The Department of Environmental Protection published notice in the March 23 PA Bulletin inviting comments on a draft strategy for prioritizing the development of Total Maximum Daily Load Plans for impaired watersheds from 2024 to 2032.

This priority ranking must include the cause of the impairment and take into account both the severity of the pollution and the uses to be made of the waterbodies.

This draft TMDL prioritization strategy will help guide the Department's selection of specific waterbodies for plan development on a 2-year cycle in accordance with 40 CFR 130.7(b)(4) (relating to total maximum daily loads (TMDL) and individual water quality-based effluent limitations).

Click Here for a copy of the draft strategy.

Comments are due by April 22.  Questions should be directed to Michael Morris, DEP, at michamorri@pa.gov or (717) 772-5670

Read the entire PA Bulletin notice for more background and instructions on how to submit comments.

Visit DEP’s PRP/TMDL Plan Requirements webpage to learn more about this program.

How Clean Is Your Stream?

The draft 2024 report has an interactive report viewer that allows you to zoom in to your own address to see if the streams near you are impaired and why.

Click Here to check out your streams.  Click Here for a tutorial on using the viewer.

For more information on environmental programs in Pennsylvania, visit DEP’s website, Report Emergencies, Submit Environmental Complaints; Click Here to sign up for DEP’s newsletter; sign up for DEP’s eNotice; visit DEP’s Blog,  Like DEP on Facebook, Follow DEP on Twitter and visit DEP’s YouTube Channel.

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[Posted: March 22, 2024]

3/25/2024