Watershed-Based Planning

A Blueprint for Action!

Statutory and regulatory context

• Clean Water Act– Water quality standards– KPDES discharge permits– Stream & wetland “filling”

• Safe Drinking Water Act– Source water protection

• Public health codes– Residential wastewater

• Local Codes– Planning/zoning, subdivision, etc.

Source Water Protection Map for Slate Creek (Montgomery County)

Clean Water

Act

United States Code, Title 33 Sec. 1251. Congressional declaration of goals and policy

(a) Restoration and maintenance of chemical, physical and biological integrity of Nation's waters; national goals for achievement of objective

The objective of this chapter is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters. In order to achieve this objective it is hereby declared that, consistent with the provisions of this chapter -

o (1) it is the national goal that the discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters be eliminated by 1985;

o (2) it is the national goal that wherever attainable, an interim goal of water quality which provides for the protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and provides for recreation in and on the water be achieved by July 1, 1983;

o (3) it is the national policy that the discharge of toxic pollutants in toxic amounts be prohibited;

o (4) it is the national policy that Federal financial assistance be provided to construct publicly owned waste treatment works;

o (5) it is the national policy that areawide waste treatment management planning processes be developed and implemented to assure adequate control of sources of pollutants in each State;

o (6) it is the national policy that a major research and demonstration effort be made to develop technology necessary to eliminate the discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters, waters of the contiguous zone, and the oceans; and

o (7) it is the national policy that programs for the control of nonpoint sources of pollution be developed and implemented in an expeditious manner so as to enable the goals of this chapter to be met through the control of both point and nonpoint sources of pollution.

United States Code, Title 33 Sec. 1251. Congressional declaration of goals and policy

(a) Restoration and maintenance of chemical, physical and biological integrity of Nation's waters; national goals for achievement of objective

The objective of this chapter is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters. In order to achieve this objective it is hereby declared that, consistent with the provisions of this chapter -

o (1) it is the national goal that the discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters be eliminated by 1985;

o (2) it is the national goal that wherever attainable, an interim goal of water quality which provides for the protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and provides for recreation in and on the water be achieved by July 1, 1983;

o (3) it is the national policy that the discharge of toxic pollutants in toxic amounts be prohibited;

o (4) it is the national policy that Federal financial assistance be provided to construct publicly owned waste treatment works;

o (5) it is the national policy that areawide waste treatment management planning processes be developed and implemented to assure adequate control of sources of pollutants in each State;

o (6) it is the national policy that a major research and demonstration effort be made to develop technology necessary to eliminate the discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters, waters of the contiguous zone, and the oceans; and

o (7) it is the national policy that programs for the control of nonpoint sources of pollution be developed and implemented in an expeditious manner so as to enable the goals of this chapter to be met through the control of both point and nonpoint sources of pollution.

Clean Water Act Part I:Technology Based

• Focus on point source (PS) discharges to surface waters, through NPDES permitting

• Limits apply regardless of condition of receiving water, or relative contribution from the source

• Pollutant levels in discharges determined by technical/economic feasibility

• Same limits placed on all PS within each industrial grouping (50 categories/plus subcategories) – Generally, municipal sewage plants must achieve discharge

equal to “secondary treatment”

Cost-Effectiveness AnalysisC

OS

T (

$)

POLLUTANT REMOVAL (%)

Technology-BasedTreatment Level

100%

KPDES Permitting under Sec. 402

• Illegal for point source (pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, vessel, rolling stock, or other manmade conveyance) to discharge pollutants to surface waters without a permit

• Permit is a license granting permission to discharge– Not a right: permit is revocable “for cause” (eg, non-compliance)

– No guarantee against more stringent future requirements

Covers WWTPs and other point sources

KPDES Program: Coverage• Industrial and municipal

wastewater• Industrial, urban, and

construction-related storm water runoff

• Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)

• Active, inactive, and some abandoned mines

• Discharges from RCRA remedial action activity meeting point source definition

KPDES stormwater covers:

• Construction sites with a disturbed area of one acre or more– General permit, BMP plan, inspections

required• Some cities with municipally-owned

separate storm sewer systems– 10,000 population or more– Must develop program with public education

& involvement, construction site controls, post-construction stormwater management, pollution prevention, illicit discharge detection and elimination.

DirectIndirect POTW

Industry

Industry

Direct and Indirect Discharges

KPDES Permits

• Individual permits– All point sources not covered by general

permits must obtain (no de minimis exemption)

– Required to submit detailed permit application form, including data on actual/expected levels of pollutants in discharge

• General permits (many sources)– Usually similar sources– Usually same requirements for all – Minimal reporting– Notice of intent vs. passive coverage

KPDES Permits: Elements

• Effluent limits– Limits must ensure meeting WQS– Maximum daily and monthly average limits

required for most– POTWs have weekly average instead of daily

maximum– Expressed as mass–directly/indirectly

• Best management practices– Production process modifications– Operational changes– Materials substitution– Materials and/or water conservation

• Compliance schedule (shouldn’t extend beyond 5-year permit term

KPDES Permits: Elements (cont.)

• Monitoring requirements– Self-monitoring by permittee– Traditionally effluents only, increasingly ambient, too– Specifies parameters and tests– Specifies frequency

• Reporting requirements– Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMRs) sent to the

permitting agency• Often monthly but sometimes

less frequently• Reopener provisions• For POTWs only: Pretreatment program

and sludge management requirements

Technology-Based Requirements for Municipal Discharges: Secondary Treatment

30-Day Average 7-Day Average 5-Day BOD 30 mg/L 45 mg/L TSS 30mg/L 45 mg/L pH 6-9 -- Removal 85% of BOD5

and TSS --

Clean Water Act Part II:Water Quality Standards

•What are you using it for?

