The TMDL Results Analysis Website: Online Resources about Program Effectiveness

The TMDL Program Results Analysis Project was developed to improve available information on the impaired waters listing and TMDL program's effectiveness and results. This multi-year project's goal was to analyze impaired waters program progress and its driving factors, providing insights for program improvement. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) public website at http://water.epa.gov/lawsregs/lawsguidance/cwa/tmdl/results_index.cfm now hosts over 40 study reports, fact sheets, technical papers and other products developed under this project. This site was designed around the “impaired waters program pipeline” concept, with five Clean Water Act program stages that impaired waters pass through en route to full restoration. Because TMDLs occur midway along this sequence of program steps toward restoration, this project studied all stages before, during, and after the TMDL in order to consider the broader context in which the TMDL program operates. This paper is a guided tour of the website and includes web links to results analysis products from each of five major stages of the impaired waters identification and restoration process: listing, planning, implementing, improving, and recovery.