April 9 Workshop to Discuss Updates to List
The Department of Environmental Management announces that it will hold a public workshop on Thursday, April 9 to present updates to the List of Impaired Waters. The workshop will be held from 3-5 p.m. in Room 300 at DEM Headquarters, 235 Promenade Street in Providence. At the public workshop, DEM representatives will describe the process used to assess the state's surface waters, the data used for the assessment and updates to the list of those waters considered impaired. Also discussed will be the state's water quality restoration efforts.
DEM's Office of Water Resources assesses the quality of the state's surface waters by comparing available monitoring data against the state's established water quality criteria to determine whether the waters are suitable for such designated uses as drinking water, swimming, fish/shellfish consumption, and aquatic life support. The results of this assessment are presented in the state's Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report (Integrated Report) which documents the overall quality of the state's waters. It includes a five-part integrated list which provides information on each of the state's lakes, ponds, rivers, streams and estuarine waters.
Included in the integrated list is the state's 303(d) List of Impaired Waters which identifies those surface waters that do not meet water quality standards for which a water quality restoration study known as a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) is required, in accordance with the federal Clean Water Act. The 303(d) List establishes a schedule for development of the federally required water quality restoration studies, and as such, serves to guide the state's water quality restoration efforts.
The draft 303(d) List is available for public review and comment and is available on-line on DEM's website at: http://www.dem.ri.gov/pubs/303d/303d14d.pdf. DEM will be accepting comments on the draft list through April 29. Comments can be mailed to Elizabeth Scott, Deputy Chief, Office of Water Resources, 235 Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908, or they can be submitted via e-mail to elizabeth.scott@dem.ri.gov. The full five part draft Integrated List is also available on-line on DEM's website at: http://www.dem.ri.gov/programs/benviron/water/quality/pdf/iwqmon14d.pdf.