Revision To Arizona Rules on Management of Reclaimed Water

ADEQ is considering changes to all the reclaimed water rules and expects to publish proposed rule changes, likely in the fall of 2016,


Reclaimed water is highly treated wastewater from a wastewater treatment plant. A.R.S. § 49-201(32). Reclaimed water has uses such as for irrigation. Using reclaimed water offsets and conserves potable water for human consumption and domestic purposes.


The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) seeks to amend R18-9-704 in order to allow incidental runoff of reclaimed water under certain conditions. This rulemaking would be limited to amending only R18-9-704, as ADEQ is working with stakeholders to consider other changes to the reclaimed water rules.



Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment. Caltha LLP Aquatic Toxicology / WQ Standards Services Website

Keokuk, Iowa Receives Grant To Address Combined Sewer Overflows

EPA Region 7 has awarded $291,000 to the City of Keokuk, Iowa, for improvements to its sewer system. The project is expected to be completed by the fall of 2014. The purpose of the project is to construct new sanitary and storm sewer systems, which will eliminate four sewer overflows. The new sewer will provide adequate capacity for both current and anticipated future flows. A long-term strategy has been developed to eliminate six combined sewer overflows in Keokuk that drain either into the Mississippi River or Soap Creek.

Keokuk is one of 10 Iowa cities that have combined sewer systems. These systems typically use one pipe that combines sanitary sewer and storm sewer to the wastewater treatment plants during normal rainfall. However, during rainfall, this system sometimes overflows into nearby streams. and private partners.

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.

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National Rivers and Stream Assessment Report Released

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released the 2008-2009 National Rivers and Stream Assessment. The survey looked at the health of thousands of stream and river miles across the country, and reported that about 55% are in poor condition for aquatic life. The report findings include:

• Nitrogen and phosphorus are at excessive levels. An estimated 27% of the nation’s rivers and streams have excessive levels of nitrogen, and 40% have high levels of phosphorus.
• Streams and rivers are at an increased risk due to decreased vegetation cover and increased human disturbance. These conditions can cause streams and rivers to be more vulnerable to flooding, erosion, and pollution. Approximately 24% of the rivers and streams monitored were rated poor due to the loss of healthy vegetative cover.
• Increased bacteria levels. High bacteria levels were found in 9% of stream and river miles making those waters potentially unsafe for swimming and other recreation.
• Increased mercury levels. More than 13,000 miles of rivers have fish with mercury levels that may be unsafe for human consumption.

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.
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Revised Total Coliform Rule For Public Water Supplies

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has updated the rule for pathogens in drinking water, including setting a limit for the bacteria E. coli to better protect public health.  Public water systems must comply with the requirements of the Revised Total Coliform Rule beginning April 1, 2016.

Under the revised rule, public drinking water systems are required to notify the public if a test exceeds the maximum contaminant level (MCL) for E. coli in drinking water. If E. coli or other indications of drinking water contamination are detected above a certain level, drinking water facilities must assess the system and fix potential sources and pathways of contamination. High-risk drinking water systems with a history of non-compliance must perform more frequent monitoring. The revised rule provides incentives for small drinking water systems that consistently meet certain measures of water quality and system performance.

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.

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New EPA Recreational Water Quality Criteria for Beaches

In response to an order from a U.S. District Court and as required by the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act of 2000, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released new recreational water quality criteria for beaches and waters year round. The criteria provide states and communities with scientific information that they can use to determine whether water quality is safe for the public and when to issue an advisory or a beach closure. EPA has also provided a variety of other tools to help states evaluate and manage recreational waters.

The new criteria are based on several recent health studies and use a broader definition of illness to recognize that symptoms may occur without a fever, including a number of stomach ailments. EPA also narrowed from 90 days to 30 days the time period over which the results of monitoring samples may be averaged. This shortened time period especially accounts for heavy rainfall that can wash pollution into rivers, lakes or the ocean or cause sewer overflows.

