HW2

Question 1

2. You are the Secretary of the PA Department of Environmental Protection. Aquatic biologists from your Water Quality Standards Division conducted macroinvertebrate surveys on South Glade Creek in Somerset County last spring. Results of these surveys showed that it was not meeting its designated use for aquatic life. What legal obligation under the Clean Water Act do you have based on these results?

Answer 1

List South Glade Creek as impaired on the Section 303(d) list (aka the Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report).

Question 2

3. Most NPDES permits contain numeric effluent limits on pollutants. What are two examples of NPDES permits that use practice or programmatic effluent limits instead of numeric limits?

Answer 2

Two of the following three would be correct:
CAFO NPDES Permits
Stormwater permits for construction sites
Stormwater permits for MS4s (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems)

Question 3

4. Describe one way the antidegradation regulations make it tougher for permitees to obtain a permit for a new discharge into high quality (HQ) streams.

Answer 3

Any one of the following would be correct:
The regulations require permittees to evaluate and implement nondischarge alternatives.
The regulations require permittees to implement the best available combination of cost effective treatment (ABACT).
The regulations require the discharge to be nondegrading (unless the permittee is able to provide an important social or economic justification (SEJ))

Question 4

5. The 1987 Amendments to the Clean Water Act expanded coverage of the Act to address what type of water pollution?

Answer 4

Nonpoint source pollution. It would also be correct to say stormwater or CAFOs. Any of these would be correct.

Question 5

Assume you are an environmental consultant retained by a municipal authority in Lancaster County proposing to build a new sewage treatment plant. The company is looking at two sites:
Site A is on Shearers Creek, a tributary to Chickies Creek.
Site B is on an unnamed tributary to Chickies Creek.
The authority seeks your advice on the best location to site the sewage treatment plant. With the authority’s limited budget and lack of desire to raise sewage rates on municipal residents, its stated goals are to comply with all relevant environmental requirements at the least cost. What is your advice to your client and why?

Answer 5

Site B is the best site. Site A is on Shearers Creek, which has a designated use for aquatic life of High Quality (HQ-CWF). This means that any new discharge to the stream will have to meet stringent antidegradation implementation requirements (analysis and implementation of nondischarge alternatives, ABACT to ensure that any remaining discharges are non-degrading; allowance of discharge that lowers water quality only if necessary for important social or economic development in the region (SEJ)).
By contrast, all unnamed tributaries to Chickies Creek have a designated use of Warm Water Fishery (WWF). This means that a new direct discharge can be permitted to the stream without having to undergo an antidegradation analysis.