[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 3 (Monday, January 6, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 560-561]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-175]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[OW-FRL-7435-8]


Nutrient Criteria Development; Notice of Nutrient Criteria 
Technical Guidance Manual: Estuarine and Coastal Marine Waters

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of final Nutrient Criteria Technical Guidance Manual: 
Estuarine and Coastal Marine Waters.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency announces the availability 
of a final nutrient criteria technical guidance manual for estuaries 
and coastal marine waters. This document gives State and Tribal water 
quality managers and others guidance on how to develop numeric nutrient 
criteria for estuaries and coastal marine waters. This document does 
not contain site-specific numeric nutrient criteria for any estuary or 
coastal marine water. This guidance was developed to help States and 
Tribes establish nutrient criteria. States and Tribes are in the best 
position to consider site-specific conditions in developing nutrient 
criteria. While this guidance contains EPA's scientific recommendations 
regarding defensible approaches for developing regional nutrient 
criteria, this guidance is not regulation. Thus it does not impose 
legally binding requirements on EPA, States, Territories, Tribes, or 
the public. States, Territories, and authorized Tribes retain the 
discretion to adopt, where appropriate, other scientifically defensible 
approaches to developing regional or local nutrient criteria that 
differ from these recommendations.
    We are issuing this technical guidance in a manner similar to that 
used to issue 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EPA notified the public about the availability of the draft guidance 
manual and peer review on October 10, 2001 (66 FR 51665). At that time, 
the Agency solicited views from the public on issues of science 
pertaining to the information contained in the draft technical guidance 
manual. EPA considered the scientific views from the peer reviewers and 
the public and has revised the document accordingly. The completed 
document is now available.

ADDRESSES: You can get copies of the completed document entitled 
``Nutrient Criteria Technical Guidance Manual: Estuarine and Coastal 
Waters'' from EPA's National Service Center for Environmental 
Publications (NSCEP) by phone at (513) 489-8190 or toll free (800) 490-
9198 or by e-mail to: [email protected], or by conventional mail to 
NSCEP, 11029 Kenwood Road, Cincinnati, OH 45242. The document is also 
available electronically at http://www.epa.gov/OST/standards/nutrient.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. David Flemer, USEPA, Health and 
Ecological Criteria Division (4304T), Office of Science and Technology, 
Ariel Rios Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; 
or call (202) 566-1101; fax (202) 566-1139; or e-mail 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

[[Page 561]]

What Are Nutrient Criteria Technical Guidance Manuals?

    Nutrient Criteria Technical Guidance Manuals are documents that 
give States and Tribes information to help develop water quality 
criteria and standards for nutrients, identify water quality 
impairments, and evaluate their success in reducing cultural 
eutrophication. They are intended to provide a series of steps leading 
to the development of nutrient criteria for a specific waterbody type.
    EPA began to implement a National Strategy to Develop Regional 
Nutrient Criteria in 1998 to address enrichment problems. The Nutrient 
Criteria Technical Guidance Manual: Lakes and Reservoirs, First Edition 
(EPA-822-B00-001) was the first of a series of waterbody-type specific 
manuals produced to help States, and Tribes establish ecoregionally 
appropriate nutrient criteria. EPA also developed a manual for rivers 
and streams (Nutrient Criteria Technical Guidance Manual: Rivers and 
Streams--EPA-822-B-00-002, and is developing a manual for wetlands. In 
addition to these waterbody-type specific manuals, EPA is developing 
nutrient criteria guidance under section 304(a) for each of the 14 
ecoregions it identified in the continental United States. EPA expects 
States and Tribes to use the manuals, other information and local 
expertise to refine EPA's 304(a) nutrient criteria guidance so that 
their nutrient water quality criteria are tailored to local conditions. 
To help States and Tribes, to verify section 304(a) nutrient criteria 
guidance, and to provide national consistency wherever possible, EPA 
established Regional Technical Assistance Groups (RTAGs). RTAGs are a 
collection of EPA, State, Tribal representatives who work together to 
develop more refined ecoregional nutrient criteria, using the 
forthcoming section 304(a) guidance as a starting point. (EPA is also 
using data and expertise provided by the RTAGs to develop its section 
304(a) nutrient criteria guidance for the 14 ecoregions it identified.) 
EPA expects the RTAGs to use the processes described in the waterbody-
type specific manuals to develop recommended nutrient criteria on an 
ecoregional or more refined basis (such as subecoregion, coastal 
province, State or Tribe-level more defined class of estuary/coastal 
marine water). Today's manual for estuarine and coastal marine waters 
also explains how States or Tribes can adopt nutrient water quality 
standards based on the criteria values recommended by the EPA and/or 
RTAGs.

