U.S. EPA Approves Washington State Water Laws

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved recent revisions to the Washington state Water Quality Standards (WQS) regulations. The EPA believes these new standards will significantly aid in the protection and recovery of salmon, trout and other aquatic life in the state.

The EPA is approving the main elements of Washington's WQS package, which includes standards specifically identifying where salmon are spawning and rearing. It also identifies the new temperature criteria to protect salmon and other aquatic life.

The EPA conducted the review under the authority of section 303(c) of the Clean Water Act (CWA). Under the CWA, the EPA must ensure that the state's revised water quality standards are protective of aquatic life and do not harm listed species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

According to Elin Miller, the EPA's regional administrator in Seattle, the approval culminates a significant amount of work on the part of Washington Department of Ecology and others to revise the water quality standards to reflect the most recent scientific information of temperature and salmonoids.

"We congratulate Ecology on this important accomplishment and appreciate the collaborative process with tribes, federal and state fish agencies and other stakeholders in this effort," Miller said. "We believe these standards are good for salmon, Puget Sound and the whole state of Washington."

"Washington has already been implementing these new, more protective standards for more than a year in our new permits and, most recently, in our state's 2008 Water Quality Assessment," said Jay Manning, director of Ecology. "Getting here has taken some heavy lifting, and there is more heavy lifting ahead. We are gratified to be making progress for fish and to protect and restore Puget Sound."

"EPA's approval of the state's water quality rules is an important step in the right direction," said Billy Frank, Jr., Northwest Indian Fisheries Chair. "We have better water quality standards today because we are all working together. We appreciate the leadership show by EPA and Ecology throughout the long and difficult process of developing these standards. The tribal co-managers look forward to continuing this collaborative effort. We still have a ways to go, but our commitment to work together will get us there."

The EPA also completed consultation on the approval action with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service under the ESA. The consultation concluded that this action is largely beneficial to threatened and endangered species in the state of Washington.

For additional information on Washington state's water quality standards, visit www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/swqs/index.html.

Source: U.S. EPA