Preparation of Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Reports: Recommendations for Clean Water Act §303(d) and §305(b) Methodologies and Reporting

Under the current federal rules, States must submit their Clean Water Act §303(d) lists of impaired waters, as well as the methodologies used to prepare them, by October 1, 2002. On November 19, 2001, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a guidance document (called the “EPA Listing Guidance”), which recommends that States combine the §303(d) list with the required §305(b) report into one Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report (or “Integrated Report”).The EPA Listing Guidance, however, is very general, and does not specifically address a number of details that States will face when revising their listing methodologies and developing their 2002 and subsequent Integrated Reports. This document is an attempt to address some of those details and provide sound, science-based recommendations for States to use during the listing process. The recommendations are grouped into the following categories of issues:Collection of Data and InformationEvaluation of Existing Data and InformationDevelopment of Integrated ReportsDelisting ProceduresEach category includes a discussion of the requirements of the current federal rules and the EPA Listing Guidance, and recommendations on how States can best implement the requirements in a scientifically sound, legally defensible manner. Where States have already addressed some of these issues, examples from those State rules and methodologies are also included.