vvEPA
United States Office of Water EPA-823-F-99-022
Environmental Protection (4305) December. 1999
Agency
FACT SHEET
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WATER QUALITY-BASED PROVISIONS IN
THE CSO CONTROL POLICY: OUTLINE OF DRAFT EPA GUIDANCE
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is fulfilling its obligation to report
progress on developing guidance to facilitate water quality and designated use reviews for CSO
receiving waters by submitting an outline of the draft guidance to the House Appropriations
Committee, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the Senate Appropriations
Committee'and the Senate'Environment and Public Works Committee. Congress in House
Report 105-769, accompanying EPA's FY 1999 Appropriations, urged the Agency to develop
guidance and to provide technical and financial assistance to States and EPA Regions to conduct
water quality standards reviews for CSO-receiving waters.
The outline of the draft guidance, Implementation of the Water Quality-Based Provisions of
the CSO Control Policy (EPA-823-R-99-015) provides information on the policy, programmatic
and' technical guidance the Agency is developing for public review and comment in April, 2000.
The draft guidance will lay a strong foundation for integrating the development and
implementation of long-term combined sewer overflow (CSO) control plans with water quality
standards reviews for CSO-receiving waters. By working closely together, CSO communities
along with their community-based organizations, States and EPA can achieve the level of CSO
control in a combined sewer system to contribute to the attainment of water quality standards.
State water quality standards reviews for CSO receiving waters and revision of the standards
or implementation procedures, if appropriate, require sound scientific data and analyses. The
data collected and the analyses conducted by CSO communities as they develop their long-term
CSO control plan can be used to inform States water quality standards reviews, if there is early
agreement on the data and analyses that would be required to support any water quality standards
revision Both the development and implementation of CSO control plans and water quality
standards reviews are iterative processes. These iterative processes enable implementation ot
high priority CSO controls while data, information and analyses are developed to support water
quality standards reviews.
In addition to the outline of the draft guidance, EPA is providing two additional documents -
Summary of Participant Comments at the EPA-WEFExperts Workshop on Implementing the
WQ-Bald Provisions in the CSO Control Policy (EPA-823-R-99-016) and.Summaryof the
Listening Sessions - Observations & Recommendations for Guidance and Technical Assistance
to Facilitate Water Quality and Designated Use Reviews for Waters Impacted by Combined
Sewer Overflows (EP A-8i3-R-99-017). These documents provide the perspectives ot
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mdiuduals with whom EPA consulted to identity impediments to implementing the water1
quality-based provisions of the CSO Control Policy and the actions the Agency should take to
overcome the impediments.
EP \ismaking the documents available on the Internet at: www.epa.eovost.cso. Hard
copies will be distributed through EPA's National Service Center for Environmental Publications
(N'ECEP). The NECEP is authorized to distribute one free copy of the publications to each
requestor until supplies are depleted. Requests should be directed to:
U.S. EPA/NSCEP
P.O. Box 42419
Cincinnati, OH 45242-2419
Phone: 1-800-490-9198 (or (513) 489-8190,
FAX: (513)489-8695
WEB Site: www.epa.gov/ncepihom
For additional information, contact: Marjorie Pitts at (202) 260-1304 or
mm-forie@epa.gov or Tim Dwyer at (202) 260-6064 or dwver.tim@epa.gpv.
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