The recommendations include:

1. A short-term and long-term measure of bacteria levels that are to be used together to ensure that water quality is properly evaluated.
2. Stronger recommendations for coastal water quality so public health is protected similarly in both coastal and fresh waters.
3. A new rapid testing method that states can use to determine if water quality is safe within hours of water samples being taken.
4. An early-alert approach for states to use to quickly issue swimming advisories for the public.
5. Tools that allow states to predict water quality problems and identify sources of pollution, as well as to develop criteria for specific beaches.

  Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment. Caltha LLP Aquatic Toxicology / WQ Standards Services Website

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Grants Awarded In Michigan

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grants for projects in Michigan to improve water quality and reduce excess nutrients that contribute to harmful algal blooms in Great Lakes watersheds, including Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. The restoration projects in Michigan are:

• $350,000 to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality For Nutrient Reduction in the River Raisin and Lake Erie Basin: This project will reduce agricultural sources of nitrogen and phosphorus by 30 -50% through the installation of 133 water control structures on 4,000 – 5,000 acres of tilled cropland. Environmental benefits will include a reduction in nitrate and dissolved reactive phosphorus loadings from the treated areas to the River Raisin watershed and the Western Lake Erie Basin. This project builds on an earlier GLRI project which promoted voluntary best management practices designed to reduce nutrients from agricultural operations in the Raisin River watershed.
• $265,980 to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development to Reduce Sediment and Nutrients Entering the Western Lake Erie Basin: The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development will use this funding to increase implementation of effective conservation practices on farm fields to significantly reduce the quantity of sediment and nutrients discharged into the Western Lake Erie Basin. The project will prevent 30,400 tons of sediment, 42 tons of phosphorus and 67 tons of nitrogen from entering Lake Erie tributaries; 176 acres of wetlands will be restored.
• $499,741 to the Grand Traverse Bay Watershed Initiative for the Kids Creek Stormwater Reduction Project: This project will improve water quality on a major tributary to Kids Creek, an impaired stream in the Grand Traverse Bay watershed, by replacing underground culverts and channelized ditches with a natural meandering channel. The new stream channel will eliminate 73,000 square feet of impervious area, establish 27,000 square feet of floodplain and create a 15- to 30-foot-wide buffer. Green infrastructure will also be installed to further reduce stormwater and sedimentation impacts to Kids Creek.
• $995,204 to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality for Kawkawlin River Targeted Phosphorus and E. Coli Reduction: This project will implement best management practices (BMPs) identified in the Kawkawlin River Watershed Management Plan. The BMPs include installing six miles of agricultural buffers, 1,700 acres of wind barriers, 1,000 feet of livestock exclusion fencing and planting 6,000 acres of cover crops. This project is expected to prevent E. coli, 15,491 pounds of phosphorus (30 % of the load reduction goal for the watershed) and 10,921 tons of sediment from reaching Saginaw Bay each year.
• $798,282 to the Muskegon River Watershed Assembly for Restoration of Riparian Areas in the Muskegon River Watershed: This project will reforest more than 400 acres of riparian land, restore 150 acres of streambank using native vegetation, put 150 acres of revegetated or natural riparian land into conservation easements, develop 14 forest stewardship plans and implement proper erosion control best management practices at four riparian sites in high priority sub-watersheds of the Muskegon River. This project is expected to prevent 100 tons of sediment, 1,000 pounds of phosphorus and 6,000 pounds of nitrogen from reaching the Muskegon River, the Muskegon Lake Area of Concern and Lake Michigan each year.
• $189,376 to Michigan State University for Locating and Targeting High-Impact Farm Fields to Reduce Phosphorus Discharges: This project will provide electronic mapping technology to agricultural conservation technicians (such as federal and state natural resource agency employees) that will help the technicians identify and target farm fields that are especially prone to high rates of phosphorus discharge. The technicians can then begin working with the owners of these targeted fields and encourage the implementation of conservation practices such as cover crops and improved management of phosphorus and drainage water. As a result of this project, conservation practice implementation can be focused on farm fields having the greatest impacts on water quality, ultimately resulting in a reduction of soluble phosphorus loading in the Saginaw basin.

