[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 40 (Thursday, February 28, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9269-9270]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-4790]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OW-FRL-7151-2]


Nutrient Criteria Development; Notice of Ecoregional Nutrient 
Criteria

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of Ecoregional Nutrient Criteria for Lakes and 
Reservoirs, and Rivers and Streams.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Section 304(a) of the Clean Water Act (CWA), the 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces the publication and 
availability of nine additional Section 304(a) ecoregional nutrient 
criteria documents for lakes and reservoirs, and rivers and streams 
within specific geographic regions (ecoregions) of the United States. 
These nine documents supplement the seventeen ecoregional nutrient 
criteria documents for lakes and reservoirs, rivers and streams and 
wetlands announced by EPA on January 9, 2001 (66 FR 1671). These 
documents give States, Territories, and authorized Tribes (Hereafter, 
this Federal Register Notice refers to these entities as ``States and 
authorized Tribes.'' Throughout this document, reference to States and

[[Page 9270]]

Authorized Tribes is intended to include Territories) information to 
develop numeric nutrient criteria for lakes and reservoirs, rivers and 
streams, and wetlands within several different nutrient ecoregions. An 
ecoregion is a geographic area with assumed relative homogeneity of 
ecological characteristics. EPA's section 304(a) criteria 
recommendations represent enrichment conditions (total phosphorous, 
total nitrogen, chlorophyll a and some form of water clarity, i.e. 
Secchi depth or turbidity) of surface waters that are minimally 
affected by human activities and to provide for the protection and 
propagation of aquatic life and recreation. Draft criteria documents 
have undergone external peer review, and a summary of these comments is 
available on EPA's Internet website: (http://www.epa.gov/ost/standards/nutrient.html).
    While the nine documents available today contain EPA's scientific 
recommendations regarding ecoregional nutrient criteria, the 
information and recommendations are not regulations and do not impose 
legally binding requirements on EPA, States, authorized Tribes, or the 
public. They may not apply to a particular situation based upon the 
circumstances. States and authorized Tribes retain the discretion to 
adopt water quality criteria that differ from these recommendations 
based on other scientifically defensible approaches to developing 
regional or local nutrient criteria. EPA may revise these section 
304(a) water quality criteria recommendations in the future.
    EPA is making these recommended section 304(a) nutrient water 
quality criteria available to the public in accordance with the 
Agency's process for publishing new and revised criteria (see Federal 
Register, December 10, 1998, 63 FR 68354 and in the EPA document 
titled, ``National Recommended Water Quality--Correction,'' EPA 822-Z-
99-001, April 1999). EPA invites the public to provide scientific views 
on these criteria. EPA will review and consider information submitted 
on significant scientific issues and site-specific data that might not 
have otherwise been identified by the Agency during development of 
these criteria. After EPA reviews the new information, the Agency may 
publish revised nutrient water quality criteria recommendations or 
publish a notice informing the public that the submitted information 
does not warrant revision of the criteria.
    EPA encourages the public to provide additional data that could 
help States and or authorized Tribes refine these recommended nutrient 
water quality criteria. EPA identified specific sections within each 
document where the public could greatly assist States and authorized 
Tribes in the task of augmenting the database for deriving ecoregional 
nutrient water quality criteria. For example, the public can provide 
information about the historical conditions and trends of the water 
resources within an ecoregion related to eutrophication resulting from 
human activities. EPA will forward all comments received on a 
particular ecoregional criterion or set of criteria to the appropriate 
State or Tribe to help foster water quality criteria refinement.
    EPA's Office of Water, Office of Science and Technology prepared 
this document. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not 
constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.

DATES: EPA will accept significant scientific information submitted to 
the Agency within 90 days of publication of this notice in the Federal 
Register. You should adequately document any scientific information and 
provide enough supporting information to indicate that acceptable and 
scientifically defensible procedures were used and that the results are 
reliable.

ADDRESSES: You can get copies of the set or any document from the U.S. 
National Service Center for Environmental Publications (NSCEP), 11029 
Kenwood Road, Cincinnati, OH 45242; (513) 489-8190 or toll free (800) 
490-9198. The documents are also available electronically at http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/standards/nutrient.html. The waterbody-
specific technical guidance manuals, which present the nutrient 
criteria derivation methodology used by EPA to develop the nutrient 
water quality criteria, are also available from EPA's nutrient website. 
Please send an original and two copies of written significant 
scientific information to Robert Cantilli (MC-4304), U.S. EPA, Ariel 
Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW , Washington, DC 20460. 
Written significant scientific information may be submitted 
electronically in ASCII or Word Perfect 5.1, 5.2, 6.1, 8.0 or 9.0 
formats to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Cantilli, U.S. EPA, Health and 
Ecological Criteria Division (4304), Office of Science and Technology, 
Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20460; 
or call (202) 566-1091; or e-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: States and Tribes consistently identify 
excessive levels of nutrients as a major reason why as much as half of 
the surface waters surveyed in this country do not meet water quality 
objectives, such as full support of aquatic life. In 2000, EPA 
published nutrient criteria technical guidance manuals for lakes and 
reservoirs and for rivers and streams, and in 2001 EPA published a 
draft guidance manual for estuarine and coastal marine waters. These 
manuals provide techniques for assessing nutrient conditions as well as 
methods for developing nutrient criteria for specific water body types. 
These and related documents are available from EPA's nutrient website: 
http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/standards/nutrient.html. EPA is 
currently developing a guidance manual for wetlands.
    In addition to developing guidance for specific waterbody types, 
EPA will publish specific nutrient water quality criteria 
recommendations under section 304(a) for every type of waterbody (where 
applicable) for all of the 14 nutrient ecoregions that EPA identified 
in the continental United States. On January 9, 2001, EPA announced the 
availability of ecoregional nutrient criteria documents for lakes and 
reservoirs in eight ecoregions, for rivers and streams in eight 
ecoregions (several of which overlap with the eight ecoregions for 
lakes and reservoirs), and for wetlands in one ecoregion. Those 
ecoregions were chosen based on the availability of nutrient data 
within each ecoregion. Today, EPA announces the availability of nine 
additional ecoregional nutrient criteria documents for lakes and 
reservoirs, and rivers and streams in ecoregions for which criteria 
recommendations were not developed in January 2001. These nine bring 
the total of ecoregional nutrient criteria documents to 26 and results 
in nutrient criteria covering about 90% of the freshwater waterbodies 
of the U.S. (excluding wetlands).
    EPA also provided guidance on development and adoption of nutrient 
criteria into water quality standards. More recently, on November 14, 
2001, Geoffrey H. Grubbs, Director of the Office of Science and 
Technology, in EPA's Office of Water provided this guidance to EPA, and 
State and Interstate Water Program Directors. This memorandum can be 
viewed electronically at: http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/standards/nutrient.html

    Dated: February 15, 2002.
Geoffrey H. Grubbs,
Director, Office of Science and Technology.
[FR Doc. 02-4790 Filed 2-27-02; 8:45 am]
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