August is National Water Quality Month! Water is used every day in a variety of ways: for drinking, recreating, irrigating, transporting, and in industry and manufacturing, to name a few. Just try to imagine what life would be like for your utility customers without easy access to clean water. There would be no drinking fountains to quench their thirst when out on a hot day; no more swimming pools, and no lakes and rivers clean enough for recreational activities; and no more showers at home, or any running water for their businesses. National Water Quality Month reminds us to take a moment to consider how important our water sources are to humans and all of the other inhabitants of the ecosystem. By thinking about the little things that your customers do on a daily basis that could have a negative impact on water quality, and getting them to change their habits, you’ll be a step closer to improving water quality—for everyone. August is designated as National Water Quality Month by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but how is the quality of water in the United States determined? Water quality is based on a set of standards and criteria that describe the
desired conditions or level of protection, or how the required conditions will be established in waters of the U.S. in the future. These standards and criteria are provisions of the state, territorial, authorized tribal, or federal law approved by EPA.
The Standards of Water Quality Water quality standards must include the following items: S Designated uses of the water body. This requires states, territories, and authorized tribes to specify the goals and objectives about how each water body will be used, including fishing, recreating, drinking, agricultural irrigation, industrial uses, and navigation. S Criteria for protection of designated uses. States, territories, and authorized tribes must adopt criteria that protect the designated uses. These criteria can be numeric or narrative and most entities typically adopt both types. S Antidegradation requirements. These provide the framework of water quality protection by maintaining the current uses
4 July 2021 • Florida Water Resources Journal
of the water and protecting the quality that has already been achieved. S General policies for implementation. Based on EPA approval, states, territories, and authorized tribes are allowed to adopt policies and provisions for implementation of water quality standards. Water quality standards are developed by states, territories, and authorized tribes using federal guidelines of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Each of these entities adopts its own legal and administrative procedures for the adoption of standards. Generally, they use the following steps: S Work groups or informal public meetings are held to develop the standards. The proposed standards are then publicized for public comment. S Public hearings are scheduled to gather input from the public. S Water quality criteria must be included to provide sufficient coverage and be stringent enough to protect the designated uses.
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