Bill Penny
Bill Penny

Bill Penny is a Member in the Nashville office of Stites & Harbison. He is a member of the firm's Environmental, Natural Resources and Energy Service Group as well as the Green Industry Practice Group. Bill has more than 25 years experience in environmental law. You can contact him at william.penny@stites.com or by phone at 615-782-2308.

Martin Corinne
Corinne Martin

Corinne Martin is an Associate in the Nashville office of Stites & Harbison. She is a member of the Environmental, Natural Resources & Energy Service Group, the Green Industry Practice Group, and the Business Litigation Service Group. cmartin@stites.com or by phone at 615-782-2218.

water

303 (d) List Available For Public Comment

06.07.10 9:28 AM
posted by

TDEC recently presented its Draft 303 (d) List, which is currently available for public comment. Under the authority bestowed by the Clean Water Act, TDEC is soliciting public comments on its draft List of impaired waters.  To view the draft, please click here.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term "303 (d) List," TDEC defines it as a compilation of the streams and lakes in Tennessee that are “water quality limited” or are expected to exceed water quality standards in the next two years and need additional pollution controls. Water quality limited streams are those that have one or more properties that violate water quality standards even with the application of technology based effluent limitations.  They are considered impaired and do not fully meet designated uses.    Most of the impairments are based on biological indicators.  TDEC evaluates streams on a 5-year basis using standard operating procedures to compare the biology in a stream with a reference stream.  The 303(d) process then leads to the development of a total maximum daily load (TMDL) that provides waste load allocations for point source discharges.  The TMDL is the sum of the loading from point sources as well as non point sources plus a margin of safety. Once established, the TMDL could siginficantly affect activities from point sources.  Therefore, it is important to make sure that TDEC properly evaluates the stream in the first place to make sure it properly belongs on the list. 
 
According to 40 CFR 130.7 (b)(1), “[e]ach State shall identify those water quality-limited segments still requiring [Total Maximum Daily Loads] within its boundaries for which: (i) Technology-based effluent limitations are required … ; (ii) More stringent effluent limitations … are required by either State or local authority … ; and (iii) Other pollution control requirements (e.g., best management practices) are required by local, State, or Federal authority are not stringent enough to implement any water quality standards (WQS) applicable to such waters.”  
Leave a Comment

Comments!

    No comments yet. You should leave one!

Leave a Comment!