Watershed-Based Planning A Blueprint for Action!

Statutory and regulatory context Clean Water Act –Water quality standards –KPDES discharge permits –Stream & wetland filling Safe Drinking Water Act –Source water protection Public health codes –Residential wastewater Local Codes –Planning/zoning, subdivision, etc.

Source Water Protection Map for Slate Creek (Montgomery County)

Clean Water Act

Clean Water Act Part I: Technology Based Focus on point source (PS) discharges to surface waters, through NPDES permitting Limits apply regardless of condition of receiving water, or relative contribution from the source Pollutant levels in discharges determined by technical/economic feasibility Same limits placed on all PS within each industrial grouping (50 categories/plus subcategories) –Generally, municipal sewage plants must achieve discharge equal tosecondary treatment

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis COST ($) POLLUTANT REMOVAL (%) Technology-Based Treatment Level 100%

KPDES Permitting under Sec. 402 Illegal for point source (pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, vessel, rolling stock, or other manmade conveyance) to discharge pollutants to surface waters without a permit Permit is a license granting permission to discharge –Not a right: permit is revocable for cause (eg, non-compliance ) –No guarantee against more stringent future requirements

Covers WWTPs and other point sources

KPDES Program: Coverage Industrial and municipal wastewater Industrial, urban, and construction-related storm water runoff Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) Active, inactive, and some abandoned mines Discharges from RCRA remedial action activity meeting point source definition

KPDES stormwater covers: Construction sites with a disturbed area of one acre or more –General permit, BMP plan, inspections required Some cities with municipally-owned separate storm sewer systems –10,000 population or more –Must develop program with public education & involvement, construction site controls, post- construction stormwater management, pollution prevention, illicit discharge detection and elimination.

Direct Indirect POTW Industry Direct and Indirect Discharges

KPDES Permits Individual permits –All point sources not covered by general permits must obtain (no de minimis exemption) –Required to submit detailed permit application form, including data on actual/expected levels of pollutants in discharge General permits (many sources) –Usually similar sources –Usually same requirements for all –Minimal reporting –Notice of intent vs. passive coverage

KPDES Permits: Elements Effluent limits –Limits must ensure meeting WQS –Maximum daily and monthly average limits required for most –POTWs have weekly average instead of daily maximum –Expressed as mass–directly/indirectly Best management practices –Production process modifications –Operational changes –Materials substitution –Materials and/or water conservation Compliance schedule (shouldnt extend beyond 5- year permit term

KPDES Permits: Elements (cont.) Monitoring requirements –Self-monitoring by permittee –Traditionally effluents only, increasingly ambient, too –Specifies parameters and tests –Specifies frequency Reporting requirements –Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMRs) sent to the permitting agency Often monthly but sometimes less frequently Reopener provisions For POTWs only: Pretreatment program and sludge management requirements

Technology-Based Requirements for Municipal Discharges: Secondary Treatment

Clean Water Act Part II: Water Quality Standards What are you using it for? What criteria support that use? How will you keep it from degrading?

Water Quality Standards States yardstick to measure health of waters Three key elements of WQSs: –Designated uses –Water quality criteria –Antidegradation provisions

Kentucky Use Designations Aquatic life support – warmwater & coldwater aquatic habitat Primary contact recreation – swimming Secondary contact recreation – boating and fishing Fish consumption – eating fish Drinking water – domestic water supply

WQS: Water Quality Criteria (WQC) Consistent scientifically with protecting all designated uses (DUs) Basic types of criteria –Narrative/numeric –Water column/sediment/ fish tissue Categories of criteria –Aquatic life Pollutant-specific/aquatic community indices –Human health (drinking/fish consumption) –Wildlife (semiaquatic/food chain effects)

WQS: Narrative Criteria Waters must be "free from" –Putrescent or otherwise objectionable bottom deposits –Oil, scum, and floating debris in amounts that are unsightly –Nuisance levels of odor, color, or other conditions –Undesirable or nuisance aquatic life –Substances in amounts toxic to humans or aquatic life Usually apply to all waters, regardless of use designation

WQS: Numeric Criteria Parameter-specific: DO, temp., turbidity, N, P, Cu, dioxin, etc. –Level/concentration: 1 mg/L, 5 mg/kg –Duration: Acute: instantaneous, 1-hour, 1-day Chronic: 4-day, 7-day, 30-day –Recurrence interval: 1 year, 3 years

Kentucky warmwater aquatic habitat numeric criteria

MINIMUM DATASET FOR FRESHWATER WATER QUALITY CRITERIA DERIVATION SALMONID SECOND FISH FAMILY CHORDATA PLANKTONIC CRUSTACEAN BENTHIC CRUSTACEAN INSECT ROTIFERA, ANNELIDA, MOLLUSCA OTHER INSECT OR MOLLUSCA

DATA FROM THE MOST SENSITIVE LIFE STAGES SHOULD BE USED Most Sensitive Egg Larva Adult

Acute Toxicity Data 96-hour LC50 Concentration: 0.0 μg/L 25 μg/L 50 μg/L 100 μg/L 200 μg/L 500 μg/L 96-hr LC50 = 100 μg/L Control

Biological criteria Good Mid-Range Poor

WQS: Biological Criteria Applicable to aquatic life, not human health Require field sampling and studies Fish, macroinvertebrates, plants, etc. –Number of individuals, species, categories –Mass of species, feeding guilds, trophic levels –Specialists verses generalists –Tolerant verses intolerant Compare conditions at study site with relatively unimpacted reference site

WQS: antidegradation provisions Purpose: Prevent deterioration of existing levels of good water quality Generally applies parameter-by-parameter, not waterbody-by-waterbody Three tiers of protection –Tiers 1 and 2 apply to all waters with some features at or better than WQS –Tier 3 applies only to specially classified waters

Tier 1: the absolute floor Cannot allow loss of any existing use Cannot allow water quality to drop below levels needed to maintain existing use Applies to all waters, regardless of use designation

Tier 2: use of available assimilative capacity not a right Brakes slide from really good WQ to barely at WQS by saying cant degrade WQ unless: –Allowing lower WQ is necessary to accommodate important economic or social development –Point sources are meeting relevant technology- based limits –Have achieved all cost-effective and reasonable best management practices for nonpoint sources –Go through public review and comment process

Tier 3: outstanding waters protected Applies only to waters classified as Outstanding National Resource Waters (ONRW) –This classification overlays designated uses –Candidates include, but are not limited to, waters of National and State parks and wildlife refuges and waters of exceptional recreational or ecological significance Only minimal, or significant but short-term, decreases in WQ are allowed

303(d) process: establishing TMDLs A TMDL is.... A strategy for achieving WQS Based on the relationship between pollutant sources and the condition of a water body The amount of a specific pollutant that a waterbody can receive and still meet WQS Describes an allowable load and allocates it among point sources and nonpoint sources (plus a margin of error). TMDL = ΣWLA i + ΣLA i + MOS

TMDL process requirements Include public in the process! Submit final TMDL, with loading allocations and supporting information, to USEPA Review conducted by USEPA –If approved, begin implementation –If not approved, USEPA develops TMDL and finalizes within 30 days Provide reasonable assurance load reductions can be achieved

Leading causes & sources of impairment [ (b) Report] Causes –Siltation (sediment) –Pathogens (bacteria) –Other habitat alterations –PCBs –Organic enrichment / low DO Sources –Unknown –Agriculture –Habitat modification –Resource extraction –Urban runoff / storm sewers