Review Of The Epa S Economic Analysis Of Final Water Quality Standards For Nutrients For Lakes And Flowing Waters In Florida

The Environmental Protection Agency's estimate of the costs associated with implementing numeric nutrient criteria in Florida's waterways was significantly lower than many stakeholders expected. This discrepancy was due, in part, to the fact that the Environmental Protection Agency's analysis considered only the incremental cost of reducing nutrients in waters it considered "newly impaired" as a result of the new criteria-not the total cost of improving water quality in Florida. The incremental approach is appropriate for this type of assessment, but the Environmental Protection Agency's cost analysis would have been more accurate if it better described the differences between the new numeric criteria rule and the narrative rule it would replace, and how the differences affect the costs of implementing nutrient reductions over time, instead of at a fixed time point. Such an analysis would have more accurately described which pollutant sources, for example municipal wastewater treatment plants or agricultural operations, would bear the costs over time under the different rules and would have better illuminated the uncertainties in making such cost estimates.

The Environmental Protection Agency's estimate of the costs associated with implementing numeric nutrient criteria in Florida's waterways was significantly lower than many stakeholders expected. This discrepancy was due, in part, to the fact that the Environmental Protection Agency's analysis considered only the incremental cost of reducing nutrients in waters it considered "newly impaired" as a result of the new criteria-not the total cost of improving water quality in Florida. The incremental approach is appropriate for this type of assessment, but the Environmental Protection Agency's cost analysis would have been more accurate if it better described the differences between the new numeric criteria rule and the narrative rule it would replace, and how the differences affect the costs of implementing nutrient reductions over time, instead of at a fixed time point. Such an analysis would have more accurately described which pollutant sources, for example municipal wastewater treatment plants or agricultural operations, would bear the costs over time under the different rules and would have better illuminated the uncertainties in making such cost estimates.

Water Quality Standards for the State of Florida's Lakes and Flowing Waters (US Environmental Protection Agency Regulation) (EPA) (2018 Edition) The Law Library presents the complete text of the Water Quality Standards for the State of Florida's Lakes and Flowing Waters (US Environmental Protection Agency Regulation) (EPA) (2018 Edition). Updated as of May 29, 2018 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is promulgating numeric water quality criteria for nitrogen/phosphorus pollution to protect aquatic life in lakes, flowing waters, and springs within the State of Florida. These criteria apply to Florida waters that are designated as Class I or Class III waters in order to implement the State's narrative nutrient provision at Subsection 62-302-530(47)(b), Florida Administrative Code (F.A.C.), which provides that "[i]n no case shall nutrient concentrations of a body of water be altered so as to cause an imbalance in natural populations of aquatic flora or fauna." This book contains: - The complete text of the Water Quality Standards for the State of Florida's Lakes and Flowing Waters (US Environmental Protection Agency Regulation) (EPA) (2018 Edition) - A table of contents with the page number of each section

The purpose of this project was to develop a methodology for deriving site-specific nutrient criteria (SSNC) for surface waters, including streams and rivers, lakes and reservoirs, and coastal estuaries. The methodology was developed to extend the United States Environmental Protection Agency's regional nutrient criteria for localized conditions characterized by particular desired water quality requirements or designated uses. The proposed SSNC methodology provides local stakeholders with a recipe for estimating nutrient criteria consistent with site-specific water quality management goals and objectives. The SSNC methodology prescribes a three-tiered or sequential approach for defining concentrations of acceptable nutrients in relation to management goals and objectives. Each tier requires successively more site-specific data and information and also develops increasingly quantitative and technologically more detailed relationships between nutrients and stated water quality measurements (chlorophyll a, Secchi depth, dissolved oxygen). The SSNC process can be initiated at any tier, although most applications will likely progress from Tier 1. The derivation of Tier 1 SSNC relies extensively on existing data and regional nutrient criteria. Tier 2 adds additional, more site-specific data and estimates SSNC on the basis of statistical relationships between nutrients and the selected water quality parameters of interest. Tier 3 extends Tier 2 through the development of additional site-specific data and the application of site-specific, process-level water quality models to estimate the SSNC. Follow-up monitoring is a key component of all three tiers for assessing the effectiveness of the SSNC in achieving the desired water quality characteristics and making subsequent decisions about continued implementation or modification of the SSNC. Benefits: SSNC can serve as effective alternatives to regional criteria, which may fail to achieve or sustain locally desired water quality conditions. The proposed methodology prescribes an efficient and economical approach for achieving site-specific water quality objectives. The methodology develops SSNC on the basis of process-level understanding of relationships between nutrients and water quality objectives. The tiered approach permits a sequential, increasingly detailed and sophisticated analysis of relations between nutrients and desired water quality conditions. The results of the tiered SSNC methodology provide direct inputs to localized management and decision-making processes.