[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 16 (Wednesday, January 24, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1930-1932]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-1052]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-5402-3]


CWA 303(d): Establishment of Phased Total Maximum Daily Loads 
(TMDLs) for Copper, Mercury, Nickel and Lead in New York-New Jersey 
Harbor

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency, Region II.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region II is 
hereby issuing final public notice on the establishment of Phased Total 
Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for copper and mercury in New York-New 
Jersey Harbor. The TMDLs are being established in cooperation with the 
States of New York and New Jersey.

DATES: January 24, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the responsivenesss summary and TMDL support 
documents can be obtained by writing to Ms. Rosella T. O'Connor, 
Technical Evaluation Section, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 
Region II, 290 Broadway, 25th Floor, New York, New York 10006-1866 or 
calling (212) 637-3711.
    The administrative record containing background technical 
information on the TMDLs developed by EPA, in conjunction with the 
States of NY and NJ, is on file and may be inspected at the U.S. EPA, 
Region II office between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday 
through Friday, except holidays. Arrangements to examine the 
administrative record may be made by contacting Ms. Rosella O'Connor.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Rosella O'Connor, telephone (212) 
637-3711.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
II. Final Determination

I. Background

    The New York-New Jersey Harbor is geographically defined as the 
Hudson River from the Tappan Zee Bridge extending out to the Outer 
Harbor and including the Harlem River, East River to the Throgs Neck 
Bridge, Jamaica Bay, Newark Bay, Hackensack River below the Oradell 
Dam, Passaic River below the Dundee Dam, Kill Van Kull, Arthur Kill, 
and the Raritan River/Bay below the Fieldville Dam.
    Under the auspices of the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary 
Program, the States of New York and New Jersey and EPA joined in a 
cooperative effort to collect ambient and source data, develop a water 
quality model to assess relative loadings from all sources (municipal 
and industrial discharges, storm water, combined sewer overflows, 
sediment flux, atmospheric deposition and tributaries), and develop 
Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs).
    Due to the interstate nature of the New York-New Jersey Harbor and 
the desirability of consistency and equity among dischargers, the State 
of New Jersey requested that EPA promulgate TMDLs for the New York-New 
Jersey Harbor. EPA will, therefore, establish TMDLs as a federal 
action. Except for the Kill Van Kull, New York State has already 
implemented the necessary water quality-based effluent limits for 
waterbodies within the Harbor by issuing individual control strategies 
in the form of modified permits. EPA is establishing TMDLs for the 
remaining waterbodies for which New York State has not established 
TMDLs as well as Harbor waterbodies in the State of New Jersey. The EPA 
promulgation will result in the incorporation of TMDLs into State Water 
Quality Management Plans. In the State of New Jersey, this promulgation 
will amend the Northeast, the Lower Raritan/ Middlesex County and the 
Monmouth County Water Quality Management Plans. In New York State, this 
promulgation will amend the New York State Water Quality Management 
Plan.

II. Final Determination

    In the proposed public notice (40 FR 41293, August 11, 1994), EPA 
indicated that the basis of the TMDLs was the most stringent of the 
applicable NJ or NY standards for mercury (0.025 g/L), nickel 
(7.1 g/L) and lead (8.5 g/L), expressed as the total 
recoverable form of the metal. Since that time, EPA issued an Interim 
Final Rule (60 FR 22228, May 4, 1995), amending the National Toxics 
Rule. The Interim Final Rule became effective on April 14, 1995. This 
rule establishes dissolved criteria for nickel and lead in New Jersey. 
Phase I TMDLs are not being developed for nickel and lead, at this 
time. Insufficent data were available to determine if TMDLs based on 
the dissolved nickel and lead criteria were necessary. The mercury 
criterion will continue to be expressed as total recoverable since it 
is a fish tissue based criterion. The copper criterion used to develop 
TMDLs is 5.6 g/L (expressed as dissolved metal). This value is 
the most stringent of the two proposed site-specific copper criteria 
developed (7.9 [acute] and 5.6 [chronic] g/L dissolved) for 
the Harbor waters (for additional information regarding the development 
of the site-specific copper criteria, refer to EPA's document entitled 
``Development of a Site-Specific Copper Criterion for the NY/NJ Harbor 
Complex Using the Indicator Species Procedure'').

