Notice of EPA Approval of Georgia Water Quality Standards

EPD Watershed Protection Branch

Notice of EPA Approval of Georgia

Water Quality Standards

 

Water quality standards establish the foundation for water quality management programs in Georgia, including water quality monitoring and assessments, impaired waters lists, and total maximum daily loads, as well as water quality-based effluent limits in National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) discharge permits. Georgia’s water quality standards are found in Rule 391-3-6-.03 of the Rules and Regulations for Water Quality Control, Chapter 391-3-6.

Section 303(c) of the Federal Clean Water Act [33 U.S.C. 1313(c)] requires that states and authorized tribes hold a public hearing to review their water quality standards at least once every three years (i.e., triennial review), and that EPA review and approve or disapprove any new or revised state and authorized tribal standards.

EPD initiated the 2019 triennial review of Georgia’s water quality standards (2019 triennial review) by holding a public hearing on February 26, 2019. Additional public meetings for the 2019 triennial review were held to allow the public and interested stakeholders further opportunities to provide input. A final public hearing was held on Tuesday, December 13, 2021, to provide the public a final opportunity to comment and offer input on the proposed rule amendments.

The final rule amendments resulting from the 2019 triennial review were adopted by the DNR Board of Natural Resources on January 28, 2022 and were certified by the GA Secretary of State and Attorney General before being sent to EPA for approval on April 1, 2022. EPA approved the rule amendments on August 31, 2022.  The approved water quality standards are attached to this notice and can also be found on EPD’s water quality standards webpage at:

https://epd.georgia.gov/watershed-protection-branch/georgia-water-quality-standards

 The rule revisions that resulted from the 2019 Triennial Review included the following:

• Incorporate the term “designated use(s)” throughout the rule;
• Add a definition for “primary contact recreation”, and update the description of the Recreation designated use for consistency with this definition;
• Update the definition for “secondary contact recreation”;
• Remove the word “unreasonably” from the general criteria;
• Add water effects ratio (WER) multiplier to the metal freshwater aquatic life criteria equations;
• Adopt EPA’s 2009 recommended aquatic life acrolein criteria;
• Adopt EPA’s 2012 recommended aquatic life carbaryl criteria;
• Revise and clarify the state’s bacteria criteria;
• Update the description for the Recreation designated use;
• Update the bacteria criteria description in paragraph (12) for consistency with updates to the bacteria criteria;
• Revise and correct specific designated uses for various waterbodies;
• Update pH criteria, and remove Total Nitrogen and Total Phosphorus criteria, for Lakes Oconee and Sinclair;
• Update temperature criteria for West Point and Walter F. George Lakes;
• Add language to allow site-specific metal criteria based on the Biotic Ligand Model or on water effect ratios; and
• Clarify language, and correct formatting or typos errors, in several paragraphs.

Distributed on 9/2/2022

• Georgia Water Quality Standards_Aug 2022.pdf