[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 171 (Thursday, September 3, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47024-47025]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-23688]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[OW-FRL-6155-2]
Notice of availability of the Water Quality Criteria and
Standards Plan--Priorities for the Future
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of availability of, and request for comment on, the
Water Quality Criteria and Standards Plan--Priorities for the Future.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces the
availability of a plan, entitled the Water Quality Criteria and
Standards Plan--Priorities for the Future. The Plan presents a vision
and strategy to enhance and improve water quality criteria and
standards programs across the country. The Plan describes seven new
criteria and standards program initiatives that EPA, in partnership
with the States and Tribes, will undertake or complete over the next
ten years. The Plan briefly describes the water quality issues and
concerns that the new criteria initiatives will address. For each
initiative, the Plan explains the key objective(s) to be accomplished
and the critical activities EPA is planning to undertake to achieve
these objectives.
DATES: If you have comments on the Plan please provide them to the
address listed below postmarked on or before October 16, 1998. EPA will
consider your comments while preparing the final Plan this fall.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to: Water Quality Criteria and
Standards Plan; Attn: Plan Comments; Health and Ecological Criteria
Division (4304); Office of Science and Technology; Office of Water;
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; 401 M Street SW; Washington, DC
20460.
This notice contains a brief summary of the Water Quality Criteria
and Standards Plan. Copies of the complete Plan, or a fact sheet
summarizing the Plan may be obtained from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, National Center for Environmental Publication and
Information, 11029 Kenwood Road, Bldg. 5, Cincinnati, Ohio 45242; fax
1-513-489-8695 or 1-800-490-9198. Copies may also be ordered from the
Office of Water Resource Center by calling (202) 260-7786. The fact
sheet and the Plan are also available on the Internet at http://
www.epa.gov/ost/standards/quality.html.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William F. Swietlik; Health and
Ecological Criteria Division (4304); Office of Science and Technology;
Office of Water; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; 401 M Street SW,
Washington, DC 20460; (202) 260-9569; Fax (202) 260-1036; email:
swietlik.william@epamail.epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Plan supports the Clean Water Action
Plan announced by President Clinton in February 1998. Many of the
action items to be accomplished under the Action Plan rely on a strong
water quality standards program. Strong water quality standards provide
a foundation for the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program, National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting, nonpoint
source control, wetlands protection, and other water resources
management efforts.
A key action item in the Clean Water Action Plan is the reduction
of nutrient over-enrichment. The Water Quality Criteria and Standards
Plan highlights the criteria and standards activities that need to be
accomplished to achieve this goal. The National Nutrient Strategy,
recently released by EPA, explains in detail the approach to
development of nutrient criteria and standards.
The Water Quality Criteria and Standards Plan also complements the
Advance Notice of Proposed Rule Making (ANPRM) for the Water Quality
Standards Regulations at 40 CFR Part 131, published in the Federal
Register on July 7, 1998. The Plan describes the new criteria
initiatives that EPA will undertake, and the ANPRM discusses and
solicits public comment on how these scientific and technical
improvements, along with other standards changes, should best be
implemented in water quality standards programs by the States and
Tribes.
The Water Quality Criteria and Standards Plan describes water
quality criteria and standards initiatives in the following seven
areas:
1. Maintaining and strengthening the existing Ambient Water Quality
Criteria for surface waters.
2. Developing Nutrient Criteria and assessment methods to better
protect aquatic life and human health.
3. Developing criteria for Microbial Pathogens to better protect
human health during water recreation.
4. Completing the development of Biocriteria as an improved basis
for aquatic life protection.
5. Developing improved TMDLs and Modeling to better translate water
quality standards into implementable control strategies.
6. Evaluating possible new initiatives for Sedimentation, Flow, and
Wildlife.
7. Ensuring Implementation of these new initiatives and
improvements by EPA in partnership with the States and Tribes.
The national surface water quality protection program is at an
important juncture. The initiatives described in the Plan are needed to
better protect aquatic life and the recreational uses of the Nation's
waters. Over the past two decades, State and Tribal water quality
standards and water quality-based management approaches have relied
upon aquatic life use designations and protective criteria based
primarily upon narrative, chemical-specific, and whole effluent
toxicity methodologies. Using these approaches, outstanding progress
has been made. However, not all of the Nation's waters have achieved
the Clean Water Act goal of ``fishable and swimmable'', and significant
water pollution problems still exist. Approximately 40 percent of the
Nation's assessed waters still do not meet water quality goals and
about half of the Nation's 2000 major watersheds have water quality
problems.
Given these facts, there is a critical need for improved water
quality standards and a set of tools to implement those standards.
Adding nutrient criteria and biological criteria to the water quality
criteria and standards program ensures further improvements in
maintaining and restoring aquatic life. Improved human health criteria
will better protect against bioaccumulative pollutants and new
microbial pathogen controls will better protect human health
(especially that of children) during water related recreation. Better
tools also are needed for controlling excessive sedimentation,
[[Page 47025]]
flow alterations and for protecting wildlife. The new initiatives
discussed in the Plan also will help to promote water resources
management on a watershed basis.
Dated: August 24, 1998.
J. Charles Fox,
Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of Water.
[FR Doc. 98-23688 Filed 9-2-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
