[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 215 (Tuesday, November 6, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56106-56107]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-27837]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-7099-3]
Notice of Availability of National Management Measures to Protect
and Restore Wetlands and Riparian Areas for the Abatement of Nonpoint
Source Pollution and Request for Comments
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comment.
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SUMMARY: EPA has developed and is requesting comment on draft technical
guidance for protecting and restoring wetlands and riparian areas from
sources of nonpoint pollution and using vegetated treatment systems
(vegetative filter strips and constructed wetlands) for controlling
nonpoint source pollution. This guidance is intended to provide
technical assistance to state program managers and others on the best
available, economically achievable means of protecting and restoring
wetlands and riparian areas from nonpoint source pollution.
Additionally, this guidance provides technical assistance for state
program managers on the use of vegetated treatment systems to control
nonpoint source pollution. The guidance provides background information
about nonpoint source pollution, including where it comes from and how
it enters the Nation's waters. It also presents many examples of how to
protect and restore the many functions of wetlands and riparian areas
from the impacts of nonpoint source pollution. The guidance concludes
with a variety of illustrations for using vegetated treatment systems
to control sources of nonpoint pollution.
Reviewers should note that the draft technical guidance is entirely
consistent with the Guidance Specifying Management Measures for Sources
of Nonpoint Pollution in Coastal Water (EPA 840-B-92-002), which EPA
published in January 1993 under the authority of section 6217(g) of the
Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments of 1990 (CZARA). The draft
document does not supplant or replace the requirements of the 1993
document. It enhances the technical information contained in the 1993
coastal guidance to include inland as well as coastal context and to
provide updated technical information based on current understanding
and implementation of best management practices (BMP) controls. It does
not set new or additional standards for either CZARA section 6217 or
Clean Water Act section 319 programs.
EPA will consider comments on this draft guidance and will then
issue final guidance.
DATES: Written comments should be addressed to the person listed
directly below by February 4, 2002.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Chris Solloway, Assessment and
Watershed Protection Division (4503-F), U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460. Non-US
Postal Service comments should be sent to Chris Solloway, Assessment
and Watershed Protection Division, U.S.
[[Page 56107]]
Environmental Protection Agency, Room 200, 499 S. Capitol Street, SW.,
Washington, DC 20003. Faxes should be sent to (202) 260-7024. Comments
via E-mail may be sent to [email protected].
The complete text of the draft guidance is available on EPA's
Internet site on the Nonpoint Source Control Branch's homepage at
http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps>. Copies of the complete draft can also be
obtained in electronic or hard copy format by request from Chris
Solloway at the above address, by E-mail at [email protected]>, or
by calling (202) 260-3008.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Contact Chris Solloway at (202) 260-3008.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
In 1993, under the authority of section 6217(g) of the Coastal Zone
Act Reauthorization Amendments, EPA issued Guidance Specifying
Management Measures for Sources of Nonpoint Pollution in Coastal
Waters. That guidance document details management measures appropriate
for the control of five categories of nonpoint sources of pollution in
the coastal zone: agriculture, forestry, urban areas, marinas and
recreational boating, and hydromodification. The document also includes
management measures for wetlands, riparian areas, and vegetated
treatment systems because they are important to the abatement of
nonpoint source pollution in coastal waters. States and territories
were required to adopt measures ``in conformity'' with the coastal
management measures guidance for their Coastal Nonpoint Pollution
Control Programs.
State, territory, and tribal water quality assessments continue to
identify nonpoint source pollution as a major cause of degradation in
surveyed waters nationwide. In 1987 Congress enacted section 319 of the
Clean Water Act to establish a national program to control nonpoint
sources of water pollution. Under section 319, States, territories, and
tribes address nonpoint source pollution by assessing the nonpoint
source pollution problems within the State, territory, or tribal lands;
identifying the sources of pollution; and implementing management
programs to control the pollution. Section 319 also authorizes EPA to
award grants to States, territories, and tribes to assist them in
implementing management programs that EPA has approved. Program
implementation includes nonregulatory and regulatory programs,
technical assistance, financial assistance, education, training,
technology transfer, and demonstration projects. In fiscal year 2001,
Congress appropriated approximately $237 million for nonpoint source
management program grants. EPA has awarded a total of approximately
$1.3 billion to States, territories, and Indian tribes since 1990.
The 1993 management measures guidance, developed under the
authority of CZARA, focused on conditions and examples of management
measure implementation within the coastal zone. To date, technical
guidance on the best available, economically achievable measures for
controlling nonpoint sources with a national focus has not been
released. The draft national management measures guidance for wetlands
is intended to partially address this gap. Although the practices
detailed in the 1993 coastal guidance apply generally to inland areas,
EPA has recognized the utility of developing and publishing technical
guidance that explicitly addresses nonpoint source pollution on a
nationwide basis. Moreover, additional information and examples from
research and experience to date with implementation of the management
measures are available to enrich the national guidance. These changes
have helped to prompt the revision and expansion of the wetlands
chapter of the 1993 guidance.
II. Scope of the Draft Wetlands Guidance--Sources of Nonpoint
Source Pollution Addressed
The draft technical guidance continues to focus on the protection
and restoration of wetlands and riparian areas and the use of vegetated
treatment systems to control nonpoint sources of pollution identified
for the 1993 coastal guidance by EPA in consultation with a number of
other Federal agencies and other leading national experts.
Specifically, the guidance identifies management measures for the
following:
i. The protection of wetlands and riparian areas.
ii. The restoration of wetlands and riparian areas.
iii. Vegetated treatment systems.
III. Approach Used To Develop Guidance
The draft national management measures guidance is based in large
part on the 1993 coastal guidance. The coastal guidance was developed
using a workgroup approach to draw upon technical expertise within
other federal agencies as well as state water quality and coastal zone
management agencies. The 1993 text has been expanded to include
information on the cost and effectiveness of wetlands and riparian
areas and vegetative treatment systems for removing nonpoint source
pollution, descriptions of ways to protect wetlands and riparian areas,
resources for planning and implementing wetlands and riparian area
restoration projects, a discussion on mitigation banking, and examples
of projects that used vegetated treatment systems to control nonpoint
source pollution.
IV. Request for Comments
EPA is soliciting comments on the draft guidance on management
measures to protect and restore wetlands and riparian area for the
abatement of nonpoint source pollution and for the use of vegetated
treatment systems. The Agency is soliciting additional information and
supporting data on the measures specified in this guidance and on
additional measures that may be as effective or more effective to
protect and restore wetlands and riparian areas for the abatement of
nonpoint source pollution and the use of vegetated treatment systems.
EPA requests that commenters focus their comments on the technical
soundness of the draft management measures guidance.
Dated: October 22, 2001.
G. Tracy Mehan, III,
Assistant Administrator for Water.
[FR Doc. 01-27837 Filed 11-5-01; 8:45 am]
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