E.P.A. Suggests Adding 255 Waterways to West Virginia’s Impaired Waters List

PHILADELPHIA (March 25, 2013) - The E.P.A. today provided the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) a suggested list of impaired waterways in West Virginia.

The list includes 1,176 waterways previously designated as impaired by the State, and an additional 255 waterways identified by EPA, based on the State's current water quality standards. E.P.A. took this action in order to meet the requirements of the federal Clean Water Act.

The Clean Water Act requires states to use all readily accessible water quality information to assess the health of waters, and every 2 years identify those waterbodies that do not meet water quality standards.

The impaired waters list is then submitted to E.P.A. for review and approval. States or E.P.A. must subsequently develop cleanup projects to restore the impaired waterways.

E.P.A. acknowledges WVDEP's position that it is precluded by Senate Bill No. 562 from evaluating waters for aquatic life uses pending adoption of a new methodology for evaluating waterways. In the meantime, E.P.A. has an obligation to take action to ensure that the federal requirements of the Clean Water Act are met.

E.P.A. identified the additional waterways, representing in excess of 1,000 miles of rivers and streams, based on its review of readily accessible State data. The agency reviewed the information using substantially the same methodology that West Virginia has used to review this type of data in the past.

E.P.A. will publish a notice of the suggested additions in the federal register on or before
April 15, which will begin a 30-day public review period. E.P.A. will review all of the comments and make changes to the suggested list as appropriate.

For more information visit: http://www.epa.gov/reg3wapd/tmdl/303list.html.

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