GREAT BAY
and
NEW HAMPSHIRE
WATER QUALITY STANDARDS
Southeast Watershed Alliance
March 9, 2011
Paul M. Currier, PE,PG
Watershed Management Bureau
NH Department of Environmental Services
WQS Essentials
• Purpose: “…provide for the protection and propagation of
fish, shellfish, and wildlife…”
• WATER QUALITY STANDARDS are STATE law and rule
– EPA reviews and approves the standards for consistency with the
federal CLEAN WATER ACT
• THREE COMPONENTS
– Designated Uses [aquatic life / biological integrity, recreation, and
others]
– Criteria to support the Uses [Measurable attributes of a waterbody]
– Antidegradation
Little Bay
October 2001
- Chris Nash
KINDS OF CRITERIA
• NARRATIVE
[“Class B waters shall contain no phosphorus or
nitrogen in such concentrations that would impair any
existing or designated uses, unless naturally occurring.”]
• NUMERIC
[…“class B waters shall have a dissolved oxygen content
of at least 75% of saturation, based on a daily average,
and an instantaneous minimum dissolved oxygen
concentration of at least 5 mg/l.”]
Biological Integrity Narrative
“The surface waters shall support and maintain
a balanced, integrated, and adaptive
community of organisms having a species
composition, diversity, and functional
organization comparable to that of similar
natural habitats of a region”
[e.g. Eelgrass cover is a measure of this in the Great Bay
Estuary; a macroinvertebrate Index of Biological Integrity
is a measure of this in wadeable streams]
Important Points
• NARRATIVE criteria must be TRANSLATED into
quantitative terms to be used for ASSESSMENTS
• ASSESSMENT means evaluating WATERBODIES to
see if criteria are met for a particular designated use
– Collecting data [sampling / monitoring]
– Analyzing the data in a standardized way
– Comparing the analysis to WQS criteria
• The CALM [Consolidated Assessment and Listing
Methodology]: a compendium of protocols for
monitoring and analysis of data from waterbodies to
produce assessments (on the DES website)
– Contains TRANSLATORS for narrative criteria
ASSESSMENT:
Application of Criteria
• Statewide waterbody catalog
– Assessment Units [=Waterbodies]: Homogeneous pieces of
surface water that can be monitored / assessed as one unit
• Statewide assessment every 2 years
– “305(b) report” and “303(d) list :
– FOR EACH ASSESSMENT UNIT, Assemble all relevant data,
apply the CALM, and report whether or not criteria for the
designated uses are met
• Result can be: FULLY SUPPORTING,NOT SUPPORTING, OR
INSUFFICIENT INFORMATION / NOT ASSESSED
• 2010 report is on the web
– Report Cards on ONESTOP for surface water AUs
303(d) LIST
• A list of ASSESSMENT UNITS that are IMPAIRED
[= flunk one or more criteria] by POLLUTANTS
– Pollutants: things like nutrients, BOD, TSS, temperature, toxics
• PROCESS
– Identify pollutants [sometimes need stressor analysis]
– Do a TMDL [Total Maximum Daily Load] study to:
• Estimate maximum pollutant load that will meet WQS
• Allocate the load between point sources (Wasteload Allocation) and
nonpoint sources (Load Allocation)
– Prepare and carry out a TMDL implementation plan
NUTRIENT CRITERIA
DEFINITION
• Numeric nutrient criteria define levels of nutrients (i.e., nitrogen
and phosphorus) protective of the designated uses of water
bodies from over-enrichment
• Over-enrichment of water bodies by nitrogen and phosphorus
typically stimulates plant and microbial growth, and can result in
biological and physical responses that adversely affect water
quality and aquatic life.
• The USEPA guidance recommends development of criteria for
both total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP), the
primary causal constituents, and for chlorophyll a and water
clarity, the primary response constituents
FROM: Empirical Approaches to Establishing Numeric Nutrient Criteria for
Southwest Florida Estuaries, Janiki Environmental, Inc, July 10, 2010
Figure 1: Assessment Zones in the Great Bay Estuary
From DES’
nutrient criteria
report
EXAMPLE: Oyster River
Oyster River Aquatic Life
Impairments (2010 assessment)
•
•
•
•
•
•
Chlorophyll – A [annual median > 10 ug/l]
Dissolved Oxygen Saturation [daily mean < 75%]
Estuarine Bioassessments [eelgrass loss]
Light Attenuation Coeff. [Kd <0.75(depth dependent)]
Nitrogen (total) [Annual median < 0.30 mg/l]
Oxygen, dissolved [instantaneous min. < 5 mg/l]
Note: although these criteria are all monitored and assessed separately, there are
Significant interactions among them.
IMPORTANT POINT
• The Great Bay estuary is not homogeneous.
• Each assessment unit has an individual
assessment and will need an individual TMDL
and implementation plan.
• NPDES permits will utilize best available
information
–
–
–
–
Water Quality Standards
Translators / CALM
TMDLs [but permits won’t wait for them]
Any other pertinent information
CURRENT STATUS
• “Nutrient Criteria” [really translators for nitrogen, chl-a,
and Kd] published June, 2009
• Most Great Bay estuary AUs have been assessed for
aquatic life as of 2010 assessment, and are listed as
impaired for aquatic life due to nutrient criteria
• N-STEPS peer review completed
• Draft “Analysis of Nitrogen Loading Reductions…”
published Dec, 2010
• Load Allocation study in progress
• Discussions underway about additional review
– Stressor analysis [sometimes called cause and effect analysis]
Nannie Island, 2001
Chris Nash