Small Flows Quarterly Winter 2006

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N E W S & N 0 T E S Pennsylvania Adopts Nutrient Trading Policy On Sept. 20, 2005, Pennsylvania adopted a nutrient and sediment trading policy that will help farmers, communities, and industry meet and exceed state and federal water quali- ty goals. Trading has long been a staple of state and federal air quality programs — Pennsylvania is among the first to apply this strategy to water quality. Market -based programs such as trading provide incentives for enti- ties to create credits by going be- yond statutory, regulatory, or volun- tary obligations and goals. These programs provide a structure where environmental improvement credits can be traded to others to help them meet their obligations or goals more cost - effectively. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty said the nutrient trading policy is an important step in putting in place a framework and the infra- structure for trading and other market -based initiatives critical to Pennsylvania's Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy. "Our efforts will ensure that water in Pennsylvania is safe to drink, clean enough for fish, and abundant in supply to sustain our economy," McGinty said. For Pennsylvania, annual nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment discharges to the Chesapeake Bay must be re- duced to no more than 71.9 million pounds, 2.46 million pounds, and 0.995 million tons, re- spectively. The nutrient -trad- ing program provides a low -cost, innovative ap- proach to compliance for significant sewage and in- dustrial dischargers faced Final 2006 Integrated Report Guidance Released The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released the 2006 Integrated Report Guidance for states, territories, authorized tribes, and interstate commissions that help states prepare and submit Clean Water Act reports on their water quality. The document outlines development of biennial Integrated Reports (IR) that support EPA's strategy for achieving a broad -scale inventory of water quality conditions. Each IR will report on the water quality standards attainment status of all waters, document the availability of data and information for each waterbody, identify certain trends in water quality conditions, and provide information to managers about set- ting priorities for future actions to protect and restore the health of U.S. water resources. The 2006 Integrated Report Guidance, fact sheet, and highlights are posted on EPA's Web site at: www.epa.gov /owow /tmdl /2006IRG. For more information contact Sarah Furtak at furtak.sarah@epa.gov or (202) 566 -1167. with the challenge of reducing their nutrient loads to meet these criteria. EPA recently approved new water quality standards, calling on states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed to step up their efforts to control nutri- ents reaching the Bay by regulating nitrogen and phosphorus pollution from wastewater treatment plants. For more information on Pennsyl- vania's strategy for achieving nutrient reduction goals to the Chesapeake Bay, visit the DEP Web site at www.dep.state.pa.us and type the keyword, "Chesapeake Bay." Pretreatment Streamlining Rule Finalized The U.S. Environ- mental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized the Pretreat- ment Streamlining Rule, which revises how industrial and commercial facilities manage their waste- water discharges before sending them on to publicly owned treatment works for final treatment. The pretreatment pro- gram requires manufactL dischargers to use treatment techniques and management practices to reduce or eliminate the discharge of harmful pollu- tants that could compromise mu- nicipal treatment plant processes or contaminate waterways." This rule helps reduce paperwork and increase incentives for water conservation, while maintaining important water quality protec- tions, "said Assistant Administrator EPA estimates the rule will save 240,000 employee hours or $10.1 million annually currently expended on pretreatment re- quirements. The pretreatment streamlining rule updates the National Pretreatment Program that has been in place for more than 30 years. A PDF file of the rule can be found at www.epa. gov/npdes/pubs/streamlining _prepublication.pdf.