[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 201 (Tuesday, October 17, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61325-61326]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-26637]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6887-1]


Notice of Availability of Guidance for Controlling Nonpoint 
Source Pollution From Agriculture and Request for Comments

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: EPA has developed and is requesting comments on draft 
technical guidance for managing agricultural sources of nonpoint 
pollution. This guidance is intended to provide technical assistance to 
State program managers and others on the best available, economically 
achievable means of reducing nonpoint source pollution of surface and 
ground water from agriculture. The guidance provides background 
information about agricultural nonpoint source pollution, where it 
comes from and how it enters the Nation's waters, discusses the broad 
concepts of assessing and addressing water quality problems on a 
watershed level, and presents up-to-date technical information about 
how to reduce agricultural nonpoint source pollution.
    Reviewers should note that the draft technical guidance is entirely 
consistent with the Guidance Specifying Management Measures for Sources 
of Nonpoint Pollution in Coastal Waters, which EPA published in January 
1993 under section 6217(g) of the Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization 
Amendments of 1990 (CZARA). The draft document does not supplant or 
replace the requirements of the 1993 document. It enhances the 
technical information contained in the 1993 coastal guidance to include 
inland as well as coastal context and to provide updated technical 
information based on current understanding and implementation of best 
management practices. It does not set new or additional standards for 
either CZARA section 6217 or Clean Water Act section 319 programs.

DATES: Written comments must be postmarked no later than January 16, 
2001.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be addressed to Sharon Buck, Assessment and 
Watershed Protection Division (4503-F), U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460; or 
electronically mailed to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Persons requesting additional 
information or a complete draft of the document should contact Sharon 
Buck at (202) 260-0306; [email protected]; or U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency (4503-F), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, 
DC 20460. The complete text of the draft guidance is also available on 
EPA's Internet site on the Nonpoint Source Control Branch homepage 
http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/new.html>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    In recent years, State, territory, and tribal water quality 
assessments have identified nonpoint source (NPS) pollution as the most 
significant cause of degradation in surveyed waters nationwide. In 
1987, Congress enacted section 319 of the Clean Water Act to establish 
a national program to control nonpoint sources of water pollution. 
Under Section 319, States, territories, and tribes address NPS 
pollution by assessing the NPS pollution problems within the state, 
territory, or tribal lands, identifying the sources of pollution, and 
implementing management programs to control the NPS pollution. Section 
319 also authorizes EPA to award grants to States and tribes to assist 
them in implementing management programs which have been approved by 
EPA. Program implementation includes non-regulatory and regulatory 
programs, technical assistance, financial assistance, education, 
training, technology transfer, and demonstration projects. In fiscal 
year 2000, Congress appropriated and EPA awarded $200 million dollars 
for nonpoint source management program grants. EPA has awarded a total 
of $1 billion under Section 319 to States, Territories, and Indian 
tribes since 1990.
    In 1993, under the authority of section 6217(g) of the Coastal Zone 
Act Reauthorization Amendments, EPA issued Guidance Specifying 
Management Measures for Sources of Nonpoint Pollution in Coastal Waters 
(EPA840-B-92-002). That guidance document details management measures 
appropriate for the control of five sources of nonpoint pollution in 
the coastal zone: agriculture, forestry, urban areas, marinas and 
recreational boating, and hydromodification. The document also includes 
management measures for wetlands, riparian areas, and vegetated 
treatment systems as they are important to the abatement of nonpoint 
source pollution in coastal waters. State and Territory Coastal 
Nonpoint Pollution Control Programs were required to adopt measures 
``in conformity'' with the coastal management measures guidance.
    The 1993 management measures guidance focused on conditions and 
examples of management measure implementation from the coastal zone. To 
date, technical guidance on the best available, economically achievable 
measures for controlling nonpoint sources with a national scope has not 
been released. The draft national management measures guidance is 
intended to address this gap. While the practices detailed in the 1993 
guidance generally apply to inland areas, EPA has recognized the 
utility of developing and publishing a technical guidance document that 
explicitly addresses nonpoint source pollution on a nationwide basis. 
Moreover, additional data and examples from inland regions are 
available to enrich the national guidance. In addition, significant 
changes have occurred in sectors of the agriculture industry since 
1993. These changes have helped to prompt the revision and expansion of 
the agriculture chapter of the 1993 guidance.

II. Scope of the Draft Guidance--Sources of Agricultural Nonpoint 
Pollution Addressed

    The draft technical guidance continues to focus on the major 
sources of agricultural pollution identified in the 1993 coastal 
guidance by EPA in consultation with a number of other federal agencies 
and other leading national experts, including several experts from 
State land grant universities. Specifically, the guidance identifies 
management measures for the following:
    1. Nutrients;
    2. Pesticides;

[[Page 61326]]

    3. Erosion and sediment;
    4. Animal feeding operations;
    5. Grazing; and
    6. Irrigation water.

III. Approach Used To Develop Guidance

    The draft national management measures guidance is based in large 
part on the 1993 coastal guidance. The 1993 coastal guidance was 
developed using a workgroup approach to draw upon technical expertise 
within other Federal agencies as well as State water quality and 
coastal zone management agencies.
    The 1993 text has been expanded to include more background 
information on standard agricultural practices (e.g., why farmers 
irrigate, history of pesticides) and to address emerging issues in 
agriculture (e.g., precision farming). The draft guidance also 
incorporates examples and data from the inland regions of the United 
States (e.g., grazing in Colorado) in addition to improving the 
coverage of unique coastal environments (e.g., Hawaii). The document 
also updates information on technologies and the costs of management 
measures where new data has become available since the publication of 
the coastal guidance.
    Only one of the management measures from the 1993 document has been 
altered in substance: the management measure for animal feeding 
operations. The coastal guidance contained a management measure whose 
implementation involved storing facility wastewater and runoff from 
confined animal facilities for all storms up to and including a 25-
year, 24-hour storm and the management of stored runoff and accumulated 
solids through an appropriate waste utilization system for operations 
of more than 300 animal units. The management measure in the 1993 
coastal guidance does not involve the implementation of manure storage 
structures or areas, only the control of runoff from such areas. The 
draft guidance recommends implementation of adequate manure storage in 
addition to the management of runoff, diversion of clean water, 
application of manure in accordance with a nutrient management plan, 
and protection of land receiving wastes through the use of other 
management measures (i.e., grazing, irrigation water, erosion control), 
as appropriate. Recent concern over the management of wastes from 
animal feeding operations, changes in standard practice within the 
livestock industry, the enactment and promulgation of many new State 
laws and regulations throughout the country, and the recent publication 
of the joint U.S. Department of Agriculture/U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency Unified National Strategy for Animal Feeding 
Operations (March 1999) prompted the alterations to the management 
measure for animal feeding operations described above.

IV. Request for Comments

    EPA is soliciting comments on the draft guidance on management 
measures to control agricultural sources of nonpoint pollution. The 
Agency is soliciting additional information and supporting data on the 
measures specified in this guidance and on additional measures that may 
be as effective or more effective in controlling nonpoint source 
pollution from agriculture.

    Dated: October 5, 2000.
J. Charles Fox,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Water.
[FR Doc. 00-26637 Filed 10-16-00; 8:45 am]
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