Protocol for Developing Sediment TMDLs

The authors gratefully acknowledge the many comments of reviewers from within EPA and stat environmental agencies, as well as the detailed reviews conducted by Lee iii Foreword Although many pollution sources have implemented the required levels of pollution control technology, there are still waters in the nation that do not meet the Clean Water Act goal of " fishable, swimmable. " Section 303(d) of the act addresses these waters that are not " fishable, swimmable " by requiring states, territories, and authorized tribes to identify and list impaired waters every two years and to develop total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for pollutants in these waters, with oversight from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. TMDLs establish the allowable pollutant loadings, thereby providing the basis for states to establish water quality-based controls. Historically, wasteload allocations have been developed for particular point sources discharging to a particular waterbody to set effluent limitations in the point source's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) discharge permit. This approach has produced significant improvements in water quality by establishing point sourc controls for many chemical pollutants. But water quality impairments continue to exist in the nation's waters. Some point sources need more controls, and many nonpoint source impacts (from agriculture, forestry, development activities, urban runoff, and so forth) are causing or contributing to impairments in water quality. To address the combined, cumulative impacts of both point and nonpoint sources, EPA has adopted a watershed approach, of which TMDLs ar a part. This approach provides a means to integrate governmental programs and improve decision making by both government and private parties. It enables a broad view of water resources that reflects the interrelationship of surfac water, groundwater, chemical pollutants and nonchemical stressors, water quantity, and land management. The Protocol for Developing Sediment TMDLs is a technical guidance document prepared to help state, interstate, territorial, tribal, local, and federal agency staff involved in TMDL development, as well as watershed stakeholders and private consultants. Comments and suggestions from readers are encouraged and will be used to help improve th available guidance as EPA continues to build experience and understanding of TMDLs and watershed management. Preface EPA has developed several protocols as programmatic and technical support guidance documents for those involved in TMDL development. These guidance documents have been developed by an interdisciplinary team and provide an overall framework for completing the technical and programmatic steps in the TMDL development process. …