1. Mike Bira EPA Region 6 NPS Program
EPA Approach to Water Quality Protection Through
Watershed Management
DRAFT
Mike Bira
EPA Region 6
NPS Program

2. EPA
Region 6
Dallas, Texas

3. What can watershed plans provide?
Clear Purpose & a Roadmap - needed to coordinate complex scientific, social, and economic activities
Accountability – What indicators are we going to count and why are they important to watershed resources?
Program Integration thru Partnerships - TMDLs, 319, NPDES, Source Water Protection, wetlands, Farm Bill Programs, local planning, private investment
COMMUNITY – BASED
WATER QUALITY RESTORATION
WATER QUALITY PROTECTION

4. Clean Water Act (CWA)
Federal law promulgated in Applies to surface water – lakes, rivers, streams, coastal areas
Uses regulatory and non-regulatory tools to protect and restore the nation’s waters
Goals:
reduce direct pollutant discharges into waterways, finance municipal wastewater treatment facilities, and manage polluted runoff
restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters so that they can support "the protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and recreation in and on the water."

5. CWA Water Pollution Sources Two General Categories
Point Source Pollution
Regulated under the Clean Water Act with State/Fed permits/enforcement
enters water via a discrete conveyance
Nonpoint Source Pollution
No permitting provisions for NPS in the Clean Water Act
runoff from land

6. Six Steps in Watershed Planning
Pollutant
Load &
Sources
Load Reductions
Best Management Practices
Schedule
For
Action
Resources
Needed
Engagement & Education
Pollutant sources needing control – as a fraction of all sources, quantified
Load reduction estimates by BMP type
BMP (management measure) descriptions
Resources needed to implement plan
Information/education component (stakeholder leadership as well as education)
Schedule for implementing measures (BMPs) identified
Interim implementation milestones
Criteria for determining load reduction success and for determining need for revision of plan if not successful
Monitoring component to test success
Measureable Milestones
Criteria for Success
Monitoring Progress

7. The Nine Elements that Must Be Included in a 319 Watershed Plan
Identify causes & sources of pollution
Estimate load reductions expected
Describe mgmt measures & targeted critical areas
Estimate technical and financial assistance needed
Develop education component
Develop schedule
Describe interim, measurable milestones
Identify indicators to measure progress
Develop a monitoring component

9. Lake Waco

12. Arroyo Colorado WPP WatershedCoordinator
Jaime Flores, P.G.
Arroyo Colorado Watershed Coordinator
Texas A&M Agri-Life Extension

13. EPA Watershed Tools www.epa.gov www.epa.gov/healthywatersheds
Surf Your Watershed
Watershed Academy
Watershed Plan Builder

14. Key Elements of the CWA CWA Goals WQS Revise Strategies,
if needed
Conduct Monitoring
CWA
Goals
and
WQS
Develop Strategies
Monitor
Results
Implement
strategies

16. WATERSHEDS
Are like belly buttons and opinions –
EVERYBODY HAS ONE!!

17. Questions? Mike Bira USEPA Region 6 bira.mike@epa.gov