[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 215 (Tuesday, November 6, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56106-56107]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-27837]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7099-3]


Notice of Availability of National Management Measures to Protect 
and Restore Wetlands and Riparian Areas for the Abatement of Nonpoint 
Source Pollution and Request for Comments

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comment.

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SUMMARY: EPA has developed and is requesting comment on draft technical 
guidance for protecting and restoring wetlands and riparian areas from 
sources of nonpoint pollution and using vegetated treatment systems 
(vegetative filter strips and constructed wetlands) for controlling 
nonpoint source pollution. This guidance is intended to provide 
technical assistance to state program managers and others on the best 
available, economically achievable means of protecting and restoring 
wetlands and riparian areas from nonpoint source pollution. 
Additionally, this guidance provides technical assistance for state 
program managers on the use of vegetated treatment systems to control 
nonpoint source pollution. The guidance provides background information 
about nonpoint source pollution, including where it comes from and how 
it enters the Nation's waters. It also presents many examples of how to 
protect and restore the many functions of wetlands and riparian areas 
from the impacts of nonpoint source pollution. The guidance concludes 
with a variety of illustrations for using vegetated treatment systems 
to control sources of nonpoint 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 Water (EPA 840-B-92-002), which EPA 
published in January 1993 under the authority of 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 (BMP) controls. It does 
not set new or additional standards for either CZARA section 6217 or 
Clean Water Act section 319 programs.
    EPA will consider comments on this draft guidance and will then 
issue final guidance.

DATES: Written comments should be addressed to the person listed 
directly below by February 4, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Chris Solloway, Assessment and 
Watershed Protection Division (4503-F), U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460. Non-US 
Postal Service comments should be sent to Chris Solloway, Assessment 
and Watershed Protection Division, U.S.

[[Page 56107]]

Environmental Protection Agency, Room 200, 499 S. Capitol Street, SW., 
Washington, DC 20003. Faxes should be sent to (202) 260-7024. Comments 
via E-mail may be sent to [email protected].
    The complete text of the draft guidance is available on EPA's 
Internet site on the Nonpoint Source Control Branch's homepage at 
http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps>. Copies of the complete draft can also be 
obtained in electronic or hard copy format by request from Chris 
Solloway at the above address, by E-mail at [email protected]>, or 
by calling (202) 260-3008.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Contact Chris Solloway at (202) 260-3008.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    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. That guidance document details management measures appropriate 
for the control of five categories of nonpoint sources of 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 because they are important to the abatement of 
nonpoint source pollution in coastal waters. States and territories 
were required to adopt measures ``in conformity'' with the coastal 
management measures guidance for their Coastal Nonpoint Pollution 
Control Programs.
    State, territory, and tribal water quality assessments continue to 
identify nonpoint source pollution as a major 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 nonpoint source pollution by assessing the nonpoint 
source pollution problems within the State, territory, or tribal lands; 
identifying the sources of pollution; and implementing management 
programs to control the pollution. Section 319 also authorizes EPA to 
award grants to States, territories, and tribes to assist them in 
implementing management programs that EPA has approved. Program 
implementation includes nonregulatory and regulatory programs, 
technical assistance, financial assistance, education, training, 
technology transfer, and demonstration projects. In fiscal year 2001, 
Congress appropriated approximately $237 million for nonpoint source 
management program grants. EPA has awarded a total of approximately 
$1.3 billion to States, territories, and Indian tribes since 1990.
    The 1993 management measures guidance, developed under the 
authority of CZARA, focused on conditions and examples of management 
measure implementation within the coastal zone. To date, technical 
guidance on the best available, economically achievable measures for 
controlling nonpoint sources with a national focus has not been 
released. The draft national management measures guidance for wetlands 
is intended to partially address this gap. Although the practices 
detailed in the 1993 coastal guidance apply generally to inland areas, 
EPA has recognized the utility of developing and publishing technical 
guidance that explicitly addresses nonpoint source pollution on a 
nationwide basis. Moreover, additional information and examples from 
research and experience to date with implementation of the management 
measures are available to enrich the national guidance. These changes 
have helped to prompt the revision and expansion of the wetlands 
chapter of the 1993 guidance.

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

    The draft technical guidance continues to focus on the protection 
and restoration of wetlands and riparian areas and the use of vegetated 
treatment systems to control nonpoint sources of pollution identified 
for the 1993 coastal guidance by EPA in consultation with a number of 
other Federal agencies and other leading national experts. 
Specifically, the guidance identifies management measures for the 
following:
    i. The protection of wetlands and riparian areas.
    ii. The restoration of wetlands and riparian areas.
    iii. Vegetated treatment systems.

III. Approach Used To Develop Guidance

    The draft national management measures guidance is based in large 
part on the 1993 coastal guidance. The 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 
information on the cost and effectiveness of wetlands and riparian 
areas and vegetative treatment systems for removing nonpoint source 
pollution, descriptions of ways to protect wetlands and riparian areas, 
resources for planning and implementing wetlands and riparian area 
restoration projects, a discussion on mitigation banking, and examples 
of projects that used vegetated treatment systems to control nonpoint 
source pollution.

IV. Request for Comments

    EPA is soliciting comments on the draft guidance on management 
measures to protect and restore wetlands and riparian area for the 
abatement of nonpoint source pollution and for the use of vegetated 
treatment systems. 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 to 
protect and restore wetlands and riparian areas for the abatement of 
nonpoint source pollution and the use of vegetated treatment systems. 
EPA requests that commenters focus their comments on the technical 
soundness of the draft management measures guidance.

    Dated: October 22, 2001.
G. Tracy Mehan, III,
Assistant Administrator for Water.
[FR Doc. 01-27837 Filed 11-5-01; 8:45 am]
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