Statute, regulations and guidance on listing

The statute on listing is fairly basic:

“Each state shall identify those waters within its boundaries for which the effluent limitations [for industrial and municipal wastewater] are not stringent enough to implement any water quality standard applicable to such waters.”

(CWA, 303(d)(1)(A), also see 40CFR130.7(b))

You can find the “Guidance for 2004 Assessment, Listing and Reporting Requirements Pursuant to Sections 303(d) and 305(b) of the Clean Water Act” and the 2006 Guidance (draft at time of printing), on EPA’s website at www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/.

When in doubt about how to interpret apparently contradictory parts of the listing and TMDL process, keep in mind that statute and regulations are the binding legal requirements. The statute overrules the regulations developed to implement the statute. Guidance documents are the agency's interpretation; they are not legally binding. These interpretations can be adapted on a case-by-case basis and changed in future guidance documents.

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