Water Quality: Improved EPA Guidance and Support Can Help States Develop Standards That Better Target Cleanup Efforts
GAO-03-308
Published: Jan 30, 2003. Publicly Released: Feb 13, 2003.
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Highlights
Water quality standards are composed of designated uses and criteria. These standards are critical in making accurate, scientifically based determinations about which of the nation's waters are in need of cleanup. To assess EPA and states' actions to improve standards, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment asked GAO to determine the extent to which (1) states are changing designated uses when necessary and EPA is assisting the states toward that end and (2) EPA is updating its criteria documents and assisting states in establishing criteria that can be compared with reasonably obtainable monitoring data.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Environmental Protection Agency | To help ensure that the designated uses in place under EPA's water quality standards program provide a valid basis for decisions on which of the nation's waters should be targeted for cleanup, the Administrator of EPA should provide additional guidance on designated use changes to better clarify for the states and regional offices when a use change is appropriate, what data are needed to justify the change, and how to establish subcategories of uses. |
Closed – Implemented
EPA has taken a number of steps to provide the type of guidance GAO recommended, including workshops, a symposium, and monthly conference calls.
|
| Environmental Protection Agency | To help ensure that the designated uses in place under EPA's water quality standards program provide a valid basis for decisions on which of the nation's waters should be targeted for cleanup, the Administrator of EPA should follow through on the agency's plans to assess the feasibility of establishing a clearinghouse of approved designated use changes by 2004. |
Closed – Implemented
EPA has already provided, on its web site, the full text of all state and tribal water quality standards so that stakeholders may easily refer to other state, tribal, or territorial standards while reviewing their own. The agency plans a further refinement of what it has already done by enhancing its web-based clearinghouse to better facilitate the exchange of information on critical water quality standards issues, including designated uses.
|
| Environmental Protection Agency | The Administrator of EPA should take actions to improve states' abilities to adopt, implement, and modify water quality criteria. Specifically, to help ensure that states' criteria are a valid basis for impairment decisions, the Administrator should direct the Office of Science and Technology to set a time frame for developing and publishing nationally recommended sedimentation criteria. |
Closed – Implemented
The Office of Science and Technology (OST) has completed action on this recommendation. In May 2006, EPA completed the Framework for Developing Suspended and Bedded Sediment (SABS) Water Quality Criteria (EPA-822-R-06-001). It has been provided to EPA Regional Offices for their use in assisting states and authorized tribes. The Framework presents a step-wise process for developing SABS criteria and also includes technical methods for measuring, classifying, and associating various levels of SABS with water resource uses. The Framework allows States and Tribes to customize the criteria development process to meet their unique regulatory and programmatic needs. According to EPA, this will enable States and Tribes to develop SABS criteria and regulatory approaches more efficiently than if they depended on a lengthy multi-year process of EPA first developing nationally recommended criteria, and States and Tribes then adjusting the criteria locally.
|
| Environmental Protection Agency | The Administrator of EPA should take actions to improve states' abilities to adopt, implement, and modify water quality criteria. Specifically, to help ensure that states' criteria are a valid basis for impairment decisions, the Administrator should direct the Office of Science and Technology to develop alternative, scientifically defensible monitoring strategies that states can use to determine if water bodies are meeting their water quality criteria. |
Closed – Implemented
EPA has already issued two guidance documents to assist states and tribes in determining the extent to which water bodies are meeting water quality standards. The agency says that it will continue to develop and refine alternative monitoring approaches that help to determine whether their waters meet water quality standards. The agency is also establishing an Office of Water Monitoring Council that will help develop alternative monitoring tools and techniques.
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| Environmental Protection Agency | The Administrator of EPA should take actions to improve states' abilities to adopt, implement, and modify water quality criteria. Specifically, to help ensure that states' criteria are a valid basis for impairment decisions, the Administrator should direct the Office of Science and Technology to develop guidance and a training strategy that will help EPA regional staff determine the scientific defensibility of proposed criteria modifications. |
Closed – Implemented
EPA has expanded training opportunities for regional staff and stakeholders, mostly using web-based techniques. For example, it has conducted web-based seminars on certain criteria, which have included most states and all its regional offices. The agency has also used its Water Quality Standards Academy to update states and regions on EPA policies.
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