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.
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Wisconsin and Michigan Awarded Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Grants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded seven Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grants, totaling over $2.6 million, to improve water quality at Great Lakes beaches in Michigan and Wisconsin. Projects awarded grant funding include:

• $1 million (two grants of $500,000 each) to the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh to redesign eight Wisconsin beaches to reduce bacteria levels, resulting in fewer swimming bans and beach closures. The beaches are: Red Arrow Park Beach, Marinette; Crescent Beach, Algoma; Red Arrow Park Beach, Manitowoc; Thompson West End Park, Washburn; Grant Park, South Milwaukee; Samuel Myers Park, Racine; and Simmons Island and Eichelman Parks, Kenosha.
• $179,700 to the City of Marquette, Michigan, to lower health risks and to improve water quality at two Lake Superior beaches in Marquette by using green management practices to reduce contamination.
• $500,000 to the City of Marysville, Michigan, to install rain gardens and other green infrastructure to reduce contaminated stormwater runoff and to deter geese at Chrysler Beach on the St. Clair River.
• $500,000 to the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority for green infrastructure to reduce contaminated stormwater runoff at Lake St. Clair Metropark (Metro Beach.)
• $217,015 to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to construct rain gardens, plant native grass and install a filtration system to improve water quality and reduce health risks at Sherman Park and Four Mile beaches in Sault Ste. Marie.
• $263,188 to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to build a green stormwater infiltration system at New Buffalo City Beach to reduce bacteria and nutrient levels.

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.
 Caltha LLP Aquatic Toxicology / WQ Standards Services Website

Proposed Tennessee Rules On Biosolid Land Application

The Tennessee Water Quality Board has initiated the rulemaking process to promulgate rules for the land application of biosolids. Biosolids are solid organic matter recovered from a sewage treatment plant and used especially as fertilizer. Biosolids are currently regulated under 40 CFR Part 503. However, the State of Tennessee has no authority to enforce 40 CFR Part 503. EPA-Region 4 is the permitting authority per Part 503, but has had a very small presence in Tennessee since the promulgation of 40 CFR Part 503 in 1993.

The requirements of the proposed Tennessee rules are similar to 40 CFR Part 503 for the land application of Class B biosolids. In order to land apply Class B biosolids under 40 CFR Part 503, a level of pathogen reduction and vector attraction reduction option must be achieved and the concentrations of certain metals (pollutants or contaminants) must not exceed safe levels. With regard to pathogen reduction, vector attraction reduction and metal concentrations, the requirements of these proposed rules for the land application of Class B biosolids are the same as the requirements in 40 CFR Part 503.

The monitoring frequency, the recording keeping and reporting requirements are also the same, except that the proposed rules provide specifics for the agronomic rate calculation and add a few more setbacks to ensure protection of the waters of the state. There are no fees associated with the biosolids rules and general permit for the land application of Class B biosolids.

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.
 Caltha LLP Aquatic Toxicology / WQ Standards Services Website

EPA Requires Revised Water Quality Standards For Rivers in Illinois

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued a notification to the State of Illinois that water quality standards for portions of the Chicago and Calumet Rivers must be revised. According to EPA, to attain the new water quality standards, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRDGC) will likely be required to disinfect sewage discharged from its North Side and Calumet treatment plants. MWRDGC ceased disinfection at these facilities in the mid-1980s.

EPA has directed the Illinois Pollution Control Board to adopt new or revised water quality standards for the North and South Branches of the Chicago River, the North Shore Channel, the Cal-Sag Channel and the Little Calumet River. If the board does not act, the Clean Water Act authorizes U.S. EPA to take what the agency considers to be the necessary actions. Since 2007, U.S. EPA has recommended that Illinois upgrade water quality standards for the waterway system.

