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Review of Alternatives for Addressing Water Quality Impairments in the Copano Bay Watershed

Review of Alternatives for Addressing Water Quality Impairments in the Copano Bay Watershed. Allen Berthold Texas Water Resources Institute. Review: Clean Water Act.

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Review of Alternatives for Addressing Water Quality Impairments in the Copano Bay Watershed

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  1. Review of Alternatives for Addressing Water Quality Impairments in the Copano Bay Watershed Allen Berthold Texas Water Resources Institute

  2. Review: Clean Water Act • Goal of CWA is to restore and maintain water quality suitable for the “protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, wildlife and recreation in and on the water” • Implemented primarily by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) • CWA requires that all waterbodies exceeding a state’s water quality standards be identified • Those identified are placed on the (Texas) Integrated Report for Clean Water Act Sections 305(b) and 303(d) • CWA also requires that states develop an approach to address each impairment

  3. Alternatives for Addressing Impairments (TMDL/TMDL I-Plan) • Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) • TMDL = WLA + LA + MOS • WLA = Waste load Allocation = regulated sources • LA = Load Allocation = non-regulated sources • MOS = margin of safety • Implementation Plan • Developed by local stakeholders • Typically a 3-5 year plan of activities • Revised periodically to evaluate the process of improving water quality and adapted as necessary

  4. Alternatives for Addressing Impairments (WPP) • Watershed Protection Plans (WPPs) are coordinated frameworks for implementing prioritized and integrated protection and restoration strategies driven by environmental objectives • Holistically address all sources of impairments to a water body • Developed by the local stakeholders and meets EPA 9 Key Elements • Typically a 10-15 year plan of activities • Makes use of adaptive management to modify the plan according to stakeholder input and observed water quality

  5. Similarities of TMDLs/TMDL I-Plans and WPPs • Goal: Improve water quality in rivers, lakes and bays • Define actions needed to reduce pollution and restore water quality • Provides estimated loading limits • Can use simplistic or complex analytical tools (e.g., water quality models) • Uses existing data and can include additional data collection if necessary • Developed in coordination with local and regional stakeholders • Implementation of measures eligible for grant funds • Implementation of nonpoint source control measures currently voluntary • Law suits or changes in CWA could result in compulsory implementation

  6. Differences of TMDLs/TMDL I-Plans

  7. Timeline of Planning though Implementation

  8. Questions/Discussion Kevin Wagner, PhD Texas Water Resources Institute klwagner@ag.tamu.edu 979-845-2649 Allen Berthold Texas Water Resources Institute taberthold@ag.tamu.edu 361-318-8780

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