BOARD02336

• Board Meeting Date: 9/27/1999
• Description: Directors' Reports
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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TMDL Final Rules: The EP A has released its anticipated proposed rules for Total Maximum
Daily Loads (TMDLs). Published in the Federal Register on August 23, the rules were signed by EP A
Administrator Carol Browner on August 12. They are the result of a TMDL committee's consensus
recommendations for more than 100 changes, that were submitted in a final report to EPA on July 28,
1998.

A TMDL is a computation of how much of a particular pollutant that a river or lake can assimilate
without violating its water quality standards. The Clean Water Act requires states to make lists of water
bodies for which minimum water quality controls on all municipal and industrial dischargers are not
enough to meet water quality standards (so-called 303(d) waters). States are required to do TMDLs for
those waters. IfEPA disapproves a state's TMDL or list of waters that need TMDLs, the EPA is required
to establish the TMDL for the state. EPA has approved over 200 TMDLs that Colorado has already
submitted.

Waters listed by the State pursuant to Section 303(d) of the federal Clean Water Act would be
organized into different categories, including: "waters impaired or threatened by pollutants or by unknown
causes; waters impaired or threatened by pollution; waters for which TMDLs have been completed, but
water quality standards have not yet been attained; and waters expected to meet water quality standards by
the next listing cycle as a result of the use of other enforceable pollution controls." TMDLs would only be
prepared for water bodies included in the first classification under the new rules.

States would have 15 years to establish all TMDLs. States would be required to prepare TMDLs
for high priority waters within five years of the waters being listed. A high priority will be given to listing
waters and pollutants causing impairment or threat to endangered/threatened species.

.. The proposed rules would also revise the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES) and Water Quality Standards regulations. The new rules would also give EPA the authority to
regulate certain Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) as point sources, and require them to
obtain NPDES permits.

The comment period on the proposed rules ends on October 22. Comments may be provided either
in hard copy or electronic form. For a copy of the proposed final rules, visit www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/
tmdlrule.html or the Federal Register website at www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/acesI40.html.

EPA Signs Enforcement Agreement with Environmental Groups: On September I the EPA
announced it reached an settlement with Colorado environmental groups concerning a lawsuit filed
against the EPA regarding the Clean Water Act's Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL, program.
Under the settlement, the lawsuit will be suspended until 2006. The plaintiffs were the Colorado
Environmental Coalition and the Biodiversity Legal Foundation. Earth Justice Legal Defense Fund
represented them.

Colorado is a party to the settlement and has 10 years to finish setting TMDLs for all waters it
listed in 1998 as needing TMDLs. The TMDLs to be developed by Colorado under this agreement will
address pollutants that affect human health and the quality of fisheries in the State. If Colorado misses
interim TMDL deadlines, the EP A has two years to set them. EP A and Colorado also agreed to establish
a website with information about Colorado's TMDL program by January 1,2000.

USGS Budget Cuts: Congress is considering another reduction offundingfor the USGS's
cooperative water resources data collection efforts. The USGS Cooperative Program funds hundreds of
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