[[Page 1931]]

    Based on ambient monitoring data and/or water quality modeling 
efforts, certain waterbodies within the Harbor exceed or are projected 
to exceed applicable water quality standards. In such cases, the Clean 
Water Act requires that the States calculate the maximum amount of the 
pollutant that the waterbody can assimilate and still meet ambient 
water quality standards. This amount, called the total maximum daily 
load, is then used to allocate loads among sources of pollutants. Loads 
allocated to point sources (e.g. municipal dischargers) are termed 
Waste Load Allocations (WLAs). Loads allocated to nonpoint sources 
(e.g. atmospheric inputs) are termed Load Allocations (LAs).
    Waterbodies within the Harbor which are known or projected to 
exceed applicable water quality standards and have been determined to 
require TMDLs are denoted by an ``X'' in Table 1. Certain waterbodies 
in the Harbor do not require TMDLs for all the metals of concern. For 
these waterbodies, no further action is being proposed. The ``#'' 
notation indicates that the need for TMDLs will be reassessed, based on 
dissolved nickel and lead criteria, after the completion of the Phase 
II monitoring in these waterbodies.

                                       Table 1.--Waterbodies Needing TMDLs                                      
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           Waterbody                    Copper              Mercury             Nickel               Lead       
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Hudson River...................  ...................  X                   ..................  ..................
Inner Harbor...................  ...................  X                   ..................  ..................
Outer Harbor...................  ...................  X                   ..................  ..................
Arthur Kill/Kill Van Kull......  X                    X                   #                   #                 
East R./Harlem R...............  ...................  X                   ..................  ..................
Jamaica Bay....................  ...................  X                   ..................  ..................
Raritan River/Bay..............  X                    X                   #                   #                 
Hackensack R./Passaic R./Newark  X                    X                   #                   #                 
 Bay.                                                                                                           
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    The TMDLs for copper, and mercury use a phased TMDL approach. For 
copper, the waterbodies listed in Table 1 exceed applicable water 
quality standards based on concentrations projected to occur by the 
water quality model employed for this TMDL effort. Due to the limited 
ambient and loading data, the state of the model calibration is 
uncertain for the Raritan River/Bay, the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers, 
and Newark Bay. Based on the available ambient data, it has been 
determined that existing loads are adequate to meet applicable water 
quality standards. The Phase I TMDLs for these waters will be based on 
limiting municipal and industrial point source dischargers to existing 
loads. Additional data collection and modeling for the Hackensack 
River, Passaic River, Newark Bay, Kill Van Kull, Arthur Kill, and 
Raritan River/Bay will be required. Once sufficient data have been 
collected and the water quality model has been adequately calibrated, 
Phase II TMDLs will be developed, adopted and implemented, as 
necessary, by the States of New York and New Jersey with assistance 
from EPA.
    As indicated in Table 1, both ambient and model projected 
exceedances of mercury standards occur throughout the Harbor. Water 
quality modeling for mercury indicated that a significant portion of 
the total mercury load was not identified by the monitoring conducted 
to support the TMDL effort. This load, attributed to atmospheric 
deposition, drives exceedances of water quality standards. The Phase I 
TMDLs for mercury are based on freezing existing point source loads and 
reducing atmospheric deposition loading by a portion of the anticipated 
levels of reduction resulting from the implementation of the Clean Air 
Act. Additional monitoring and water quality modeling will be conducted 
to: reassess the previously identified sources; quantify loads from 
atmospheric deposition and sediment flux; recalibrate the mercury water 
quality model; and to calculate Phase II TMDLs.
    Based on applicable water quality standards and an assessment of 
loadings to the Harbor, Phase I TMDLs were calculated and allocated 
among municipal dischargers, industrial dischargers, combined sewer 
overflows, storm water, atmospheric, and tributaries. These TMDLs/WLAs/
LAs are shown in Table 2.
    For copper, the Phase I TMDLs/WLAs/LAs are based on existing loads 
from: industrial/municipal dischargers identified as contributing 
significant loads of the above substances; combined sewer overflows; 
storm water dischargers; atmospheric deposition; and tributary sources.
    For mercury, Phase I TMDLs/WLAs/LAs are based on existing loads for 
all point sources and a projected reduction in atmospheric loads due to 
implementation of the Clean Air Act.
    The TMDLs/WLAs/LAs listed in the Tables below are not enforceable 
permit limits. The enforceable permit limits for municipal and 
industrial dischargers will be developed by the States based on the 
WLAs listed below. The Phase I effluent limits for municipal and 
industrial dischargers will be based on existing effluent quality and 
will be developed in accordance with ``EPA Region II's Guidance for 
Calculating Permit Effluent Limitations Based on Existing Effluent 
Quality.'' A copy of this document may be obtained by contacting the 
above mentioned person.
    The tables below identify the Phase I TMDLs/WLAs/LAs for copper and 
mercury in the Harbor. Additional information regarding the calculation 
of the TMDLs/WLAs/LAs and a listing of the individual WLA for each 
municipal and industrial discharger may be found in EPA's document 
entitled ``Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for Copper, Mercury, 
Nickel and Lead in NY-NJ Harbor.'' 

