WaterNews for June 25, 1998

WaterNews is a weekly on-line publication that announces publications, policies, and activities of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water.

Inside WaterNews:
1) Water Quality Criteria and Standards Plan
2) Nutrient Criteria Strategy
3) National Water Program Agenda

1) Water Quality Criteria and Standards Plan

On June 22, EPA released a Water Quality Criteria and Standards Plan that presents a vision and strategy for EPA, states, and tribes to work together over the next decade to improve water quality standards. The Plan describes seven new program initiatives that EPA will undertake in the coming years including:

• maintain and strengthen existing criteria;
• develop nutrient criteria;
• develop criteria for microbiological pathogens;
• complete development of biocriteria;
• improve methods for TMDL modeling;
• evaluate development of criteria for sedimentation, flow, and wildlife; and
• assist States in implementing criteria as part of water quality standards.

The Water Quality Criteria and Standards Plan will be available soon on the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/standards/quality.html or contact Bill Swietlick at 202-260- 9569.

2) Nutrient Criteria Strategy

A key goal of the Clean Water Action Plan is the development of water quality criteria for nutrients by the year 2000. On June 18, EPA released a national strategy outlining the process and approach for the development of numeric criteria for nutrients and adoption of nutrient provisions of state water quality standards.

Under the approach described in the new nutrient strategy, EPA will develop nutrient guidance documents for various types of waterbodies (e.g. rivers, lakes, coastal waters, and wetlands) over the next several years. States will be able to use these guidance documents and target ranges as they develop numeric criteria for nutrients as part of state water quality standards.

EPA has formed a National Nutrient Team to guide the nutrient criteria development process and is forming Regional Nutrient Teams in each EPA region. The Nutrient Strategy is available on the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/standards/nutrient.html or contact Bob Cantilli at 202-260-5546.

3) National Water Program Agenda

Bob Perciasepe, EPA's Assistant Administrator for Water, and Dana Minerva, EPA's Assistant Administrator for Water released EPA's National Water Program Agenda for 1998-1999 on June 10, 1998. The Water Agenda presents how the Clean Water Action Plan and the new Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments fit into EPA's Office of Water's broader planning activities for its goal to achieve clean and safe water. The Water Agenda highlights the objectives and general directions within the Clean Water Program, within the Safe Drinking Water Program, in EPA's work with states and tribes, and in EPA's system of planning and accountability.

Over the coming year, EPA will finalize a multi-year plan that integrates the steps needed to implement the Clean Water Action Plan, the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments, the Office of Water's tribal strategy, and other long term activities of the Agency. The National Water Program Agenda can be found on the Internet at http://www.epa.gov/water/ownews/agenfin.html.

Please forward this message to your friends and colleagues who share an interest in water-related issues and would like to hear from EPA's Office of Water. To subscribe to the WaterNews listserve:

• Send an email message, leave the subject line blank, and address it to:
  waternews-join@lists.epa.gov
  
  
• In the body of the message write:
  Subscribe waternews firstname lastname
  (Please leave one blank space between each word, do not include any other message, and use your actual name- i.e. Subscribe waternews Robert Jones)

A welcome message will appear in your email box once you are officially subscribed. WaterNews will be sent to you at the end of each week. If you encounter difficulties subscribing to this list server or if you would like to be taken off the WaterNews list server at any time, please send your E-mail address to Gloria Posey at Posey.Gloria@epa.gov.

Reference Information | Web Satisfaction Survey

EPA Home | Privacy and Security Notice | Contact Us