EPA Clean Water Act Enforcement Plan

EPA has announced that it is stepping up efforts on Clean Water Act enforcement. A plan "Clean Water Action Enforcement Plan" has been drafted as a first step in revamping the compliance and enforcement program. The plan outlines how EPA will strengthen the way it addresses modern water pollution challenges. These challenges include pollution caused by numerous, dispersed sources, such as concentrated animal feeding operations, sewer overflows, contaminated water that flows from industrial facilities, construction sites, and runoff from urban streets.

The agency intends to target enforcement toward the most significant pollution problems, improve transparency and accountability by providing the public with access to better data on the water quality in their communities, and strengthen enforcement performance at the state and federal levels. Elements of the plan include the following:

• Develop more comprehensive approaches to ensure enforcement is targeted to the most serious violations and the most significant sources of pollution.
• Work with states to ensure greater consistency throughout the country with respect to compliance and water quality.
• Ensure that states are issuing protective permits and taking enforcement to achieve compliance and remove economic incentives to violate the law
• Use modern information technology to collect, analyze, and use information in new, more efficient ways and to make that information readily accessible to the public.

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

Minnesota Statewide Mercury TMDL - Proposed MPCA Amendement

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has recently proposed adding a total of 126 lakes, streams and rivers to its list of mercury impaired water bodies. Excess mercury in fish from these additional water bodies will be addressed under the existing Statewide Mercury TMDL, or under a water body specific TMDL, depending on fish tissue concentrations.

The MPCA Mercury TMDL relies on a reduction goal for mercury atmospheric deposition. The TMDL contains the list of lakes and river segments covered by the TMDL. The Statewide Mercury TMDL also contains the list of NPDES permittees covered by the TMDL.

The 2008 Mercury TMDL listed 998 water bodies. Subsequently, three water bodies were split, resulting in a total of 1001 water bodies. An additional 95 waterbodies are being added in the 2010 cycle, resulting in a grand total of 1096 water bodies in the 2010 revision the EPA-approved Mercury TMDL.

The water bodies listed in the Statewide Mercury TMDL have fish tissue concentrations greater than 0.2 mg/kg [the Minnesota State water quality standard] and equal to or less than 0.572 mg/kg. Fish tissue concentrations that exceed 0.572 mg/kg are not eligible to be included in the Statewide Mercury TMDL. Those mercury impairments are subject to a future TMDL studies. In 2010, MPCA is proposing to add 28 water bodies to the list of mercury impaired waters not eligible to be addressed under the Statewide Mercury TMDL, bringing the total to 326.

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 Discharge Standards for Airports

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed regulations requiring airports to collect at least some of the deicing fluid after it is used on aircrafts with a goal of cutting chemical discharge by 22 percent. The regulations would require six of the 14 major U.S. airports that are the biggest users of deicing fluid to install deicing pads or other collection systems to capture 60 percent of fluid sprayed and to install deicing pads or other collection systems. The targeted airports include:

• New York's John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports,
• Chicago's O'Hare,
• Boston Logan International,
• Cleveland-Hopkins International, and
• New Jersey's Newark Liberty International

Other targeted airports already have control systems, but would also need to meet performance standards. It would then be the airports' responsibility to ensure that the collected fluid was treated and handled in accordance with requirements. Some 200 smaller facilities around the US would have to collect and treat 20 percent of the fluid by using technologies such as a glycol recovery vehicle. Airports with fewer than 1,000 yearly jet departures would not be impacted.

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

New Wastewater Discharge Rules for Coal Fired Power Plants

The U.S. EPA has announced plans to revise the existing standards for water discharges from coal-fired power plants. Earlier this year, EPA completed a multi-year study of power plant wastewater discharges. This study concluded that current regulations, which were issued in 1982, have not kept pace with changes that have occurred in the electric power industry over the last three decades. Air pollution controls installed to remove pollution from air emission sources. However, according to the EPA study, some of the equipment used to clean air emissions does so by “scrubbing” the boiler exhaust with water. Treatment technologies are available to remove these pollutants before they are discharged to waterways, but these systems have been installed at only a small number of the power plants.

As part of the multi-year study, EPA measured the pollutants present in the wastewater and reviewed treatment technologies, focusing mostly on coal-fired power plants. Many of the toxic pollutants discharged from these power plants come from coal ash ponds and the flue gas desulfurization systems used to scrub sulfur dioxide from air emissions.

Once the new rules for electric power plants is finalized, EPA and States would incorporate the new standards into wastewater discharge permits.

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

Using Water Effect Ratio In Setting NPDES Permit Limits

The water effect ratio (WER) is defined as the ratio of the toxicity of a chemical in site water to the toxicity of the same chemical in standard laboratory water. Standard laboratory water would have been used to generate toxicity data used to calculate State or Federal Water Quality Criterion. Therefore a WER which is greater than or less than 1 would infer that the chemical would be more or less toxic in site water compared to laboratory water. Using the Water Effect Ratio, the ambient water quality standard might be adjusted to meet the same aquatic life protection goals. The water effect ratio is developed to compensate for site-specific biogeochemical factors such as hardness, alkalinity, organic carbon, etc. which can influence the bioavailability and toxicity of chemical.

In practice, WER are often used to generate site-specific water quality standards that are higher than State or Federal standards.

The process of generating and using WER in the NPDES permitting process requires close coordination with the permitting agency. Work to prepare acceptable WER may require water quality monitoring and laboratory toxicity tests. NPDES permits issued using a WER may also include additional receiving water monitoring requirements.


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

Iowa IDNR General Permit for Well Construction Wastewater Discharges

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is proposed amendments to Chapter 64 – Wastewater Construction and Operation Permits, including a proposal that would require the discharge of wastewater from water well construction and service activities to navigable waters to be covered under a general permit. The proposal would create a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) General Permit that would require permittees to:

1. Comply with the general water quality criteria,

2. Prepare a pollution prevention plan that includes best management practices (BMPs) to be implemented, and

3. Visually monitor wastewater effluent to determine sufficiency of the BMPs.

The IDNR will be conducting public hearings on the proposed rules at several locations from August 4 through 12.

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

Court Approves MPCA Vessel Discharge Permit Rules

The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s (PCA) new regulations to control ballast water discharges from ships on Lake Superior.

The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy had filed suit against the PCA saying the agency was moving too slowly and had standards too lax to regulate ballast water. The group wanted tougher standards on ships imposed sooner than 2012 for new ships and 2016 for existing ships the PCA has called for.

The court’s decision upholds the rules promulgated by the PCA last year for nearly all ships that discharge any ballast water or carry ballast water through Minnesota waters of Lake Superior.

[Read more about Vessel Discharge Permits]

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