[[Page 1932]]


                            Table 2.--T4TMDLs/WLAs/LAs for New York-New Jersey Harbor                           
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                                                              Loading Zone              Hack/Pas/Newark         
                                                             (loads in lbs/  -----------------------------------
                                                                day total                                       
                       TMDL: Copper                            recoverable                                      
                                                                 metal)             Kills         Raritan R/Bay 
                                                           ------------------                                   
                                                                 WLA/LA                                         
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MUN./IND..................................................             11.16             31.21             34.85
CSO.......................................................             17.30             17.10              1.40
STORM WATER...............................................             53.30             35.10             42.70
BOUNDARY..................................................              2.73              0.00              3.90
ATMOSPHERIC...............................................              7.40             46.40             67.60
                                                           -----------------------------------------------------
        TMDL..............................................             91.89            129.81            150.45
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                                                                      TMDL: Mercury                                                                     
                                                       [Loads in lbs/day total recoverable metal]                                                       
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                     Loading zones                        Mun./ind.       CSOs \1\    Storm water \2\    Boundary \1\   Atmospheric \3\       TMDLs     
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Hudson River..........................................          0.185          0.057           0.481            0.138            0.245            1.106 
Inner Harbor..........................................          0.183          0.034           0.007            0                0.054            0.278 
Outer Harbor..........................................          0.000          0.026           0.010            0                1.139            1.175 
Kills.................................................          0.328          0.066           0.516            0                0.225            1.135 
East & Harlem R.......................................          1.005          0.216           1.260            0                0.679            3.16  
Jamaica Bay...........................................          0.274          0.106           0.119            0.               0.093            0.592 
Raritan Bay...........................................          0.442          0.005           0.628            0.003            0.328            1.406 
Hack/Pas/ Newark B....................................          0.215          0.060           0.784            0.002            0.036            1.097 
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\1\ Load includes a projected 10% reduction.                                                                                                            
\2\ Load includes a projected 30% reduction.                                                                                                            
\3\ Load includes a projected 60% reduction.                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                        
Notes: Hack/Pas/Newark=Hackensack River, Passaic River and Newark Bay.                                                                                  
Mun./Ind.=Municipal and Industrial dischargers.                                                                                                         

    Dated: December 15, 1995.
William Muszynski,
Acting Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. 96-1052 Filed 1-23-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P