Water Quality Standards: Wet Weather Issues and Recreational Use Protection

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Water Quality StandardsWet Weather Issues
andRecreational Use Protection

• Ephraim King
• Director, Office of Science and Technology
• Office of Water
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Fifth Annual CSO Workshop of the National
  Association of Clean Water Agencies. Chicago,
  Illinois, April 27, 2007

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Wet Weather Issues

• EPA is actively working with partners to identify
  approaches for coordinating WQS and LTCPs for CSO
  impacted waters.
• Indiana CSO Regulation
• ORSANCO Wet Weather Standards
• Common questions for CSO impacted waters
• How does one determine the existing use for
  recreation?
• What is the appropriate designated use?
• Can compliance schedules give me time to
  implement my LTCP and come into compliance with
  my WQBEL?
• Designated Use Qs and As to address existing
  use and UAA questions.

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LTCPs and WQS One Approach Under Development

• Indiana Recreational Use Subcategory
• CSO wet weather limited use subcategory would
  apply up to 4 days after overflow event
• Communities with a state approved LTCP are
  eligible
• Must undergo public process to adopt use change
• EPA reviews use changes for approval based on UAA
• Communities will largely conduct UAA and LTCP
  analysis for state review. IDEM recognizes the
  value in coordinating UAAs and LTCPs.
• Authorizes IDEM to grant compliance schedules,
  where appropriate, to allow time to implement the
  LTCPs.

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WQS IssuesExisting Uses

• Existing use for these waters may be CSO
  impacted recreation use to reflect that primary
  contact recreation may occur but could
  periodically be impacted by CSOs.
• If CSO existed prior to 1975, unlikely that water
  quality supported primary contact recreation all
  the time.
• Therefore, in a number of situations, the
  existing use provisions will allow a state to
  consider changes to their designated uses to
  reflect this reality.

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WQS IssuesDesignated Uses

• CSO communities and states may coordinate LTCPs
  and UAAs to determine the highest attainable use.
• Analyses performed to develop LTCP may support
  UAA to identify the highest attainable use based
  on the reduction of overflow events.
• UAA must use one of 6 factors at 131.10(g).
  Factors likely to be used
• Human caused conditionthat cannot be remedied
  (e.g. eliminating all impervious surfaces in a
  major city)
• Hydrologic modifications
• .Substantial and widespread social and economic
  impact
• EPA must approve the use change before a LTCP
  based on the new use can be incorporated into an
  NPDES permit.

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WQS IssuesCompliance Schedules

• States may adopt provisions into WQS or
  implementing regulations authorizing the
  permitting authority to grant compliance
  schedules for implementation of LTCP.
• However, authorizing provisions in WQS or
  implementing regulations are not a guarantee of a
  compliance schedule or guarantee a certain length
  of time.
• Whether a compliance schedule is appropriate
  depends upon an evaluation of the case specific
  circumstances, consistent with the CWA, State
  regulations and CSO Policy.

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Recreational Criteria Issues

• Implementation of 1986 Criteria
• Beach Act Suit
• Strong Public Interest in Beach Monitoring and
  Notification and Public Health Protection
• Research and Development of New Criteria
• March 2007 Experts Workshop
• Ongoing work in EPAs Office of Research and
  Development and Office of Water

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Strong Public Interest in Recreational Criteria

• NRDC filed suit against EPA in August 2006 for
• Failing to initiate and complete comprehensive
  research studies evaluating the full range of
  human pathogens in coastal recreational waters as
  required by the BEACH Act
• Failing to propose or finalize new or revised
  water quality criteria for pathogens and pathogen
  indicators by October 10, 2005
• The court has granted Los Angeles County and the
  National Association of Clean Water Agencies
  (NACWA) the right to intervene as plaintiffs.
• Beach contamination regularly makes headlines in
  the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and other
  widely read news sources because of strong public
  interest and involvement
• Tainted river runoff leads to closure of city
  beaches. San Diego Union Tribune, 24 March 2007
• Oregon to track beach bacteria. Seattle Times,
  5 March 2007

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Background on Need for New Recreational Criteria

• EPAs current recommended criteria for pathogens
  in recreational waters were published in 1986.
• The BEACH Act of 2000 mandates that EPA develop
  new criteria by October 2005.
• There have been many scientific advances over the
  past twenty years that can be used to develop new
  or revised criteria that are more protective of
  public health.

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New Challenges and Opportunities

• 38 new pathogens have moved to humans from other
  animal species in the past 25 years.
• New genetic variants of old pathogens are
  emerging.
• There seems to be a faster rate of disease
  appearance and transmission today because of
  increased mobility, population growth, as well as
  other societal and environmental changes.
• DNA and other molecular biology-based methods can
  allow for more timely identification and
  quantification of microorganisms than prior
  methods.

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Overview March 2007 Experts Workshop on
Recreational Criteria

• EPA decided that the best approach to complete
  development of that scientific foundation would
  be to obtain individual input from members of the
  broad scientific and technical community on the
  critical path research and science needs for
  establishing scientifically defensible criteria
  by 2012.
• Forty-two outstanding national and international
  technical, scientific, and implementation experts
  from academia, Federal, State, and local
  government, and interest groups attended the
  workshop.

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Experts Workshop Outcomes Common Themes and
Near-Term Research Areas

• Better Understanding of
• Non-GI and Non-Upper Respiratory Illnesses
• Risks to Children
• Impact of Nonhuman Sources on Human Health
• Pathogens and Pathogen Indicators
• Methods
• Simple Statistical Models for Beach Notification
  Purposes
• Determination of Acceptable Risk Level
• Identification of
• Effective Risk Assessment Methodologies that Are
  Cheaper than Epidemiological Studies
• Indicators that are Better Suited for Use in
  Tropical Waters

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Summary

• Wet weather issues and coordinating LTCPs with
  WQS has been a focus in OW.
• EPA has been coordinating substantially within
  the agency on these issues.
• EPA will continue to work to find common ground
  and resolve wet weather issues as they arise.
• For the next 5 years, EPA will also focus on the
  development of new recreational criteria.
• EPA recognizes the need for stakeholder input as
  it moves through this criteria process.
• Engaged stakeholders will be critical for the
  criteria to be readily implementable within each
  state.