[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 174 (Monday, September 9, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57228-57230]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-22813]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-7373-3]
Notice of Availability of National Management Measures to Control
Nonpoint Source Pollution From Urban Areas and Request for Comments
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comment.
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SUMMARY: EPA is requesting comment on draft guidance for the prevention
and control of urban runoff. This technical guidance was written to
provide technical assistance to State and local elected officials and
agencies, landowners, developers, environmental and conservation
groups, and watershed practitioners on the best available, most
economically achievable means of reducing nonpoint source pollution
from urban sources. The guidance is not a regulation and it does not
impose legally binding requirements on EPA, States, Territories,
authorized Tribes, or the public.
The guidance is organized from a watershed perspective and was
written to cover all phases of runoff management from planning and
development to program evaluation. The guidance provides up-to-date
effectiveness and cost information on management practices, literature
citations, internet links to additional information and case studies
from across the country. Reviewers should note that the draft technical
guidance is consistent with the Guidance Specifying Management Measures
for Sources of Nonpoint Pollution in Coastal Waters (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 1993
document, but provides an expanded framework for addressing urban
runoff. The guidance was written to apply to both coastal and inland
areas and contains updated technical information that has become
available since the 1993 guidance was published. The guidance is not
intended to be used as a basis to review and approve either CZARA
section 6217 or Clean Water Act section 319 State nonpoint source
management programs. However, EPA and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) encourage use of the revised guidance
in the development and revision of Tribal, State and local programs to
address urban runoff/storm water. The draft guidance revises several of
the management measures published in 1993 due to the availability of
new information and evolving management approaches. In addition, four
new management measures have been added to provide information on
developing and implementing a comprehensive runoff management program.
EPA will consider comments on this draft guidance and will then
issue final guidance.
DATES: Written comments should be submitted to the person listed below
by December 9, 2002.
[[Page 57229]]
ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to Rod Frederick, Assessment and
Watershed Protection Division (4503-T), U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20460. Non-U.S.
Postal Service comments should be sent to Rod Frederick, Assessment and
Watershed Protection Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
EPA West, Room 7417A, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC
20004. Faxed comments should be sent to Rod Frederick at (202) 566-
1331. Comments can also be emailed to [email protected].
The complete text of the draft guidance is available on EPA's
Internet site on the Nonpoint Source Control Branch 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 Rod Frederick at the
above address, by e-mail at [email protected], or by calling (202)
566-1197.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rod Frederick at (202) 566-1197 or
email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
In 1993, under the authority of section 6217(g) of the CZARA, EPA
issued Guidance Specifying Management Measures for Sources of Nonpoint
Pollution in Coastal Waters. The 1993 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. 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 assess the nonpoint source pollution problems within the State,
Territory, or Tribal lands; identify the sources of pollution; and
implement 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 2002, Congress appropriated and EPA awarded $237.5 million for
nonpoint source management program grants. EPA has awarded a total of
approximately $1.5 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 urban
areas 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 with management measure implementation and
assessments of urban watersheds are available to enrich the national
guidance. These changes have helped to prompt the revision and
expansion of the urban chapter of the 1993 guidance.
II. Scope of the Draft Urban Nonpoint Source Management Measures
Guidance--Sources of Nonpoint Source Pollution Addressed
The draft Urban Nonpoint Source Management Measures Guidance was
written to provide information useful in the development,
implementation and enhancement of new and existing urban runoff
management programs. The guidance was structured to reflect the major
phases and elements that should generally be included and implemented
in an effective urban runoff/storm water program. EPA envisions that
the guidance will serve both as a template for the development of new
comprehensive runoff/programs and as a technical reference for existing
program managers.
The guidance contains a set of twelve management measures that
address various aspects of program development from planning and
assessment to management practice selection and eventually program
monitoring and evaluation. Each management measure is a collection of
management actions or program elements that EPA has determined are
important to prevent and reduce urban nonpoint source pollution. EPA
has provided a list of practices that can be used to implement the
objectives of each management measure. Both nonstructural and
structural management practices are included in the guidance. Examples
of nonstructural practices include planning and zoning, minimizing/
limiting impervious surfaces, source reduction and recycling, runoff
management ordinances, siting to minimize disturbance of natural
drainage systems, and operation and maintenance programs. Examples of
structural practices include conventional and alternative onsite
wastewater treatment systems such as septic tanks followed by drain
fields or recirculating media filters, and runoff controls such as silt
fencing, infiltration (e.g., berms and trenches), low impact
bioretention (e.g., rain gardens, vegetated roofs, vegetated swales),
and detention and retention (e.g., wet and dry ponds, street and swale
storage, and baffle boxes).
III. Approach Used To Develop Guidance
The draft National Urban Nonpoint Source 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. To revise the
guidance, EPA conducted a literature review, interviewed technical
experts and collected and evaluated new information. The 1993 text has
been expanded to include new and updated information about the cost and
effectiveness of runoff treatment practices; examples of urban nonpoint
source projects that successfully implement the practices outlined in
the guidance; methods for evaluating the effectiveness of nonpoint
source control programs; and descriptions of technical references and
guidance manuals that are useful references for urban runoff program
managers. A few management measures have been added to frame the urban
measures in the context of an overall watershed approach to control
urban sources of pollution.
IV. Request for Comments
EPA is soliciting comments on the draft guidance. Specific issues
EPA seeks comments on include: examples of effective runoff control
strategies, programs, rules and regulations that illustrate the
concepts in the guidance;
[[Page 57230]]
information pertaining to demonstrated water quality or habitat
benefits from the implementation of the approaches and practices
described in the draft guidance; management practice effectiveness
studies and data, cost information and information on operation and
maintenance practices.
Dated: August 29, 2002.
G. Tracy Mehan III,
Assistant Administrator for Water.
[FR Doc. 02-22813 Filed 9-6-02; 8:45 am]
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