Devils River State Natural Area
Image Credit: Texas Parks and Wildlife
2015 Environmental Trade Fair and Conference
Jill Csekitz
Technical Specialist
TCEQ Monitoring & Assessment Section
Overview
• Status of the Texas Surface Water Quality Standards
(TSWQS)
• 2010
• 2014
• 2017
• Status of Nutrient Criteria Development
• Where are we going?
• Emerging issues?
Timeline of Standards Development
1967
1975-1981
Adopted on June
26, 1967
-designated uses
-narrative criteria
-site specific uses
-compliance with
Federal Water
Quality Standards
Regulations
1960s – 70’s
1973
-1st
revision under
the Clean Water
Act
-antidegradation
policy
1980’s
-support permitting
-1983 Federal rules
and criteria
guidance
-1984 aquatic life
categories, State
rule
-1986 lawsuit
-1988 toxics for aquatic life
and UAAs
-treatment costs
-Implementation Procedures
1990’s and 2000
1991-2000
-toxics for human health
-Clean Rivers Program
-TMDL’s
-200 0 indicator
bacteria, numerous
adjustments to site
specific criteria and
toxics, temporary
variances
2010
-contact rec categories
-numeric nutrient
criteria
-numerous adjustments
to toxics and sitespecific criteria
2010 to Present
2014
-primary contact
recreation 2
-site specific
changes
-temperature
2010 Revision: EPA Action
• EPA Action Letters
• June 29, 2011
• August 24, 2012
• July 2, 2013
Paddlers, Lady Bird Lake
Image Credit: Texas River School
• Action letters posted on TCEQ Website
• Highlighted 2010 rule indicates status of
approval
Still Under Review
• EPA has acted upon vast majority of revisions from
2010!
• Appendix A
• Temperature criteria for 3 segments (Guadalupe and Cypress
Creek Basins)
• Dissolved minerals criteria for 19 segments
Alligator Gar, Trinity River
Image Credit: Larry D. Hodge, ©Texas Parks and Wildlife
2014 Triennial Revision
• Preliminary comments received (July, 2011)
• Advisory Workgroups (March, May, November
2012)
• Proposed (August 21, 2013)
• Public hearing (October 17, 2013)
• Adoption Agenda (February 12, 2014)
• Effective as a state rule (March 6, 2014)
• Sent to EPA (April 23, 2014)
2014 Revision
• Revision of statewide toxic criteria
• Mercury
• Human health criteria are all based on
water column concentrations
• Additional site-specific standards for
individual water bodies
• Dissolved minerals, pH, DO, contact
recreation, toxics
Additional Topics
• Temperature Criteria
• Different mixing zone sizes for specific numeric criteria
• Industrial cooling water areas
• Expand recreational categories
• Primary Contact Recreation 2 – freshwater only
•
•
•
Geomean criteria 206 E. coli / 100 mL
Activities like swimming and wading by children that occur
on a less frequent basis due to limited public access or
physical characteristics of the water body
Requires a contact recreation study
2014 Revision: EPA Action
• EPA Action Letter
• September 23, 2014
• Action letters posted on TCEQ Website
• Highlighted 2014 rule indicates status of
approval
Approvals
• Human Health Criteria
• Bacteria
•
Removal fecal coliform
• Appendix A (Site-specific Uses and Criteria for
Classified Segments)
•
•
Public Water Supply removal from Segment 1110 – Oyster
Creek Above Tidal
Uses and criterion for Segment 1258 – Middle Oyster Creek
and Segment 1259 – Leon Creek above Belton Lake
• Appendix B (Sole source surface drinking water
supplies)
Approvals
• Appendix C (Segment descriptions)
•
Boundary changes and clarifications for 8 segments
• Appendix D (Site-specific Uses and Criteria for
Unclassified Water Bodies)
•
•
Corrections and non-substantive changes for 10 water
bodies
Footnote for unclassified portion of Lavaca River in
Segment 1602 – Lavaca River Above Tidal
• Appendix E (Site-specific toxic criteria)
Approvals
• Appendix G (Site-specific Recreational Uses and
Criteria for Unclassified Water Bodies)
•
Addition of 8 water bodies
• Temperature
•
•
•
Definition of “industrial cooling water area”
Designation of industrial cooling water areas in 307.4(f)
Allowance for alternate sized mixing zones for separate
constituents at a single discharge point
No Action – 2014 WQS
• Removal of standards previously disapproved by
EPA
• Mercury
• High-flow exemption
• Deferment of listings
• Nutrient criteria for 36 reservoirs
2014 Revision: Next Steps
• Remaining portions are still under review
• Provisions must be approved by EPA to be used in
Clean Water Act activities like wastewater permitting
and assessment
Frio River, Garner State Park
Image Credit: Texas Parks and Wildlife
2017 Revision
• Preliminary Comment: March 6th notice of Texas
Register
• 30 day public comment period
• Stakeholder meetings: Winter and spring 2016
• Proposal: Late spring 2017
• Adoption: Fall 2017
How Many States Have Some
Numeric Criteria?
TP
2015
1998
TN
Chla
0
10
20
30
40
50
Number of States
http://cfpub.epa.gov/wqsits/nncdevelopment/
Nutrients: What Next?
• 2014: Nutrient Criteria
Development Plan
• 2017: Address
reservoir criteria
disapproved by EPA
• 2017: Consider
criteria in selected
estuaries and
upstream contributing
inputs
Increasing Use of Response Variables
• Chlorophyll a – 21
• Water clarity – 10
• Phytoplankton – 1
• Algal growth potential -1
Bioconfirmation
• Combines multiple nutrient-related benchmarks into
•
•
•
•
a single criterion
Integrates cause (TN and TP) and response
parameters (algal component, dissolved oxygen, pH,
water clarity)
Multiple lines of evidence increases certainty of
impairment
Can be used to “translate” narrative nutrient criteria
using thresholds (non-regulatory)
Combined values should be sensitive to nutrient
pollution and have a link to a designated use
Example – New Mexico Reservoir Assessment
Using non-Regulatory Thresholds
2014 Stakeholder Survey Results
• Site-specific values preferred
• Interest in associating nutrient concentrations and
response variables to designated uses
• Interest in a translating narrative criteria
• Suggestions for modeling and reaching out to new
stakeholders
https://www.tceq.texas.gov/assets/public/waterquality/standards/ncdawg/10-1-2014/NCDAWG_10_2014_Survey_Responses.pdf
Periphyton Sampling
• Important for future nutrient criteria development in
rivers and streams
• Initial procedures included in latest revision of
SWQM Procedures Vol. 2
• Still a work in progress
Harmful Algal Blooms and Protection of
Source Waters
Algal bloom in Lake Erie, time frame unknown.
Image courtesy of Ohio Dept. of Health.
Algal bloom in the west end of Lake Erie, August 3, 2014.
Image courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory.
Getting Involved
• Surface Water Quality Standards Advisory
Workgroup
• Nutrient Criteria Development Advisory Workgroup
Llano River, “The Slab” swimming hole
Image Credit: LakesandHills.com
Contact Information
Jill Csekitz
[email protected]
(512) 239-3136
Email general questions to:
[email protected]