Transcript CleanWaterActTonning.ppt

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)
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
United
States Code,that,
Title 33consistent with the provisions of this chapter it is hereby
declared
Sec. 1251. Congressional declaration of goals and policy
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
(1)
it is the national goal that the discharge of pollutants
 (a) Restoration and maintenance of chemical, physical and
biological
integrity of Nation's
waters; national
goals for
into
the navigable
waters
be eliminated
by 1985;
achievement of objective
(2) it is the national goal that wherever attainable, an
The objective of this chapter is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical,
interim
water
which
provides
for the protection
and biologicalgoal
integrityof
of the
Nation'squality
waters. In order
to achieve
this objective
it is hereby declared that, consistent with the provisions of this chapter and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and provides for
o (1) it is the national goal that the discharge of pollutants
recreation
in and on the water be achieved by July 1, 1983;
into the navigable waters be eliminated by 1985;
o
it is the
national goalpolicy
that wherever
attainable,
an
(3) it is(2)the
national
that
the discharge
of toxic
interim goal of water quality which provides for the protection
pollutants
in toxic
amounts
prohibited;
and propagation
of fish,
shellfish, andbe
wildlife
and provides for
in and on the water be achieved by July 1, 1983;
(4) ito isrecreation
the
national
policy
that
Federal
financial assistance
(3) it is the national policy that the discharge of toxic
pollutants to
in toxic
amounts be prohibited;
be provided
construct
publicly owned waste treatment works;
o (4) it is the national policy that Federal financial assistance
(5) it isbethe
national
thatwaste
areawide
waste treatment
provided
to constructpolicy
publicly owned
treatment works;
o (5) it is the national policy that areawide waste treatment
management
processes
developed
managementplanning
planning processes
be developedbe
and implemented
to and implemented to
assure adequate control of sources of pollutants in each State;
assure
adequate
control of sources of pollutants in each State;
o (6)
it is the national policy that a major research and
effort be policy
made to develop
necessary
to
(6) it isdemonstration
the national
thattechnology
a major
research
and
eliminate the discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters,
demonstration
effort zone,
be made
to develop
technology necessary to
waters of the contiguous
and the oceans;
and
o (7) it is the national policy that programs for the control of
eliminate
thesources
discharge
pollutants
into the
nonpoint
of pollution of
be developed
and implemented
in an navigable waters,
expeditious
manner
so
as
to
enable
the
goals
of
this
chapter
to
watersbeofmetthe
contiguous zone, and the oceans; and
through the control of both point and nonpoint sources of
pollution.
(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
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 ($)
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
Technology-Based
Treatment Level
POLLUTANT REMOVAL (%)
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, postconstruction stormwater management, pollution
prevention, illicit discharge detection and
elimination.
Direct and Indirect
Discharges
Indirect
Industry
POTW
Industry
Direct
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 5year 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
5-Day BOD 30 mg/L
TSS
30mg/L
pH
6-9
Removal
85% of BOD5 and TSS
7-Day Average
45 mg/L
45 mg/L
---
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
Kentucky warmwater aquatic habitat
numeric criteria
Parameter
Value
Dissolved Oxygen
>5.0
milligrams/liter
pH
6-9
Standard Units
Un-ionized
Amonia-N
Fecal Coliform
Temp
Units
<0.05
mg/l
<400
Colonies/100ml
<25
Degrees C
MINIMUM DATASET FOR FRESHWATER
WATER QUALITY CRITERIA DERIVATION
SALMONID
SECOND
FISH
FAMILY
PLANKTONIC
CRUSTACEAN
INSECT
ROTIFERA,
ANNELIDA,
MOLLUSCA
CHORDATA
BENTHIC
CRUSTACEAN
OTHER
INSECT OR
MOLLUSCA
DATA FROM THE MOST SENSITIVE
LIFE STAGES SHOULD BE USED
Egg
Larva
Most Sensitive
Adult
Acute Toxicity Data
96-hour LC50
Concentration:
0.0 μg/L
25 μg/L
Control
1
50 μg/L
2
100 μg/L
3
200 μg/L
500 μg/L
4
5
96-hr LC50 = 100 μg/L
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 technologybased 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