Tough water discharge rules take aim at industry sources
By Staff -- Purchasing, 3/23/2000
Three new EPA rules would impose tougher limits for pollutants in water discharges from industries and other so-called point sources.The first two rules would affect all point sources that are near rivers, lakes and coastal waterways. The third rulemaking, just getting under way, will target only metal products and machinery plant sources. EPA plans to propose rules for these sources by October and is holding hearings, including one on April 10 in Chicago.
The first two broader rules, proposed last August, cover pollution from factories, sewage plants and other point sources as well as rain and storm water runoff from nonpoint sources. While some industries already are subject to total minimum daily load (tmdl) restrictions, the new standards could be tighter still and oblige more plants to obtain permits for discharges, industry and state officials say. It's expected that the rules will be made final in about five months, according to J. Charles Fox, EPA's Assistant Administrator for Water.
The states, which administer the Clean Water rules, will have up to 15 years to complete assignments of all TMDLS, Fox says. Where states fail to establish TMDLS, EPA has discretion to move in, and in some cases is under court-ordered deadline to do so. Even if industries have been using existing "best-available technology" or BAT treatment, this may not be sufficient if the waters reached by their discharges are not clean enough to be used for fishing, swimming, or other uses designated by the state. Sources feeding into these "impaired" bodies of water could then come under the new regulations, according to EPA officials.
The pollutants EPA identifies as most frequently causing water quality impairment include sediments, excess nutrients, and harmful microorganisms. Metals, including toxic metals, also contribute to impairment. Fox says that discharges from sewage treatment plants and factories are the sole cause of pollution in about 10% of polluted waters. About 47% are impaired by a combination of point source discharges and polluted runoff, with the remainder accounted for by nonpoint sources.
Diane Shea, Natural Resources Director at the National Governors Associations says the states have objected to the proposed EPA TMDL rules. "We raised concerns that the regulations as proposed were a "one-size-fits-all approach," Shea says. "The states are (taking) different types of approaches to managing water quality and feel that TMDLS are just one tool and should not be the primary tool. They also find implementing TMDLS to be extremely costly, far beyond EPA' s estimates."
In some cases, Shea says, the new regulations could hold up addition of new plant operations by requiring the company to more than offset the amount of new pollution added. Fox says where possible, permits for new sources of "large new or significantly expanded discharges" should require an offset from another pollution source of one-and- a-half times the proposed new or expanded discharge.
Tony Waggoner, who handles regulatory affairs at the Chemical Manufacturers Association, says under existing regulations, "TMDLS are being developed as we speak." CMA's main focus, he adds, is "to make sure they are targeted and based on sound science and high quality data."
For further information on the tmdl rules see EPA's proposed rule in the Federal Register of August 23, 1999. For the metal products and machinery rulemaking, see Federal Register of February 11, 2000 or call Shari Barash, EPA Office of Water, 202-260-7130 or e-mail barash.shari@epa..
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