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F. X. Browne, Inc.'s

Sustainable Environments

August 2010

Filthy water cannot be washed. 

~African Proverb

 

Photo credit: Snap on Flickr.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/snapr/484742554/

 

EPA Announces Step toward Establishing Rigorous Chesapeake Bay Pollution Reduction Diet

The EPA has released draft allocations for nitrogen and phosphorus to meet Clean Water Act standards in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and its tributaries. They are proposing limits of 187.4 million pound of nitrogen and 12.5 million pounds of phosphorus annually.  The allocations will help jurisdictions to complete their implementation plans for achieving the required pollution reductions by reducing excess nutrients and sediment from agriculture, urban/suburban stormwater runoff, wastewater, airborne contaminants and any other sources of pollution.  Watershed Implementation Plan drafts are due September 1, 2010.  All practices should be in place to meet the limits by 2025, with 60 percent in place by 2017.  The EPA will issue a draft Total Maximum Daily Load (TDML) on September 24, 2010.  The TMDL will be established by December 31, 2010.
To view the draft allocation tables, maps and charts, visit http://www.epa.gov/chesapeakebaytmdl/.
 

EPA Announces Draft Allocations for Bay States to Meet Cleanup Goals: Numbers Set Nutrient Reductions Needed by 2025

By Karl Blankenship, Chesapeake Bay Journal, July/August 2010

http://www.bayjournal.com/article.cfm?article=3880
 

The Devil is in the Details of Watershed Implementation Plans: States will be Accountable for How they Intend to Achieve Water Quality Goals

By Karl Blankenship, Chesapeake Bay Journal, July/August 2010

http://www.bayjournal.com/article.cfm?article=3881

EPA Proposes Requiring the Use of Sufficiently Sensitive Test Methods for NPDES Permit Applications and Reporting

The U.S. Environmental Agency (EPA) is proposing to revise the Clean Water Act (CWA) regulations to only allow “sufficiently sensitive” analytical test methods for completing an National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit or when complying with monitoring requirements in an NPDES permit.  This will affect only chemical-specific methods, they do not apply to the Whole Effluent Toxicity (WET) methods.  The main purpose is to require analytical methods that are capable of detecting and measuring pollutants at or below the water quality criteria or permit limits.  The public is invited to comment for 45 days after publication in the Federal Register Notice on June 23, 2010.

http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/ssmethods.cfm

President Obama Announces New National Oceans Policy

On July 19, President Obama signed an executive order to establish a comprehensive policy for our oceans, coasts and Great Lakes.  This national policy will help better protect, maintain and restore ocean ecosystems.  The order “…establishes a national policy to ensure the protection, maintenance, and restoration of the health of ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes ecosystems and resources, enhance the sustainability of ocean and coastal economies, preserve our maritime heritage, support sustainable uses and access, provide for adaptive management to enhance our understanding of and capacity to respond to climate change and ocean acidification, and coordinate with our national security and foreign policy interests. This order also provides for the development of coastal and marine spatial plans that build upon and improve existing Federal, State, tribal, local, and regional decisionmaking and planning processes. These regional plans will enable a more integrated, comprehensive, ecosystem-based, flexible, and proactive approach to planning and managing sustainable multiple uses across sectors and improve the conservation of the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes.”

To view the Executive Order, visit

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/executive-order-stewardship-ocean-our-coasts-and-great-lakes

EPA To Hold Listening Sessions on Potential Revisions to Water Quality Standards Regulation

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will host two public listening sessions on potential changes to the water quality standards regulation.  The current regulation governs how states adopt standards to protect the quality of rivers, streams, lakes and estuaries.  The proposed revisions increase protection for water bodies, improving transparency, and strengthening federal oversight.  Public listening sessions will be held via audio teleconferences on August 24 and 26, 2010 from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. EDT.  The EPA will also hold listening sessions for state, tribal, and local governments.  The proposed revisions will be published in the summer of 2011.

EPA News Release, July 30, 2010

http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/standards/rules/wqs/

New Alternative Testing Methods for Drinking Water

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved 12 new testing methods for measuring contaminant levels in drinking water and determining compliance with regulations.  The new measurement techniques allow greater flexibility in selecting analytical methods and reduces monitoring costs while ensuring public health protection.  The 12 alternative methods are for testing Dalapon, Radium-226, Uranium, Radioactive Cesium, Iodine and Gamma emitters, Tritium, and E.coli in drinking water.

For more information, visit http://epa.gov/safewater/methods/analyticalmethods_expedited.html