[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 56 (Tuesday, March 24, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14109-14112]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-7641]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Department of Agriculture

[FRL-5985-6]


Clean Water Act; Clean Water Action Plan

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Agriculture.

ACTION: Notice of availability of clean water action plan.

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SUMMARY: In his 1998 State of the Union Address, President Clinton 
announced a major new Clean Water Initiative to speed the restoration 
of the nation's rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. This new initiative 
aims to achieve clean water by strengthening public health protection, 
targeting community-based watershed protection efforts at high priority 
areas, and providing communities with new resources to control polluted 
runoff.
    On October 18, 1997, the 25th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, 
Vice President Gore directed the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and 
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to work with other Federal 
agencies and the public to prepare an aggressive Action Plan to meet 
the promise of clean, safe water for all Americans. The Action Plan 
forms the core of President Clinton's Clean Water Initiative in which 
he proposed $568 million in new resources in his Fiscal Year 1999 
budget to carry it out. The Action Plan builds on the solid foundation 
of existing clean water programs and proposes new actions to strengthen 
efforts to restore and protect water resources.
    In implementing the Action Plan, the federal government will: 
support locally led partnerships that include a broad array of 
watershed partners, including federal and state agencies, tribes, 
communities, businesses, and citizens to meet clean water and public 
health goals; increase financial and technical assistance to states, 
tribes, local governments, farmers, and others; and help states and 
tribes restore and sustain the health of aquatic systems on a watershed 
basis.

ADDRESSES: The Clean Water Action Plan is available for viewing on the 
Internet at

http://www.nhq.nrcs.usda.gov/cleanwater/ or
http://www.epa.gov/cleanwater/.

    Copies of the Clean Water Action Plan may be obtained from EPA's 
National Center for Environmental Publications and Information, 1-800-
490-9198 (toll free), P.O. Box 42419, Cincinnati, OH 45242; (513) 489-
8695 (fax). Ask for EPA-840-R-98-001. Copies may also be obtained from 
Douglas Wilson, USDA-NRCS, Conservation Communications Staff, Room 
0054--South Building, P.O. Box 2890, Washington, D.C. 20013-2890, or by 
fax at (202) 720-6009.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ben Ficks, U.S. EPA, Office of 
Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds, 401 M Street, S.W. (4501F), 
Washington, D.C. 20460; fax: 202-260-2529; email 
[email protected]; or Douglas Wilson, USDA-NRCS Conservation 
Communications Staff, Room 0054--South Building P.O. Box 2890, 
Washington, D.C. 20013-2890; fax: 202-720-6009.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Clean Water Action Plan Overview

I. Clean Water--The Road Ahead

    Over the past quarter century, America has made tremendous strides 
in cleaning up its rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. In 1972, the 
Potomac River was too dirty to swim in, Lake Erie was dying, and the 
Cuyahoga River was so polluted it burst into flames. Many rivers and 
beaches were little more than open sewers. The improvement in the 
health of the nation's waters is a direct result of a concerted effort 
to enhance stewardship of natural resources and to implement the 
environmental provisions of federal, state, tribal and local laws. In 
particular, the Clean Water Act has stopped billions of pounds of 
pollution from fouling the nation's water, doubling the number of 
waterways safe for fishing and swimming. Today, rivers, lakes, and 
coasts are thriving centers of healthy communities.
    Despite tremendous progress, 40 percent of the nation's waterways 
assessed by states are still unsafe for fishing and swimming. Pollution 
from factories and sewage treatment plants, soil erosion, and wetland 
losses have been dramatically reduced. But runoff from city streets, 
rural areas, and other sources continues to degrade the environment and 
puts drinking water at risk. Fish in many waters still contain 
dangerous levels of mercury,

[[Page 14110]]

polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and other toxic contaminants.
    After 25 years of progress, the nation's clean water program is at 
a crossroads. Implementation of the existing programs will not stop 
serious new threats to public health, living resources, and the 
nation's waterways, particularly from polluted runoff. These programs 
lack the strength, resources and framework to finish the job of 
restoring rivers, lakes and coastal areas. To fulfill the original goal 
of the Clean Water Act--``fishable and swimmable'' water for every 
American--the nation must chart a new course to address the pollution 
problems of the next generation.
    In his 1998 State of the Union Address, President Clinton announced 
a major new Clean Water initiative to speed the restoration of the 
nation's precious waterways. This new initiative aims to achieve clean 
water by strengthening public health protection, targeting community-
based watershed protection efforts at high priority areas, and 
providing communities with new resources to control polluted runoff.
    On October 18, 1997, the 25th anniversary of the Clean Water Act, 
Vice-President Gore directed USDA and EPA to work with other federal 
agencies and the public to prepare an aggressive Action Plan to meet 
the promise of clean, safe water for all Americans. This Action Plan 
forms the core of President Clinton's Clean Water Initiative in which 
he proposed $568 million in new resources in his FY 1999 budget to 
carry it out. The Action Plan builds on the solid foundation of 
existing clean water programs and proposes new action to strengthen 
efforts to restore and protect water resources. In implementing the 
Action Plan, the federal government will support locally led 
partnerships that include a broad array of federal agencies, states, 
tribes, communities, businesses, and citizens to meet clean water and 
public health goals; increase financial and technical assistance to 
states, tribes, local governments, farmers and others; and help states 
and tribes restore and sustain the health of aquatic systems on a 
watershed basis.

