TMDL Support Documents
EPA support for developing and reviewing Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) dates back to 1991 and remains relatively unchanged. More recently, EPA has focused on various aspects of TMDLs and the TMDL process, such as watershed-scale TMDLs, multijurisdictional TMDLs and TMDLs for specific pollutants. Below is a list of programmatic and topic-specific TMDL resources.
Section 303(d) Program Implementation Documents
- Climate Change Considerations When Prioritizing, Developing and Implementing Total Maximum Daily Loads (pdf)
- Using Microbial Source Tracking to Support TMDL Development and Implementation, April 2011
- Incorporating Green Infrastructure into TMDLs
- An Approach for Using Load Duration Curves in the Development of TMDLs (pdf), August 2007 (74 pp, 3.4 MB, EPA 841-B-07-006)
- Establishing TMDL "Daily" Loads in Light of the Decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. EPA, et al., No.05-5015, (April 25, 2006) and Implications for NPDES Permits, November 15, 2006
- Clarification Regarding "Phased" Total Maximum Daily Loads, August 2, 2006
- Developing Effective Nonpoint Source TMDLs: An Evaluation of the TMDL Process, January 2007
- Stressor Identification Guidance (pdf), December 2000 (228 pp, 1.9 MB, EPA 822-F-00-012)
- New Policies for Establishing and Implementing Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs), August 8, 1997
- Compendium of Tools for Watershed Assessment and TMDL Development (pdf), 1997 (244 pp, 13.2 MB, EPA 841-B-97-006)
- Guidance for Water Quality-based Decisions: The TMDL Process (pdf), April 1991 (62 pp, 4.8 MB, EPA 440/4-91-001)
- Guidelines for Reviewing TMDLs Under Existing Regulations Issued in 1992
TMDL Development for Specific Topics
- Technical Guidance for Developing TMDLs: Book 2, Rivers and Streams; Part 1 - Biochemical Oxygen Demand/Dissolved Oxygen & Nutrient Eutrophication (pdf) (254 pp, 6.6 MB)
- Protocol for Developing Nutrient TMDLs (pdf), November 1999, First Edition (137 pp, 2.5 MB, EPA 841-B-99-007)
- Model-based Analysis and Tracking of Airborne Mercury Emissions to Assist in Watershed Planning Report, August 2008
- TMDLs Where Mercury Loadings are Predominantly from Air Deposition, September 29, 2008
- Protocol for Developing Pathogen TMDLs: First Edition (pdf), January 2001 (134 pp, 2 MB, EPA 841-R-00-0002)
- PCB TMDL Handbook, December 2011
- Evaluation of Sediment Transport Data for Clean Sediment TMDLs, November 2000
- Protocol for Developing Sediment TMDLs (pdf) , October 1999, First Edition (143 pp, 1.7MB, EPA 841-B-99-004)
- Total Maximum Daily Loads with Stormwater Sources: A Summary of 17 TMDLs, July 2007
- Establishing Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Wasteload Allocations (WLAs) for Storm Water Sources and NPDES Permit Requirements Based on Those WLAs
- Supplemental Information for Reviewing Reasonable Assurance in TMDLs, February 2012 (pdf) (3 pp, 27 K)
TMDL Examples
Bacteria, Dissolved Oxygen and Metals
Bacteria and Nutrients
- Minnehaha Creek (MN) E. coli / Hiawatha (MN), October 2013
Bacteria, Nutrients and Temperature
- Crow Wing River (MN) Watershed, August 2014
- Animas River Watershed – San Juan River to Southern Ute Indian Tribe Bend (NM), September 2013
Bacteria and Aluminum
- Middle Rio Grande Watershed (NM), June, 2010
Mercury
Nutrients, Turbidity and Dissolved Oxygen
- Lake Thunderbird (OK), November 2013
- Rio Hondo – South fork of Rio Hondo to Lake Fork Creek (NM), June, 2005