1998 Work Plan of the Western States Water Council

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D. TMDLs, WATER QUALITY LIMITED SEGMENTS, AND NPS POLLUTION Work to date: Another area of importance to Committee members is implementation of the water quality provisions of the existing CWA. These areas focus on the efforts required under the CWA to control non -point source (NPS) pollution and other forms of contamination that result in impaired water quality, despite point source permitting and NPS controls already in place. States have been targeted with increasing frequency in recent years for failures to attain water quality requirements or to make the required listings of impaired water segments under the CWA. Efforts to promulgate stormwater controls for areas of lesser populations might also be included under this category. Some Council members and staff participated at the meeting sponsored in September in Jackson, Wyoming on TMDL implementation. Proposed follow -up actions have been prepared by WGA staff and are being reviewed. These should be finalized by the end of 1997. The Federal Advisory Committee on TMDLs began discussion of flow modifications as one of the largest impediments to attaining water quality standards and protecting beneficial uses. The Federal Advisory Committee scheduled a series of meetings in Salt Lake City on January 21 -23, 1998. The Council staff attended these meetings and reported on the proceedings to the Council. 1998: The Council will work with the WGA in carrying out various work plan items, which may include in the near term, drafting a letter to the President outlining concerns about the lack of adequate financial resources to implement the requirements of the CWA concerning TMDLs. The WGA also intends to interact with the Federal Advisory Committee by drafting a letter to the Committee outlining important TMDL issues. The Council will assist the WGA in this endeavor and will assist the WGA in sharing innovative implementation strategies among states, tracking CWA reauthorization, and monitoring TMDL implementation to provide assistance to states when needed to address future issues that may arise. Expected work days: 9 Time frame: January - September Subcommittee: Ed Anton (Chair), Joseph Dini, Chuck DuMars, Wendell McCurry, Don Ostler, Fred Pfeiffer. 2. WATER OUANTITY/WATER QUALITY INTERRELATIONSHIPS Work to date: An issue of ongoing concern to western states is the interrelationship of water quantity and water quality. The issue was magnified in light of the ruling in P. U.D. No. 1 of Jefferson County v. Washington Department of Ecology. In the process of holding that Section 401 water quality certification under the CWA entitled the state to impose conditions for instream flows to protect a designated use for fishery purposes, the Supreme Court opined that there was no real distinction between water quality and water quantity under the Act. Other 3