How Did EPA Involve the Public in Revising the Estuarine Coastal 
Guidance Manual?

    In following the Agency's process for developing criteria and other 
guidance, EPA notified the public of the availability of the peer 
reviewed draft of the Estuarine Coastal Nutrient Criteria technical 
Guidance Manual on October 10, 2001 (66 FR 51665). EPA asked for views 
from the public on issues of science pertaining to information 
contained in the guidance manual. EPA considered the scientific views 
from the peer review and the public to revise the document.

Is the Completed Document Different Than the Draft Document?

    In addressing the peer reviewers' comments and submissions of 
significant scientific information from the public, EPA made revisions 
to the draft document. Many of the submissions from the public were 
also presented by the peer reviewers, and these were addressed in the 
final document. To review the complete set of peer review comments and 
scientific views provided by the public, together with EPA's responses, 
go to http://epa.gov/waterscience/standards/nutrient.html.
    A number of peer review comments and scientific views presented by 
the public questioned the use of a frequency distribution approach to 
develop a reference condition. The manual was rewritten to offer 
several methods for developing reference conditions, including several 
that do not use a frequency distribution. In addition, the manual is 
now more clear on distinguishing reference condition from criteria. 
Reference condition is one element of criteria derivation that RTAGs 
should consider with historical background information, possible model 
extrapolations of data, and possible downstream impacts.
    Another submission questioned the utility of EPA's approach in 
developing estuarine/coastal criteria, since many reference conditions 
no longer exist. EPA added language to the guidance acknowledging that 
pre-Columbian, pristine conditions are rare and that the goal of the 
nutrient criteria setting process is to strive for a reference 
condition value and criteria that represent the most natural condition 
possible (as measured from sites having the least amount of human 
influence). Since extensive degradation of estuaries systems has been 
reported, the guidance manual describes four options for establishing 
reference conditions in estuaries (one option is presented for coastal 
waters). The manual also places greater emphasis on historical 
information because the reference condition of estuaries may be 
degraded, and estuaries, in particular, can seldom be classified by 
using a frequency distribution.
    Several scientific views stated that the nutrient criteria that 
might be derived using the guidance manual do not support specific 
designated uses. It is true that the potential criteria derived may not 
be specific to a designated use. Rather, because they are reference 
condition-based, they should support the broad array of aquatic life 
uses in accordance with the Clean Water Act. As stated in the final 
guidance manual, the criteria derived using the manual are intended as 
benchmarks for comparison when a State or Tribe prepares their own 
criteria based on specific uses.
    An additional public viewpoint indicated that nutrient criteria as 
developed by EPA are unnecessary because States already have criteria 
identifying conditions associated with eutrophication, such as 
dissolved oxygen, pH, and turbidity. States have used response 
variables such as dissolved oxygen, pH, and turbidity to reveal 
nutrient problems in their waters, but the root cause of 
eutrophication, as demonstrated by excess primary productivity, is 
typically nitrogen and phosphorus. For more effective prevention, it is 
important to measure the level and extent of the causal agents. The 
criteria are based directly on these primary causal elements of total 
nitrogen and phosphorus plus two early response variables. These are 
algal biomass (e.g., chlorophyll-a for microalgae, dry mass for 
macroalgae) and water clarity, which most often indicate the early 
vegetative response to nutrient enrichment. Because many estuaries 
experience or may experience hypoxia, dissolved oxygen was added as an 
additional response variable.

    Dated: December 20, 2002.
Geoffrey H. Grubbs,
Director, Office of Science and Technology.
[FR Doc. 03-175 Filed 1-3-03; 8:45 am]
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