[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 171 (Thursday, September 3, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47024-47025]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-23688]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OW-FRL-6155-2]


Notice of availability of the Water Quality Criteria and 
Standards Plan--Priorities for the Future

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability of, and request for comment on, the 
Water Quality Criteria and Standards Plan--Priorities for the Future.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces the 
availability of a plan, entitled the Water Quality Criteria and 
Standards Plan--Priorities for the Future. The Plan presents a vision 
and strategy to enhance and improve water quality criteria and 
standards programs across the country. The Plan describes seven new 
criteria and standards program initiatives that EPA, in partnership 
with the States and Tribes, will undertake or complete over the next 
ten years. The Plan briefly describes the water quality issues and 
concerns that the new criteria initiatives will address. For each 
initiative, the Plan explains the key objective(s) to be accomplished 
and the critical activities EPA is planning to undertake to achieve 
these objectives.

DATES: If you have comments on the Plan please provide them to the 
address listed below postmarked on or before October 16, 1998. EPA will 
consider your comments while preparing the final Plan this fall.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to: Water Quality Criteria and 
Standards Plan; Attn: Plan Comments; Health and Ecological Criteria 
Division (4304); Office of Science and Technology; Office of Water; 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; 401 M Street SW; Washington, DC 
20460.
    This notice contains a brief summary of the Water Quality Criteria 
and Standards Plan. Copies of the complete Plan, or a fact sheet 
summarizing the Plan may be obtained from the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, National Center for Environmental Publication and 
Information, 11029 Kenwood Road, Bldg. 5, Cincinnati, Ohio 45242; fax 
1-513-489-8695 or 1-800-490-9198. Copies may also be ordered from the 
Office of Water Resource Center by calling (202) 260-7786. The fact 
sheet and the Plan are also available on the Internet at http://
www.epa.gov/ost/standards/quality.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William F. Swietlik; Health and 
Ecological Criteria Division (4304); Office of Science and Technology; 
Office of Water; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; 401 M Street SW, 
Washington, DC 20460; (202) 260-9569; Fax (202) 260-1036; email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Plan supports the Clean Water Action 
Plan announced by President Clinton in February 1998. Many of the 
action items to be accomplished under the Action Plan rely on a strong 
water quality standards program. Strong water quality standards provide 
a foundation for the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program, National 
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting, nonpoint 
source control, wetlands protection, and other water resources 
management efforts.
    A key action item in the Clean Water Action Plan is the reduction 
of nutrient over-enrichment. The Water Quality Criteria and Standards 
Plan highlights the criteria and standards activities that need to be 
accomplished to achieve this goal. The National Nutrient Strategy, 
recently released by EPA, explains in detail the approach to 
development of nutrient criteria and standards.
    The Water Quality Criteria and Standards Plan also complements the 
Advance Notice of Proposed Rule Making (ANPRM) for the Water Quality 
Standards Regulations at 40 CFR Part 131, published in the Federal 
Register on July 7, 1998. The Plan describes the new criteria 
initiatives that EPA will undertake, and the ANPRM discusses and 
solicits public comment on how these scientific and technical 
improvements, along with other standards changes, should best be 
implemented in water quality standards programs by the States and 
Tribes.
    The Water Quality Criteria and Standards Plan describes water 
quality criteria and standards initiatives in the following seven 
areas:
    1. Maintaining and strengthening the existing Ambient Water Quality 
Criteria for surface waters.
    2. Developing Nutrient Criteria and assessment methods to better 
protect aquatic life and human health.
    3. Developing criteria for Microbial Pathogens to better protect 
human health during water recreation.
    4. Completing the development of Biocriteria as an improved basis 
for aquatic life protection.
    5. Developing improved TMDLs and Modeling to better translate water 
quality standards into implementable control strategies.
    6. Evaluating possible new initiatives for Sedimentation, Flow, and 
Wildlife.
    7. Ensuring Implementation of these new initiatives and 
improvements by EPA in partnership with the States and Tribes.
    The national surface water quality protection program is at an 
important juncture. The initiatives described in the Plan are needed to 
better protect aquatic life and the recreational uses of the Nation's 
waters. Over the past two decades, State and Tribal water quality 
standards and water quality-based management approaches have relied 
upon aquatic life use designations and protective criteria based 
primarily upon narrative, chemical-specific, and whole effluent 
toxicity methodologies. Using these approaches, outstanding progress 
has been made. However, not all of the Nation's waters have achieved 
the Clean Water Act goal of ``fishable and swimmable'', and significant 
water pollution problems still exist. Approximately 40 percent of the 
Nation's assessed waters still do not meet water quality goals and 
about half of the Nation's 2000 major watersheds have water quality 
problems.
    Given these facts, there is a critical need for improved water 
quality standards and a set of tools to implement those standards. 
Adding nutrient criteria and biological criteria to the water quality 
criteria and standards program ensures further improvements in 
maintaining and restoring aquatic life. Improved human health criteria 
will better protect against bioaccumulative pollutants and new 
microbial pathogen controls will better protect human health 
(especially that of children) during water related recreation. Better 
tools also are needed for controlling excessive sedimentation,

[[Page 47025]]

flow alterations and for protecting wildlife. The new initiatives 
discussed in the Plan also will help to promote water resources 
management on a watershed basis.

    Dated: August 24, 1998.
J. Charles Fox,
Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of Water.
[FR Doc. 98-23688 Filed 9-2-98; 8:45 am]
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