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Western States Water Council Water Quality Committee Boise, Idaho April 21, 2005 . Walt Baker - said it was good to have a more inclusive list. He believes we need to update our policies so that when something moves, we will.be ready. Tom Stiles - Agrees with Walt. Although the Act is not reauthorized, we need to be able to talk to EP A about implementation so the policy is important and relevant. We need to be ready for both legislative action and regulatory. Paul Frohardt asked if there were any specific points? Stephen Bernath said, as starting point, we should use WGA policy for the list of issues. We. can then use WSWC existing policy to compare and add issues as appropriate: (The ASIWPCA policy can also serve this purpose.). Paul Frohardt, after asking for volunteers, appointed the following Subcommittee: Walt Baker, Stephen Bernath, Tom Stiles, and Susan Burke. Shaun was directed to schedule a conference call and organize the subcommittee accordingly to bring something back at the next WSWC meeting. EFFLUENT DEPENDENT WATERS (EDW) UPDATE . Paul Frohardt provided an update on the work of the EDW Subcommittee-in the last few years, WSWC/WGA have held various discussions regarding standards for EDW. As a result of a workshop last year, we have developed a set of questions forEP A on this topic, intended to better understand what EPA's constraints are in allowing states flexibility to adopt EDW standards. EPA has taken these questions, and started drafting a "Q&A" document to provide clarification and guidance on these issues. We have moved forward with a drafting group with representatives from the Western states, North Carolina, EPA HQ, and the EPA regional offices. The deadline for feedback on the current draft Q&A document is mid-May. A series of conference calls will then be scheduled on specific topics as needed. EP A will put out a draft early June or July. There will be a meeting by the drafting group to further refine the document, then it will be circulated more broadly among various stakeholder groups. A larger meeting of the states, EP A and stakeholder groups will be held before finalizing the document. Paul and Shaun explained that EP A had solicited proposals for a grant to help in managing the meetings and development of the Q&A document. We just learned last week that the grant was awarded to Meridien. Shaun explained his conversation with Denise Keehner about why we didn't get it, which seemed to focus on a perception thatWGAlWSWC would not be as acceptable to environmental groups, because of a "perceived" conflict of interest. . 4