•What criteria support that use?

•How will you keep it from degrading?

Water Quality Standards

• State’s yardstick to measure health of waters

• Three key elements of WQSs:– Designated uses– Water quality criteria– Antidegradation provisions

Kentucky Use Designations

• Aquatic life support – warmwater & coldwater aquatic habitat

• Primary contact recreation – swimming

• Secondary contact recreation – boating and fishing

• Fish consumption – eating fish• Drinking water – domestic

water supply

WQS: Water Quality Criteria (WQC)

• Consistent scientifically with protecting all designated uses (DUs)

• Basic types of criteria– Narrative/numeric– Water column/sediment/ fish tissue

• Categories of criteria– Aquatic life

• Pollutant-specific/aquatic community indices– Human health (drinking/fish consumption)– Wildlife (semiaquatic/food chain effects)

WQS: Narrative Criteria• Waters must be "free from"

– Putrescent or otherwise objectionable bottom deposits

– Oil, scum, and floating debris in amounts that are unsightly

– Nuisance levels of odor, color, or other conditions

– Undesirable or nuisance aquatic life

– Substances in amounts toxic to humans or aquatic life

Usually apply to all waters, regardless of

use designation

WQS: Numeric Criteria

• Parameter-specific: DO, temp., turbidity, N, P, Cu, dioxin, etc.

– Level/concentration: 1 mg/L, 5 mg/kg

– Duration:•Acute: instantaneous, 1-

hour, 1-day•Chronic: 4-day, 7-day, 30-

day

– Recurrence interval: 1 year, 3 years

Parameter Value Units

Dissolved Oxygen >5.0 milligrams/liter

pH 6-9 Standard Units

Un-ionized Amonia-N

<0.05 mg/l

Fecal Coliform <400 Colonies/100ml

Temp <25 Degrees C

Kentucky warmwater aquatic habitat numeric criteria

MINIMUM DATASET FOR FRESHWATER WATER QUALITY CRITERIA DERIVATION

SALMONID SECONDFISHFAMILY

CHORDATA

PLANKTONICCRUSTACEAN

BENTHIC CRUSTACEAN

INSECT ROTIFERA, ANNELIDA, MOLLUSCA

OTHER INSECT OR MOLLUSCA

DATA FROM THE MOST SENSITIVE LIFE STAGES SHOULD BE USED

Most Sensitive

Egg

Larva

Adult

Acute Toxicity Data

96-hour LC50

Concentration:0.0 μg/L 25 μg/L 50 μg/L 100 μg/L 200 μg/L 500 μg/L

96-hr LC50 = 100 μg/L

Control 1 2 3 4 5

Biological criteria

Good Mid-Range Poor

WQS: Biological Criteria

• Applicable to aquatic life, not human health• Require field sampling and studies• Fish, macroinvertebrates, plants, etc.

– Number of individuals, species, categories– Mass of species, feeding guilds, trophic

levels– Specialists verses generalists– Tolerant verses intolerant

• Compare conditions at “study site” with relatively unimpacted “reference site”

WQS: antidegradation provisions

• Purpose: Prevent deterioration of existing levels of good water quality

• Generally applies parameter-by-parameter, not waterbody-by-waterbody

• Three tiers of protection– Tiers 1 and 2 apply to all waters with some

features at or better than WQS– Tier 3 applies only to specially classified

waters

Tier 1: the “absolute floor”

• Cannot allow loss of any “existing” use

• Cannot allow water quality to drop below levels needed to maintain existing use

• Applies to all waters, regardless of use designation

Tier 2: use of available assimilative capacity not a right

• “Brakes” slide from really good WQ to barely at WQS by saying can’t degrade WQ unless:– Allowing lower WQ is “necessary to accommodate

important economic or social development”– Point sources are meeting relevant technology-

based limits– Have “achieved all cost-effective and reasonable

best management practices for nonpoint sources” – Go through public review and comment process

Tier 3: outstanding waters protected

• Applies only to waters classified as Outstanding National Resource Waters (ONRW)– This classification “overlays” designated uses– Candidates include, but are not limited to,

“waters of National and State parks and wildlife refuges and waters of exceptional recreational or ecological significance”

• Only minimal, or significant but short-term, decreases in WQ are allowed

303(d) process: establishing TMDLs

A TMDL is. . . . • A strategy for achieving WQS • Based on the relationship between pollutant

sources and the condition of a water body• The amount of a specific pollutant that a

waterbody can receive and still meet WQS• Describes an allowable load and allocates it

among point sources and nonpoint sources (plus a margin of error).

TMDL = ΣWLAi + ΣLAi + MOS

TMDL process requirements

• Include public in the process!• Submit final TMDL, with loading

allocations and supporting information, to USEPA

• Review conducted by USEPA– If approved, begin implementation– If not approved, USEPA develops

TMDL and finalizes within 30 days

• Provide “reasonable assurance” load reductions can be achieved

Leading causes & sources of impairment [2004 305(b) Report]

• Causes– Siltation (sediment)– Pathogens (bacteria)– Other habitat alterations– PCBs– Organic enrichment / low DO

• Sources– Unknown– Agriculture– Habitat modification– Resource extraction– Urban runoff / storm sewers