January 19, 2016
By:
Walter G. Wright
Category:
Arkansas Environmental, Energy, and Water Law
Arkansas Environmental, Energy, and Water Law
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The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (“ADEQ”) released the draft 2016 Impaired Waterbodies List (“List”).
ADEQ develops the 303(d) List every two years as required by Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”).
Section 303 of the Clean Water Act requires that each state develop water quality standards (“WQS”) for jurisdictional waters of the United States within their borders. WQS serve a dual purpose. They establish water quality goals for a specific body of water and also serve as the regulatory basis for the development of water-quality based effluent limits and strategies for individual point source discharges.
A WQS consists of three parts:
- The designated uses of a waterbody
- The water quality criteria that are necessary to protect existing uses and attain the beneficial uses designated by the state
- Anti-degradation statement or policy to protect existing uses in high quality water
Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission Regulation No. 2 contains Arkansas WQS.
Section 303 of the CWA requires each state to identify those waters within its borders for which the technology-based effluent limitations required by the CWA as defined by United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) are not stringent enough to attain the applicable WQS. Waters so designated are known as “water quality limited segments” or “impaired water”. Each state is required to submit this List of waters to EPA bi-annually or April 1st of every even number of year (accompanied by listing determination).
ADEQ states it will hold a public hearing March 1, 2016 at 2:00 to receive comments on the proposed List. The hearing will be held in the Commission Room at ADEQ headquarters building in North Little Rock, Arkansas.
A link to the List can be found here: http://www2.adeq.state.ar.us/water/branch_planning/303d/303d.htm.
Click here to download a copy of the public hearing notice.
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