823R03010ES
UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460
AUG 20 2003
OFFICE OF
WATER
EPA-823-R-03-010
EPA-823-F-03-011
Dear Colleague:
I am pleased to send to you the Strategy for Water Quality Standards and Criteria-. Setting
Priorities to Strengthen the Foundation for Protecting and Restoring the Nation's Waters. If you
were among those who participated in the listening sessions or provided comments, I want to thank
you for your help in making this final Strategy a customer-centered product. We appreciate your
assistance.
The Strategy focuses on what the Office of Science and Technology (OST) and other EPA
offices need to accomplish to meet the program needs of EPA, the states and the authorized tribes.
OST's efforts on the Strategy began in 2001 and is the result of a wide-ranging review and analysis of
the water quality standards and criteria program within the context of all clean water programs. In the
development of the Strategy, the workgroup focused on actions that would address the major needs of
the water quality criteria and standards program and other programs that link to water quality
standards. The workgroup also sought input from states, EPA program offices and stakeholder groups
through more than 50 listening sessions with over 350 people during April-September 2001.
We made a number of revisions to the May 2002 draft of the Strategy based on written
comments from many of you and based on further discussions with EPA and state staff. The main
focus of the revisions was to define clear priorities among the strategic actions and to establish
reasonable milestones for those actions. The final Strategy contains ten priority strategic actions that
OST will take in collaboration with other EPA offices, including Regional Offices, states and
authorized tribes over the next six years to strengthen and improve the water quality standards and
criteria program. These strategic actions are critical to making progress on the most important
environmental problems, to accelerate the adoption and use of appropriate water quality standards, to
reduce the burdens and impediments to program implementation, and to promote broad participation
in activities affecting the Nation's surface waters.
Internet Address (URL) • http://www.epa.gov
Recycled/Recyclable • Printed with Vegetable Oil Based Inks on Recycled Paper (Minimum 30% Poslconsumer)
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Copies of this document (EPA-823-R-03-010) can be obtained from the National Service
Center for Environmental Publications, P.O. Box 42419, Cincinnati, OH., 45242, by phone at 1-800-
490-9198, or on the web site at www.epa.gov/ncepihom/ordering.htm. A pdf version of this
document is available for viewing or downloading from OST's home page at
www.epa.gov/waterscience/standards/strategv.
We appreciate you continued interest in EPA's activities related to water quality.
Sincerely,
Denise Keehner, Director
Standards and Health Protection Division
Enclosure
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