II. Four Tools for Clean Water

    Federal, state, tribal, and local governments have many tools they 
can use to clean up and protect water resources. Regulation, economic 
incentives, technical assistance research, education, and accurate 
information all have a role to play in meeting clean water goals. The 
Action Plan is built around four key tools to achieve clean water 
goals.

A Watershed Approach

    The Action Plan envisions a new, collaborative effort by federal, 
state, tribal, and local governments; the public; and the private 
sector to restore and sustain the health of watersheds in the nation. 
The watershed approach is the key to setting priorities and taking 
action to clean up rivers, lakes, and coastal waters.
Strong Federal and State Standards
    The Action Plan calls for federal, state, and tribal agencies to 
revise standards where needed and make existing programs more 
effective. Effective standards are key to protecting public health, 
preventing polluted runoff, and ensuring accountability.
Natural Resource Stewardship
    Most of the land in the nation's watersheds is cropland, pasture, 
rangeland, or forests, and most of the water that ends up in rivers, 
lakes, and coastal waters falls on these lands first. Clean water 
depends on the conservation and stewardship of these natural resources. 
The Action Plan calls on federal natural resource and conservation 
agencies to apply their collective resources and technical expertise to 
state and local watershed restoration and protection.
Informed Citizens and Officials
    Clear, accurate, and timely information is the foundation of a 
sound and accountable water quality program. Informed citizens and 
officials make better decisions about their watersheds. The Action Plan 
calls on federal agencies to improve the information available to the 
public, governments, and others about the health of their watersheds 
and the safety of their beaches, drinking water, and fish.

A. A Watershed Approach--The Key to the Future

    The Action Plan proposes a new collaborative effort by state, 
tribal, federal, and local governments, the private sector and the 
public to restore those watersheds not meeting clean water, natural 
resource, and public health goals and to sustain healthy conditions in 
other watersheds.
    For the past 25 years, most water pollution control efforts relied 
on broadly applied national programs that reduced water pollution from 
individual sources, such as discharges from sewage treatment plants and 
factories, and from polluted runoff. Today, there is growing 
recognition that clean water strategies built on this foundation and 
tailored to specific watershed conditions are the key to the future.
Why Watersheds?
    Clean water is the product of a healthy watershed--a watershed in 
which urban, agricultural, rangelands, forest lands, and all other 
parts of the landscape are well-managed to prevent pollution. Focusing 
on the whole watershed helps strike the best balance among efforts to 
control point source pollution and polluted runoff, and protect 
drinking water sources and sensitive natural resources such as 
wetlands. A watershed focus also helps identify the most cost-effective 
pollution control strategies to meet clean water goals.
    Working at the watershed level encourages the public to get 
involved in efforts to restore and protect their water resources and is 
the foundation for building strong clean water partnerships. The 
watershed approach is the best way to bring state, tribal, federal, and 
local programs together to more effectively and efficiently clean up 
and protect waters. It is also the key to greater accountability and 
progress toward clean water goals.
Key Elements of the Watershed Approach
    The Action Plan proposes a watershed approach built on several key 
elements.
    1. Unified Watershed Assessments. States, tribes, and other federal 
agencies currently set priorities for watershed action in many 
different ways. For example, state water quality agencies are 
developing lists of impaired water bodies, defining source water 
protection areas for drinking water, identifying coastal protection 
priorities, and defining priority areas for agricultural assistance 
programs. Similarly, federal, state and tribal natural resource 
agencies set their priorities for watershed restoration and protection 
in various ways to meet their mandates for natural resource 
conservation. These processes are designed to meet valid objectives, 
but too often opportunities to work together to meet common goals are 
overlooked.
    The Action Plan creates a strategic opportunity for states and 
tribes, in cooperation with federal land and resource managers on 
federal lands to take the lead in unifying these various existing 
efforts and leveraging scarce resources to advance the pace of progress 
toward clean water. As a number of states and tribes have demonstrated, 
they can meet existing requirements efficiently and develop more 
coordinated and comprehensive priorities on a watershed basis.
    Unified watershed assessments are a vehicle to identify: watersheds 
that will

