the Clean Water Act and the pollutant total maximum daily loads, as well as the changes needed if the EPA program is to help fulfil the nation's water quality goals.
Download or read book Assessing the TMDL Approach to Water Quality Management written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2001-08-24 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the last 30 years, water quality management in the United States has been driven by the control of point sources of pollution and the use of effluent-based water quality standards. Under this paradigm, the quality of the nation's lakes, rivers, reservoirs, groundwater, and coastal waters has generally improved as wastewater treatment plants and industrial dischargers (point sources) have responded to regulations promulgated under authority of the 1972 Clean Water Act. These regulations have required dischargers to comply with effluent-based standards for criteria pollutants, as specified in National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits issued by the states and approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Although successful, the NPDES program has not achieved the nation's water quality goals of "fishable and swimmable" waters largely because discharges from other unregulated nonpoint sources of pollution have not been as successfully controlled. Today, pollutants such as nutrients and sediment, which are often associated with nonpoint sources and were not considered criteria pollutants in the Clean Water Act, are jeopardizing water quality, as are habitat destruction, changes in flow regimes, and introduction of exotic species. This array of challenges has shifted the focus of water quality management from effluent-based to ambient- based water quality standards. Given the most recent lists of impaired waters submitted to EPA, there are about 21,000 polluted river segments, lakes, and estuaries making up over 300,000 river and shore miles and 5 million lake acres. The number of TMDLs required for these impaired waters is greater than 40,000. Under the 1992 EPA guidance or the terms of lawsuit settlements, most states are required to meet an 8- to 13-year deadline for completion of TMDLs. Budget requirements for the program are staggering as well, with most states claiming that they do not have the personnel and financial resources necessary to assess the condition of their waters, to list waters on 303d, and to develop TMDLs. A March 2000 report of the General Accounting Office (GAO) highlighted the pervasive lack of data at the state level available to set water quality standards, to determine what waters are impaired, and to develop TMDLs. This report represents the consensus opinion of the eight-member NRC committee assembled to complete this task. The committee met three times during a three-month period and heard the testimony of over 40 interested organizations and stakeholder groups. The NRC committee feels that the data and science have progressed sufficiently over the past 35 years to support the nation's return to ambient-based water quality management. Given reasonable expectations for data availability and the inevitable limits on our conceptual understanding of complex systems, statements about the science behind water quality management must be made with acknowledgment of uncertainties. This report explains that there are creative ways to accommodate this uncertainty while moving forward in addressing the nation's water quality challenges.
Download or read book Technical Support Document for Water Quality based Toxics Control written by and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Assessing the TMDL Approach to Water Quality Management written by Committee to Assess the Scientific Basis of the Total Maximum Daily Load Approach to Water Pollution Reduction and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2001-08-07 with total page 99 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the last 30 years, water quality management in the United States has been driven by the control of point sources of pollution and the use of effluent-based water quality standards. Under this paradigm, the quality of the nation's lakes, rivers, reservoirs, groundwater, and coastal waters has generally improved as wastewater treatment plants and industrial dischargers (point sources) have responded to regulations promulgated under authority of the 1972 Clean Water Act. These regulations have required dischargers to comply with effluent-based standards for criteria pollutants, as specified in National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits issued by the states and approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Although successful, the NPDES program has not achieved the nation's water quality goals of "fishable and swimmable" waters largely because discharges from other unregulated nonpoint sources of pollution have not been as successfully controlled. Today, pollutants such as nutrients and sediment, which are often associated with nonpoint sources and were not considered criteria pollutants in the Clean Water Act, are jeopardizing water quality, as are habitat destruction, changes in flow regimes, and introduction of exotic species. This array of challenges has shifted the focus of water quality management from effluent-based to ambient- based water quality standards. Given the most recent lists of impaired waters submitted to EPA, there are about 21,000 polluted river segments, lakes, and estuaries making up over 300,000 river and shore miles and 5 million lake acres. The number of TMDLs required for these impaired waters is greater than 40,000. Under the 1992 EPA guidance or the terms of lawsuit settlements, most states are required to meet an 8- to 13-year deadline for completion of TMDLs. Budget requirements for the program are staggering as well, with most states claiming that they do not have the personnel and financial resources necessary to assess the condition of their waters, to list waters on 303d, and to develop TMDLs. A March 2000 report of the General Accounting Office (GAO) highlighted the pervasive lack of data at the state level available to set water quality standards, to determine what waters are impaired, and to develop TMDLs. This report represents the consensus opinion of the eight-member NRC committee assembled to complete this task. The committee met three times during a three-month period and heard the testimony of over 40 interested organizations and stakeholder groups. The NRC committee feels that the data and science have progressed sufficiently over the past 35 years to support the nation's return to ambient-based water quality management. Given reasonable expectations for data availability and the inevitable limits on our conceptual understanding of complex systems, statements about the science behind water quality management must be made with acknowledgment of uncertainties. This report explains that there are creative ways to accommodate this uncertainty while moving forward in addressing the nation's water quality challenges.
