§ 130.28 - What must your prioritized schedule for submitting TMDLs to EPA contain?

(a) Your list must include a prioritized schedule for establishing TMDLs for all waterbodies and pollutant combinations on Part 1 of your list.

(b) You must schedule establishment of TMDLs:

(1) as expeditiously as practicable, evenly paced over the duration of the schedule;

(2) no later than 10 years from July 10, 2000, if the waterbody and pollutant was listed on any part of the list before that date or 10 years from the due date of the first subsequent list after July 10, 2000, on which the waterbody and pollutant is initially included. You may extend the schedule for one or more TMDLs by no more than five years if you explain to EPA as part of your list submission that, despite expeditious actions, establishment of all TMDLs on Part 1 of your list within 10 years is not practicable.

(c) You must identify each specific TMDL you intend to establish and the one year period during which it is scheduled to be established. Your schedule should provide for the coordinated establishment of TMDLs within a watershed to the fullest extent practicable.

(d) You must:

(1) explain how you considered the severity of the impairment and the designated use of the waterbody in prioritizing waterbodies for TMDL establishment on your schedule.

(2) Identify waterbodies:

(i) That are designated in water quality standards as a public drinking water supply, or are used as a source of drinking water, and are impaired by a pollutant that is contributing to a violation of a national primary drinking water regulation (NPDWR) by a public water system or causes a public water system to be vulnerable to a violation of a NPDWR; or

(ii) Where species listed as threatened or endangered under section 4 of the Endangered Species Act are present in the waterbody.

(3) Waterbodies identified in this subsection must be given a higher priority unless you explain why a different priority is appropriate.

(e) When identifying and scheduling your waterbodies for TMDL establishment, you may also consider the presence of sensitive aquatic species and other factors such as the historical, cultural, economic and aesthetic uses of the waterbody. You may consider other factors in prioritizing your schedule, including the value and vulnerability of particular waterbodies; the recreational, economic, and aesthetic importance of particular waterbodies; TMDL complexity; the degree of public interest and support; State, Territorial and authorized Tribal policies and priorities; national policies and priorities; or the efficiencies that might result from coordinating the establishment of TMDLs for multiple waterbodies located in the same watershed. If you are using a rotating basin approach, you may take that approach into account when prioritizing waterbodies on your schedule because of the inherent efficiencies of such an approach.

(f) If you consider other factors, you should identify each factor and explain how you used each factor in prioritizing your schedule.