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be targeted to receive significant new resources from the President's 
FY 1999 budget and beyond to clean up waters that are not meeting water 
quality goals; pristine or sensitive watersheds on federal lands where 
core federal and state programs can be brought together to prevent 
degradation of water quality; and threatened watersheds that need an 
extra measure of protection and attention.
    2. Watershed Restoration Action Strategies. The Action Plan 
encourages states and tribes to work with local communities, the 
public, and federal environmental, natural resource, and land 
management agencies to develop strategies to restore watersheds that 
are not meeting clean water and natural resource goals. Watershed 
Restoration Action Strategies will spell out the most important causes 
of water pollution and resource degradation, detail the actions that 
all parties need to take to solve those problems, and set milestones by 
which to measure progress. Funds made available to federal agencies 
through the FY 1999 Clean Water and Watershed Restoration Budget 
Initiative will be used to help states implement these strategies.
    3. Watershed Pollution Prevention. Protecting pristine or sensitive 
waters and taking preventive action when clean water is threatened by 
new activities in the watershed can be the most cost-effective approach 
to meeting clean water goals. The Action Plan encourages states, 
tribal, and federal agencies to bring core programs and existing 
resources together to support watershed pollution prevention strategies 
to keep clean waters clean.
    4. Watershed Assistance Grants. Federal agencies will provide small 
grants to local organizations that want to take a leadership role in 
building local efforts to restore and protect watersheds. These grants 
will ensure that local communities and stakeholders can effectively 
engage in the process of setting goals and devising solutions to 
restore their watersheds.

B. Strong Federal and State Standards

    The Action Plan calls on federal, state, and tribal governments to 
strengthen existing programs to support an accelerated effort to attack 
the nation's remaining water quality problems. Federal, state, and 
tribal standards for water quality and polluted runoff are key tools 
for protecting public health, preventing polluted runoff, and ensuring 
accountability. Some of the specific actions called for in the Action 
Plan are identified below.
    1. Improve Assurance that Fish and Shellfish are Safe to Eat. 
Federal agencies will work with states and tribes to expand programs to 
reduce contaminants that can make locally caught fish and shellfish 
unsafe to eat, particularly mercury and other persistent, bio-
accumulative toxic pollutants, and to ensure that the public gets clear 
notice of fish consumption risks.
    2. Ensure Safe Beaches. Federal, state, and local governments will 
work to improve the capacity to monitor water quality at beaches, 
develop new standards, and use new technologies such as the Internet to 
report public health risks to recreational swimmers.
    3. Expand Control of Storm Water Runoff. EPA will publish final 
Phase II storm water regulations for smaller cities and construction 
sites in 1999. EPA will also work with its partners to make sure that 
existing storm water control requirements for large urban and 
industrial areas are implemented.
    4. Improve State and Tribal Enforceable Authorities to Address 
Polluted Runoff. Federal agencies will work with states and tribes to 
promote the establishment of state and tribal enforceable authorities 
to ensure the implementation of polluted runoff controls by the year 
2000.
    5. Define Nutrient Reduction Goals. EPA will establish by the year 
2000 numeric criteria for nutrients (i.e., nitrogen and phosphorus) 
that reflect the different types of water bodies (e.g., lakes, rivers, 
and estuaries) and different ecoregions of the country and will assist 
states and tribes in adopting numeric water quality standards based on 
these criteria.
    6. Reduce Pollution from Animal Feeding Operations. EPA will 
publish and, after public comment, implement an Animal Feeding 
Operation Strategy for important and necessary actions on standards and 
permits. In addition, by November 1998, EPA and USDA will jointly 
develop a broad, unified national strategy to minimize the 
environmental and public health impacts of Animal Feeding Operations.