Download or read book Technical Guidance Manual for Developing Total Maximum Daily Loads written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1997 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Water Quality Trading written by Cy Jones and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2005-11-03 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Water-quality trading is a market-based approach that allows a facility to meet its regulatory obligations by using the pollutant reductions created by another facility capable of doing it at a much lower cost. This resource is a practical guide for wastewater treatment plants to use in evaluating the potential for water-quality trading and provides the framework for designing and implementing the trade.
Download or read book Total Maximum Daily Loads and Drinking Water Utilities CD written by J. Rosen and published by . This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The objectives of the workshop were to:
Download or read book The National Academy of Sciences National Research Council Report on Assessing the Scientific Basis of the Total Maximum Daily Load Approach to Water Quality Management written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Water Quality Criteria and Standards Plan written by and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Environmental Protection Agency s Proposed Regulation Regarding Total Maximum Daily Loads the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System and the Federal Antidegradation Policy written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems Manual written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This manual contains overview information on treatment technologies, installation practices, and past performance."--Introduction.
Download or read book Protocol for Developing Nutrient TMDLs written by and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Guidance for Modifying Water Quality Standards and Protecting Effluent dependent Ecosystems written by Rebecca Tuden and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Impact of the Proposed Total Maximum Daily Load Regulations on Agriculture and Silviculture written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Agriculture. Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition, and Forestry and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Strategy for Water Quality Standards and Criteria written by United States Environmental Protection Agency and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-01-13 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Water quality standards and criteria are the regulatory and scientific foundation of programs established under the Clean Water Act to protect the Nation's waters. As such, they are among the most critical clean water programs. Due to the many new demands on the program, and since the nature of water pollution problems and required solutions have changed dramatically in recent years, water quality standards and criteria need to be made a high priority and given a renewed focus. The water quality standards and criteria program needs clear priorities to address these critical demands. This strategy is the product of a wide-ranging review of the existing water quality standards and criteria program within the context of all clean water programs. The review covered clean water goals, mandates and authorities; EPA's current strategic goals for clean water and other strategic planning efforts; and major needs of the current EPA standards and criteria program and key programs linked to it including water quality monitoring, total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits, nonpoint source programs, oceans and wetlands programs, and source water protection. The review considered the results of more than 50 listening sessions with over 350 people during April-September 2001 and recent recommendations from the National Research Council, the General Accounting Office, and EPA's Inspector General. States support this long-term vision and look to EPA to help fulfill it, beginning with the priority strategic actions contained in this strategy. These actions in the strategy are designed to address the following strategic themes: Filling major program gaps to achieve critical environmental results. For example, the water quality standards and criteria program needs to help states strengthen water quality criteria for three pollutants (sedimentation, pathogens, and nutrients) that are responsible for an estimated 40 percent of water quality impairments nationally; Strengthening and maintaining the scientific foundation of water quality programs, including targeting criteria development for specific pollutants of highest importance; Clarifying for states how to implement key scientific and technical components of standards and criteria when regulating discharges; Establishing important technical and policy linkages between the water quality standards and criteria program and other programs such as those that protect drinking water; Broadening participation in the water quality standards and criteria program with states and other stakeholders. The strategy describes and sets milestones for the ten strategic actions of highest priority for addressing these findings.
Download or read book Improving Water Quality written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Quality Criteria for Water 1986 written by United States. Environmental Protection Agency. Office of Water Regulations and Standards and published by . This book was released on 1986 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Section 304(a) (1) of the Clean Water Act 33 U.S.C. 1314(a) (1) requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to publish and periodically update ambient water quality criteria. These criteria are to accurately reflect the latest scientific knowledge (a) on the kind and extent of all identifiable effects on health and welfare including, but not limited to, plankton, fish shellfish, wildlife, plant life, shorelines, beaches, aesthetics, and recreation which may be expected from the presence of pollutants in any body of water including ground water; (b) on the concentration and dispersal of pollutants, or their byproducts, through biological, physical, and chemical processes; and (c) on the effects of pollutants on biological community diversity, productivity, and stability, including information on the factors affecting rates of eutrophication and organic and inorganic sedimentation for varying types of receiving waters. In a continuing effort to provide those who use EPA's water quality and human health criteria with up-to-date criteria values and associated information, the document was assembled. The document includes summaries of all the contaminants for which EPA has developed criteria recommendations.