In 2009, U.S. EPA made a similar determination under its Clean Water Act authority for a 28-mile portion of the Mississippi River near St. Louis.

[read more about 2009 EPA action in Missouri]

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.

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Denial of Permit Waiver Application For City WWTP

EPA is proposing a draft decision to deny the extension of a waiver of Clean Water Act requirements that has allowed the City of Gloucester to discharge wastewater receiving only primary treatment from its wastewater treatment facility into Massachusetts Bay. The reason for the waiver denial is a failure to meet the current permit limits, including whole effluent toxicity (WET), oil and grease, and fecal coliform bacteria. EPA is releasing for public review and comment the draft intention to deny this waiver request and issue a permit with secondary treatment-based limits, and will accept comments on Dec. 4, 2010.

Gloucester has applied to EPA for reissuance of a waiver of Clean Water Act secondary treatment requirements, which would authorize continued discharge or primary effluent from the Gloucester Water Pollution Control Facility to Massachusetts Bay. Gloucester is the only major discharger in Massachusetts that currently holds such a waiver. The Gloucester discharge is to Massachusetts Bay, within the North Shore Ocean Sanctuary, as established by the Massachusetts Ocean Sanctuaries Act. The Commonwealth has designated the water as “Class SA,” the highest of the three marine water quality classifications.

The current permit has been in effect since 2001. The upgrade from primary to secondary treatment at the Gloucester Water Pollution Control Facility will require extensive planning and design, and will also require the commitment of significant financial resources. EPA and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) are moving forward with the new draft permit recognizing that it will need to establish a reasonable compliance schedule for the treatment plant upgrade.

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.

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Beach Water Quality Monitoring Grants - Recreational Water Quality Standards

US EPA is making almost $10 million in grants available in 2009 to eligible coastal and Great Lakes states, territories and tribes to help them implement programs to monitor water quality at the beach and to notify the public when water quality problems exist.

To improve water quality testing and to help beach managers better inform the public when there are water quality problems, Congress passed the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act (BEACH Act) in 2000. The Act authorizes EPA to award grants to eligible states, territories and tribes to develop and implement beach water quality monitoring and notification programs for coastal and Great Lakes recreational beach waters.

In 2009, EPA expects to award $9.9 million in grants to eligible states, territories and tribes for their beach water protection programs. EPA expects to award grants to all eligible states and territories that apply based on an allocation formula. Based on this allocation formula, the amount of each implementation grant ranges from $150,000 to $528,000.

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.

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Beaches Act – New and Revised Recreational Water Quality Criteria

The Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act (“Beaches Act”) amended the Clean Water Act to address the special water quality concerns associated with the recreational uses of coastal waters. The Beaches Act requires US EPA to conduct studies concerning pathogen indicators in coastal recreation waters (Section 104(v)), and to publish new or revised water quality criteria for pathogens and pathogen indicators (Section 304(a)).

In response to the Beaches Act, US EPA adopted a Critical Path Science Plan (CPSP) for the new/revised criteria. The CPSP describes research and science for establishing the scientific foundation for new/revised criteria and outlines research to be completed by to publish new or revised criteria in 2012. The major CPSP research areas include:

• Epidemiology Studies and Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA)
• Site Characterization
• Indicators/Methods Development and Validation Modeling
• Application of Criteria to Inland Waters

Between now and 2010 EPA will be conducting additional research into indicators, methods, fate & transport studies, and predictive modeling. Between 2010 and 2012, work will begin on developing the new recreational water quality criteria. EPA plans to publish the water quality criteria in 2012.

Caltha LLP provides expert consulting services to public and private sector clients nationwide to address water quality standards, wastewater permitting and assessing potential impacts of chemicals in the aquatic environment.

Caltha LLP Aquatic Toxicology / WQ Standards Services Website