Water Pollution Reduction Plans: The TMDL Process
Once a waterbody is listed on the impaired waters list, a plan must be
developed to clean this water up. Thses pollution reduction plans
(also known as TMDLs) must outline how much of a pollutant must be
removed from the water and a plan to do so. A Total
Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) is the maximum amount, before violating water
quality
standards, of a particular pollutant that a specific water body can
absorb. The
Clean Water Act mandates the establishment of these maximum levels, or
TMDLs, in
an effort to improve the quality of waters throughout the United
States.
Deer
Creek
(c) GRN
After almost three decades of getting very little accomplished,
the EPA was sued, thereby forcing them and the state water quality
agencies to finally begin the TMDL process.
An overview of how the pollution reduction planning process is supposed to work follows:
1) A list of water bodies and/or water body segments that do not
satisfy water quality standards is created and prioritized. Both the
location and type of pollutant are included in this list.
2) The water body is sampled for pollutant concentrations.
3)
A number, called the waste load reduction, is calculated. This
number represents the difference between the amount of pollution the
water body can handle and the actual pollution being released into the
water body.
4) A determination of pollution sources is made. A waste load reduction is allocated to non-point and point sources in
order to satisfy state water quality standards.
5) An
implementation plan for reduction of non-point and point pollution
sources is provided.
Although
state agencies have begun the TMDL process in most of the Gulf states, there are serious inadequacies
with these reports. For example, in the state of Louisiana the TMDLs are being developed
without the inclusion of an implementation plan. Also, several states around
the country have reported problems with inaccurate sampling techniques,
accelerated and unjustified de-listing
of waters that violate state water quality standards, and a neglect to reduce
pollution from point sources.
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