C. Natural Resource Stewardship

    Nearly 70 percent of the United States, exclusive of Alaska, is 
held in private ownership by millions of individuals. Fifty percent, or 
907 million acres, is owned by farmers, ranchers, and their families. 
Another 400 million acres are federal lands. Most of the rainfall in 
the country falls on these lands before it enters rivers, lakes and 
coastal waters. Effective management of these croplands, pastures, 
forests, wetlands, rangelands, and other resources is key to keeping 
clean water clean and restoring watersheds where water quality is 
impaired.
    The Action Plan commits all federal natural resource conservation 
and environmental agencies to focus their expertise and resources to 
support the watershed approach described above. In addition, these 
agencies will work with states, tribes, and others to enhance critical 
natural resources essential to clean water.
    1. Federal Land Stewardship. More than 800 million acres of the 
United States, including Alaska, is federal land. These lands contain 
an immense diversity and wealth of natural resources, including 
significant sources of drinking water and public recreation 
opportunities.
    By 1999, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and USDA will 
take the lead in developing a Unified Federal Policy to enhance 
watershed management for the protection of water quality and the health 
of aquatic systems on federal lands and for federal resource 
management. Federal land managers will improve water quality protection 
for over 2,000 miles of roads and trails each year through 2005 and 
decommission 5,000 miles each year by 2002. Federal land managers will 
also accelerate the cleanup rate of watersheds affected by abandoned 
mines and will implement an accelerated riparian stewardship program to 
improve or restore 25,000 miles of stream corridors by 2005.
    2. Protect and Restore Wetlands. The Action Plan sets a goal of 
attaining a net increase of 100,000 wetland acres per year by the year 
2005. This goal will be achieved by ensuring that existing wetland 
programs continue to slow the rate of wetland losses, improving federal 
restoration programs, and by expanding incentives to landowners to 
restore wetlands.
    3. Protect Coastal Waters. Federal agencies, led by the National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will work in partnership 
to improve the monitoring of coastal waters, expand research of 
emerging problems like Pfiesteria, amend Fishery Management Plans to 
address water quality issues, and ensure the implementation of strong 
programs to reduce polluted runoff to coastal waters.
    4. Provide Incentives for Private Land Stewardship. The Action Plan 
relies on a substantial increase in the technical and financial 
assistance available to private landowners as the primary means of 
accelerating progress toward reducing polluted runoff from 
agricultural, range, and forest lands.
    USDA, working with federal, state, tribal, and private partners, 
will

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establish by 2002 two million miles of conservation buffers to reduce 
polluted runoff and protect watersheds, direct new funding for the 
Environmental Quality Incentives Program to support watershed 
restoration, and develop as many new agreements with states as 
practicable to use the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program to 
improve watersheds. The Plan also envisions new and innovative methods 
to provide incentives for private landowners to implement pollution 
prevention plans, including risk management protection for adoption of 
new pollution prevention technologies and market recognition for 
producers that meet environmental goals.
    In addition, DOI will expand its existing Partners for Wildlife 
Program, which restores degraded fish and wildlife habitats and 
improves water quality through partnerships with landowners. The 
program provides technical and financial assistance, and gives priority 
to threatened and endangered species.

D. Informed Citizens and Officials

    Effective management of water resources requires reliable 
information about water quality conditions and new tools to communicate 
information to the public. Federal agencies, led by the U.S. Geological 
Survey (USGS), will work with states and tribes to improve monitoring 
and assessment of water quality, focusing on nutrients and related 
pollutants. Federal agencies will also work with states and tribes to 
develop and use state-of-the-art systems, such as EPA's Index of 
Watershed Indicators on the Internet, to communicate meaningful 
information to the public about water quality conditions in their 
communities.

III. Clean Water and Watershed Restoration Budget Initiative

    To support the new and expanded efforts to restore and protect the 
nation's waters as proposed in the Clean Water Action Plan, the 
President's FY 1999 budget proposes a Clean Water and Watershed 
Restoration Budget Initiative. The funding provided in this budget 
initiative will dramatically increase federal financial support for 
clean water programs in FY 1999 and beyond. Specifically, the Clean 
Water and Watershed Restoration Budget Initiative will: increase direct 
support to states and tribes to carry out a watershed approach to clean 
water; increase technical and financial assistance to farmers, 
ranchers, and foresters to reduce polluted runoff and enhance the 
natural resources on their lands; fund watershed assistance programs 
and grants to engage local communities and citizens in leadership roles 
in restoring their watersheds; accelerate progress in addressing 
critical water quality problems on federal lands, including those 
related to roads, abandoned mines, riparian areas, and rangelands; 
expand and coordinate water quality monitoring programs; and increase 
efforts to restore nationally significant watersheds, such as the 
Florida Everglades and the San Francisco Bay-Delta.

IV. A Continuing Commitment to Clean Water

    The publication of the Action Plan is just the beginning of a long-
term effort. Many of the proposed actions will provide for later public 
review and comment and federal agencies are committed to working 
closely with states, tribes, and others to ensure successful 
implementation of specific actions.
    In addition, regular reports will keep the public apprised of 
progress and remaining challenges. By the end of the year 2000 and 
periodically thereafter, status reports on progress in implementing 
watershed restoration plans and related programs will be provided to 
the President, the nation's governors, tribal leaders, and the public.

    Dated: March 18, 1998.
Robert Perciasepe,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Water, Environmental Protection 
Agency.
James R. Lyons,
Under Secretary, Natural Resources and Environment, Department of 
Agriculture.
[FR Doc. 98-7641 Filed 3-23-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P