关键词：water quality
PREFACE
For 2004, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has adopted an integrated format for Clean Water Act Section 305(b) reporting and Section 303(d) listing. This new report is entitled the “2004 Pennsylvania Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report” and satisfies the requirements of both Sections 305(b) and 303(d). The narrative report contains summaries of various water quality management programs including water quality standards, point source control and nonpoint source control. It also includes descriptions of programs to protect lakes, wetlands and groundwater quality. A summary of the use support status of streams and lakes is also presented in the narrative report.
The DEP has an ongoing program to assess the quality of waters in Pennsylvania and identify streams and other bodies of water that do not meet water quality standards (WQSs) as “impaired.” Water quality standards are comprised of the uses (including antidegradation) that waters can support and goals established to protect those uses. Uses include, among other things, aquatic life, human health, and recreation, while the goals are numerical or narrative water quality criteria that express the in-stream levels of substances that must be achieved to support the uses.
Section 303(d) of the Act requires states to list all impaired waters not supporting uses even after appropriate and required water pollution control technologies have been applied. For example, a waterbody impacted by a point source discharge that is not complying with its effluent limits would not be listed on the 303(d) list. The Department would correct the water impairment by taking a compliance action against the discharger. If the waterbody still did not meet water quality standards after achieving compliance with its permit requirements, it would be included on the 303(d) list of impaired waters. The 303(d) list includes the reason for impairment, which may be one or more point sources (like industrial or sewage discharges), or non-point sources (like abandoned mine lands or agricultural runoff).
View the Integrated List
States or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must determine the conditions that would return the water to a condition that meets water quality standards. As a follow-up to listing, the state or EPA must develop a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for each waterbody on the list. A TMDL identifies allowable pollutant loads to a waterbody from both point and non-point sources that will prevent a violation of water quality standards. A TMDL also includes a margin of safety to ensure protection of the water.
A TMDL is designed to reduce pollutant loads to impaired waters and enable these waters to meet water quality standards. Pennsylvania has committed to developing TMDLs for all impaired waterbodies and will use both traditional and new approaches to correct water quality problems.
Public participation is an important part of TMDL development. DEP publishes notice of the availability of each TMDL and provides a comment period as well as the opportunity for a public hearing. All comments are considered before the TMDL is submitted for EPA’s approval.
Waterbody assessment and data evaluation is a continuous process. The 2004 Integrated Report was developed using information from stream and lake surveys and other sources, including DEP’s Statewide Surface Water Assessment Program, the Non-point Source Program, and existing and readily available data submitted by external groups and agencies.
All waterbody use attainment information is organized by State Water Plan Subbasin, DEP five-digit stream code, and a segment identifier which identifies multiple unique stream segments within each five-digit stream code. DEP’s five-digit stream code system is based on surface waters that appear on United States Geological Survey, 1:24,000 scale, 7.5 Minute Quadrangle Maps. Streams are segmented at the confluence of tributaries and each segment is identified by the DEP five-digit stream code and upstream and downstream river miles (distance above the mouth of the stream). See Figure 1 for details.
II. Distribution of Waterbodies into Water Quality Standards Attainment Categories
The water quality status of Pennsylvania’s waters are summarized using a five-part categorization of waters according to their WQS attainment status. The categories represent varying levels of WQS attainment, ranging from Category 1, where all designated water uses are met, to Category 5, where impairment by pollutants requires a TMDL to correct. These category determinations are based on consideration of data and information consistent with the methods outlined in the Assessment Methodology (1.5M Word document). Each DEP five-digit waterbody segment is placed in one of the WQS attainment categories. Different segments of the same stream may appear on more than one list if the attainment status changes as the water flows downstream. The listing categories are as follows:
Category 1: Waters attaining all designated uses.
Category 2: Waters where some, but not all, designated uses are met. Attainment status of the remaining designated uses is unknown because data are insufficient to categorize a water consistent with the state’s listing methodology.
Category 3: Waters for which there are insufficient or no data and information to determine, consistent with the State’s listing methodology, if designated uses are met.
Category 4: Waters impaired for one or more designated use but not needing a TMDL. States may place these waters in one of the following three subcategories:
- Category 4A: TMDL has been completed.
- Category 4B: Expected to meet all designated uses within a reasonable timeframe.
- Category 4C: Not impaired by a pollutant.
Category 5: Waters impaired for one or more designated uses by any pollutant. Category 5 includes waters shown to be impaired as the result of biological assessments used to evaluate aquatic life use even if the specific pollutant is not known unless the State can demonstrate that non-pollutant stressors cause the impairment or that no pollutant(s) causes or contribute to the impairment. Category 5 constitutes the Section 303(d) list that EPA will approve or disapprove under the CWA. Where more than one pollutant is causing the impairment, the water remains in Category 5 until all pollutants are addressed in a completed/EPA-approved TMDL or one of the delisting factors is satisfied.
III. List Overview
The table below provides the links to the different lists. The Assessment Methodology (1.5M Word document) is an overview of the methods used to collect, analyze, and evaluate the stream and lake assessment information. Lists one through five are as described in the previous section. The streams and lakes are listed separatly. The waters in the Category 5 Supplement are records carried over from an old database that used narrative descriptors to locate stream segments. The narratives describing the exact location of these assessments were inadequate and as a result the locations could not be determined when the records in the old database were transferred to the new GIS based system.
The Appendices document some of the associated administrative functions, including the solicitation of information from outside the Department. The Addendums show changes to records that appeared on the 2002 list of impaired waters.
All lists are first grouped and sorted by the State Water Plans shown in Figure 1. After grouping and sorting by State Water Plans, the records are sorted alphabetically by stream name. The “unt” abbreviation in the stream name column stands for unnamed tributary.
Most lists contain the following fields. When commenting on a record, please include the Assessment_ID and Code.
Stream or Lake Name: Self explanatory,
Watershed: State Water Plan code. See Figure 1.
Code: The Department’s unique five-digit stream identifier code.Assessment_ID: Unique record identifier.
Latitude/Longitude: Used only for lakes and identifies the location of the outlet.
Source/Cause: The source and cause of the impairment problem if applicable.
List Date: On Category 5 this is the date the record first appeared as impaired.
TMDL Date: On Category 5 this is the projected date of TMDL completion.
Down RMI: Downstream limit (measured from the stream mouth) of the segment.
Up RMI: Upstream limit (measured from the stream mouth) of the segment.
Use Assessed: One of three uses appears; Aquatic Life, Human Health, or Recreation.
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