Understanding Benchmarks for Watershed Health

Under the Clean Water Act, states establish water quality standards that define the goals and limits for all waters within their jurisdictions. Water quality standards give the Act much of its meaning - and its backbone.

In addition to setting goals, limits and rules for each water body, water quality standards drive the development of water quality-based discharge permits. They also determine which waters must be cleaned up, how much they must be cleaned up, and which clean waters need protection. Consequently, they drivemany restoration and protection activities in a watershed over the long term.

In states where water quality standards are strong, they act as a powerful force for pollution prevention and water quality improvement. In states where water quality standards are weak, they may offer little or no defense at all.

Standards are waterbody-specific. In other words, different standards apply to different water bodies. Unless the standards for your river, stream, lake, wetland, or estuary are right, your work to protect or restore it will be harder than necessary.

In fact, some of your tasks may be next to impossible, because in watersheds where standards are weak, harmful activities can be perfectly legal. This is why it's important to address weak standards in your watershed before specific harmful activities are proposed. Far from being abstractions of interest only to scientists, bureaucrats and policy analysts, water quality standards can be a matter of life or death for each and every stream. Nearly every Clean Water Act provision depends on them.

The Public's Role

Fortunately, the Clean Water Act allows citizens to play a significant role in getting the standards right in your watershed. The Clean Water Act requires states to provide regular opportunities for public involvement. Interested citizens have a right and responsibility to weigh in regularly on water quality standards issues in their state. The public involvement procedures applying to all water quality standards are described at the end of this chapter.

The Act also requires the EPA to oversee each state's water quality standards decisions and public involvement processes. The EPA must step in if state standards do not meet minimum requirements or if states fail to involve the public in all the necessary ways. One of the public's roles is to bring existing or emerging water quality standards issues and concerns to the EPA's attention.

Major components of water quality standards

In establishing water quality standards, states must take three major, interrelated actions. They must 1) designate uses; 2) establish water quality criteria; and 3) develop and implement antidegradation policies and procedures.

				Next: Water Quality Uses