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Furthermore, the legislature has declared it to be the <br />public policy of Colorado to <br />...conserve state waters and to protect, <br />maintain, and improve, where necessary <br />and reasonable, the quality thereof for <br />public water supplies, for protection <br />and propagation of wildlife and aquatic <br />life, for domestic, argricultural, indus- <br />trial, and recreational uses, and for <br />other beneficial uses, taking into con- <br />sideration the requirements of such uses; <br />to provide that no pollutant be released <br />into any state waters without first re- <br />ceiving the treatment or other corrective <br />action necessary to reasonably protect th <br />legitimate and beneficial uses of such <br />waters; to provide for the prevention, <br />abatement, and control of new or existing <br />water pollution; and to cooperate with <br />other states and the federal government <br />in carrying out these objectives. <br />Section 25-8-102(2), Senate Bill 10 (emphasis added). It is <br />inconsistent with this policy to issue a permit which authorizes <br />the discharge of pollutants which are unquestionably harmful to <br />the public health in amounts greater than that allowed by the <br />established water quality standards, without any monitcring <br />requirement sufficient to show that the effluent limitations <br />necessary to achieve those standards will be met. The lack of <br />monitoring by the permittee, combined with routine insFection <br />practices by the state which preclude obtaining sufficient data <br />to enforce 30-day limitations, constitute a policy which exposes <br />the public to an unreasonable risk of harm and deprives the <br />public of any meaningful means of ensuring their own protection. <br />In sum, such a policy effectively repeals the Act and the regula- <br />tions and renders the permit an unenforceable nullity. <br />In order to provide adequate protection for the public from <br />discharges such as the one at issue here which represent a serious <br />threat to the long-term health and safety of the public, the <br />Division must require monitoring which is adequate to determine <br />whether Cotter's discharge will consistently comply with the <br />applicable effluent limitations. In this case, EDF respectfully <br />requests that the following sampling and analysis requirements <br />be adopted in lieu of those set out on page 4 of the draft permit. <br />Single "grab" samples should be collected. <br />every eight hours for 5-day periods. These <br />samples should be properly protected to <br />preserve the integrity of each pollutant <br />of concern. The 15 samples collected during <br />-4- <br />