WV 303(d) List Public Notice

Public Notice: Identification of Water Quality Limited Segments to be added to West Virginia's Section 303(d) List

Published on July 19, 2023 (Comment Period Closed on October 18, 2023)

Summary

The Clean Water Act (CWA) requires that states periodically submit, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approve or disapprove, lists of waters (called “Section 303(d) lists”) for which existing technology-based pollution controls are not stringent enough to attain or maintain State water quality standards and for which total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) must be prepared.  Waters identified on Section 303(d) lists are called “water quality-limited segments.”  This notice announces the EPA’s identification of certain water quality limited segments to be added to West Virginia’s Combined 2018-2020-2022 Section 303(d) list and requests public comment.

On June 1st, 2023, the EPA partially approved and partially disapproved West Virginia’s Combined 2018-2020-2022 Section 303(d) list of water quality-limited segments based upon the Agency’s determination that West Virginia did not use certain water quality information and therefore did not identify certain water quality-limited segments.  The EPA has analyzed the information and identified these additional water quality-limited segments for inclusion on West Virginia’s Combined 2018-2020-2022 Section 303(d) list.  The water quality-limited segments are identified in Enclosure 3 of the decision document and displayed on the interactive webmap, both of which are available in related documents below.

The EPA is providing the public the opportunity to review its identification of these water quality-limited segments to be added to West Virginia’s Combined 2018-2020-2022 Section 303(d) list.  The EPA will consider public comments before transmitting its final list of water quality-limited segments to the State.

November 29, 2023 Update

EPA received 291 sets of comments from 300 organizations and individuals. EPA has combined all comments received into one document, available below. EPA will consider all comments, make adjustments to its action based on comments if appropriate, provide responses, and transmit West Virginia’s Final Combined 2018-2020-2022 Section 303(d) list of water quality-limited segments to West Virginia (including any additional segments identified by EPA).

Related Documents

• Compilation of All Public Comments (pdf) (55.1 MB)
• Federal Register Notice
• Enclosure 1: Rationale for EPA's Action on West Virginia's 2018-2020-2022 Clean Water Act Section 303(d) List (pdf) (401.7 KB)
• Enclosure 2: EPA’s Process for Identifying Additional Impaired Waters (pdf) (221.59 KB)
• Enclosure 3: Waters identified by EPA to be added to West Virginia’s Combined 2018-2020-2022 Section 303(d) list (xlsx) (26.06 KB)
• Enclosure 4: Waters WVDEP included on it’s 303(d) list as impaired but that EPA would consider to be meeting applicable water quality standards (xlsx) (10.84 KB)
• Interactive Webmap
• Interactive Webmap Underlying Data: Enclosure 3 (above), Enclosure 4 (above), and  Station summary of biological sample data (xlsx) (70.16 KB)
• Biological sample data EPA evaluated to determine impaired waters (xlsx) (1.66 MB)
• WVDEP Final 303(d) List Transmittal Letter to EPA (May 5th, 2023) (pdf) (2.33 MB)
• EPA Final Transmittal Letter to WVDEP, 2018-2020-2022 303(d) List Partial Approval and Partial Disapproval (June 1st, 2023) (pdf) (246.23 KB)
• WVDEP Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report Webpage
• Final WVDEP 2018/2020/2022 Integrated Report (pdf) (15.92 MB)