[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 174 (Monday, September 9, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57228-57230]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-22813]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-7373-3]


Notice of Availability of National Management Measures to Control 
Nonpoint Source Pollution From Urban Areas and Request for Comments

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comment.

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SUMMARY: EPA is requesting comment on draft guidance for the prevention 
and control of urban runoff. This technical guidance was written to 
provide technical assistance to State and local elected officials and 
agencies, landowners, developers, environmental and conservation 
groups, and watershed practitioners on the best available, most 
economically achievable means of reducing nonpoint source pollution 
from urban sources. The guidance is not a regulation and it does not 
impose legally binding requirements on EPA, States, Territories, 
authorized Tribes, or the public.
    The guidance is organized from a watershed perspective and was 
written to cover all phases of runoff management from planning and 
development to program evaluation. The guidance provides up-to-date 
effectiveness and cost information on management practices, literature 
citations, internet links to additional information and case studies 
from across the country. Reviewers should note that the draft technical 
guidance is consistent with the Guidance Specifying Management Measures 
for Sources of Nonpoint Pollution in Coastal Waters (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 1993 
document, but provides an expanded framework for addressing urban 
runoff. The guidance was written to apply to both coastal and inland 
areas and contains updated technical information that has become 
available since the 1993 guidance was published. The guidance is not 
intended to be used as a basis to review and approve either CZARA 
section 6217 or Clean Water Act section 319 State nonpoint source 
management programs. However, EPA and the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) encourage use of the revised guidance 
in the development and revision of Tribal, State and local programs to 
address urban runoff/storm water. The draft guidance revises several of 
the management measures published in 1993 due to the availability of 
new information and evolving management approaches. In addition, four 
new management measures have been added to provide information on 
developing and implementing a comprehensive runoff management program.
    EPA will consider comments on this draft guidance and will then 
issue final guidance.

DATES: Written comments should be submitted to the person listed below 
by December 9, 2002.

[[Page 57229]]


ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Rod Frederick, Assessment and 
Watershed Protection Division (4503-T), U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460. Non-U.S. 
Postal Service comments should be sent to Rod Frederick, Assessment and 
Watershed Protection Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 
EPA West, Room 7417A, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC 
20004. Faxed comments should be sent to Rod Frederick at (202) 566-
1331. Comments can also be emailed to [email protected].
    The complete text of the draft guidance is available on EPA's 
Internet site on the Nonpoint Source Control Branch 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 Rod Frederick at the 
above address, by e-mail at [email protected], or by calling (202) 
566-1197.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rod Frederick at (202) 566-1197 or 
email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    In 1993, under the authority of section 6217(g) of the CZARA, EPA 
issued Guidance Specifying Management Measures for Sources of Nonpoint 
Pollution in Coastal Waters. The 1993 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. 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 assess the nonpoint source pollution problems within the State, 
Territory, or Tribal lands; identify the sources of pollution; and 
implement 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 2002, Congress appropriated and EPA awarded $237.5 million for 
nonpoint source management program grants. EPA has awarded a total of 
approximately $1.5 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 urban 
areas 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 with management measure implementation and 
assessments of urban watersheds are available to enrich the national 
guidance. These changes have helped to prompt the revision and 
expansion of the urban chapter of the 1993 guidance.

II. Scope of the Draft Urban Nonpoint Source Management Measures 
Guidance--Sources of Nonpoint Source Pollution Addressed

    The draft Urban Nonpoint Source Management Measures Guidance was 
written to provide information useful in the development, 
implementation and enhancement of new and existing urban runoff 
management programs. The guidance was structured to reflect the major 
phases and elements that should generally be included and implemented 
in an effective urban runoff/storm water program. EPA envisions that 
the guidance will serve both as a template for the development of new 
comprehensive runoff/programs and as a technical reference for existing 
program managers.
    The guidance contains a set of twelve management measures that 
address various aspects of program development from planning and 
assessment to management practice selection and eventually program 
monitoring and evaluation. Each management measure is a collection of 
management actions or program elements that EPA has determined are 
important to prevent and reduce urban nonpoint source pollution. EPA 
has provided a list of practices that can be used to implement the 
objectives of each management measure. Both nonstructural and 
structural management practices are included in the guidance. Examples 
of nonstructural practices include planning and zoning, minimizing/
limiting impervious surfaces, source reduction and recycling, runoff 
management ordinances, siting to minimize disturbance of natural 
drainage systems, and operation and maintenance programs. Examples of 
structural practices include conventional and alternative onsite 
wastewater treatment systems such as septic tanks followed by drain 
fields or recirculating media filters, and runoff controls such as silt 
fencing, infiltration (e.g., berms and trenches), low impact 
bioretention (e.g., rain gardens, vegetated roofs, vegetated swales), 
and detention and retention (e.g., wet and dry ponds, street and swale 
storage, and baffle boxes).

III. Approach Used To Develop Guidance

    The draft National Urban Nonpoint Source 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. To revise the 
guidance, EPA conducted a literature review, interviewed technical 
experts and collected and evaluated new information. The 1993 text has 
been expanded to include new and updated information about the cost and 
effectiveness of runoff treatment practices; examples of urban nonpoint 
source projects that successfully implement the practices outlined in 
the guidance; methods for evaluating the effectiveness of nonpoint 
source control programs; and descriptions of technical references and 
guidance manuals that are useful references for urban runoff program 
managers. A few management measures have been added to frame the urban 
measures in the context of an overall watershed approach to control 
urban sources of pollution.

IV. Request for Comments

    EPA is soliciting comments on the draft guidance. Specific issues 
EPA seeks comments on include: examples of effective runoff control 
strategies, programs, rules and regulations that illustrate the 
concepts in the guidance;

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information pertaining to demonstrated water quality or habitat 
benefits from the implementation of the approaches and practices 
described in the draft guidance; management practice effectiveness 
studies and data, cost information and information on operation and 
maintenance practices.

    Dated: August 29, 2002.
G. Tracy Mehan III,
Assistant Administrator for Water.
[FR Doc. 02-22813 Filed 9-6-02; 8:45 am]
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