Designated Uses Two

Meaning of designation

Waters designated as “swimming” are not always safe for swimming. Neither are waters with a “fishing” designation necessarily safe for fish and other aquatic organisms or for catching and eating fish. A water quality designation recognizes existing and potential uses and the criteria must be set to support them. It does not necessarily make any statement about existing water quality conditions.

Agencies are often reluctant to upgrade a water body’s use designation if satisfactory water quality conditions to support the proposed designations don’t already consistently exist. But waters should be classified to protect all uses that already exist (or have existed since 1975), even if water quality is not yet as consistently good as it ought to be for that use. For example, if people are actually swimming in the water, the water should be classified for swimming, even if existing water quality makes swimming sometimes unsafe. This is significant, because if a water body used for swimming hasn’t been designated for swimming, it will likely be much harder to achieve safe conditions.

States may designate uses that are anticipated or desired. For instance, a state may choose to classify a water body for a “drinking water” use, even though no one is currently using it as a drinking water source. The drinking water designation would help the state set official clean-up and protection goals. It would also help prevent new activities that could make it harder to achieve and maintain the desired level of quality suitable for drinking source water.

Removing designated uses

The removal of designated uses is discouraged and may occur only in specific, limited circumstances. Weakening or removing a designated use is called “downgrading.” “Downgrading” is prohibited if it would remove protection for any existing use. It is also prohibited if water quality to support the designated use could be attained through point source or nonpoint source controls (40CFR131.10(h)). If the designated use is not an existing use, and if all regulatory controls and best management practices are in place, a scientific assessment of the chemical, physical, biological and economic factors that determine whether the use can be achieved (use attainability analysis) must be performed before a designated use can be weakened or removed (40CFR131.10(j)).

Across the country there is increasing pressure to downgrade and remove uses amidst claims that uses were improperly designated in the 1970s or that they simply cannot be met.