Water Quality Environmental Protection Agency Region 2 Water: Water Qualities

Each state is required to submit a Water Quality Assessment Report to EPA every two years under Section 305(b) of the Clean Water Act. This report describes the extent to which navigable waters support their designated uses (i.e., as a drinking water supply, for swimming and other recreation, fish and shellfish consumption, agriculture, and as a habitat for wildlife).

To develop criteria protective of water quality, EPA and states examine the effects of specific pollutants on plankton, fish, shellfish, wildlife, plants and recreational activities and determine the levels of pollutants that can exist without harming human and aquatic life. The states then determine the most beneficial designated use(s) of a particular water body.

Using EPA's national criteria and other scientific data, a state establishes standards on the level of protection for each water body, which includes limits for each pollutant in the water body. These standards form the basis of federal and state programs that control the amount of pollutants that cause use impairment and that enter water bodies from sources such as industrial and municipal sewage treatment plants, storm sewers and other runoff form urban and rural areas.

Every two years, each state must submit a list of impaired waters that do not meet the state's water quality criteria. This list is commonly refered to as the 303(d) List. For the impaired waters on the list, no pollution control mechanisms are in place to allow the attainment of the criteria. These impaired waters require the calculation of a Total Maximum Daily Load or TMDL.

Beginning in 2002, EPA suggested combining the Water Quality Assessment Report and the 303(d) List. This Integrated Report meets the requirements under Sections 303(d) and 305(b) of the Clean Water Act. New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands should submit updated, Integrated Reports in April, 2006.

Water Quality Assessment Report
303(d) List
Integrated Report
New Jersey
New York
U.S. Virgin Islands

All of the state reports are combined and summarized by EPA in the biennial National Water Quality Inventory Report to Congress. The national report is the primary vehicle for informing Congress and the public about general water quality conditions in surface water and ground water. It further discusses problems and issues of concern for both the public health and the environment while describing programs implemented to restore and protect waterbodies' beneficial uses.

EPA, and others, must use caution in comparing water quality data and assessments prepared by different states. States do not use identical methods and criteria to assess their water quality so as to accommodate natural variability in their waters. In addition, caution must be used when comparing information submitted during different 305(b) reporting periods. Between different reporting periods, water quality criteria may be modified or a state may focus assessments on different waters over a two-year period.

Water Quality Environmental Protection Agency Region 2 Water: Water Qualities

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