§2803 Comprehensive Coastal Water Quality Monitoring Program

Summary

The Administrator and the Under Secretary must work with federal, state, and local agencies to build and run a long-term program that collects and studies scientific data about the Nation’s coastal ecosystems. The program must be coordinated with other monitoring efforts. The Environmental Protection Agency’s main office for this work will be at the Environmental Research Laboratory in Narragansett, Rhode Island. The program must check coastal water, sediments, and living resources; find pollution sources; track floatable debris; measure trends; and judge how well government actions are working. Within 18 months after October 29, 1992, the Administrator and the Under Secretary must issue monitoring guidelines that set consistent but flexible methods, identify useful physical, chemical, and biological indicators, allow simple surveys and deeper studies, find point and nonpoint pollution sources, ensure data can be shared, and let agencies test whether cleanup efforts work over time. The guidelines must include protocols for designing statistically valid monitoring networks (including floatables), sampling and analysis (including sediment and living resource tests), and quality control and data management. The guidelines must be reviewed from time to time. Compliance monitoring for discharge permits to coastal waters under section 402(a)(2) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1342(a)(2)) must follow these guidelines, and any permit changes needed to do so are treated as minor; dischargers are not required to do monitoring beyond the 402(a)(2) compliance monitoring. The program must include intensive monitoring areas. Not later than 24 months after October 29, 1992, the Administrator and the Under Secretary must, using National Research Council recommendations, pick areas for intensive study. The National Research Council must study and list suitable areas and report within 18 months of October 29, 1992, consulting Regional Research Boards. Multi-year intensive programs must be developed for Massachusetts and Cape Cod Bays, the Gulf of Maine, the Chesapeake Bay, the Hudson-Raritan Estuary, and any other jointly designated areas. Each intensive program must set clear goals, list the water quality and biological measures to be used, describe methods and networks (using the guidelines where appropriate), integrate existing monitoring, explain data and quality control plans, name the lead authority, list who will carry out the work and their schedules, estimate costs, and say how success will be checked and the program changed if needed. For Massachusetts and Cape Cod Bays, programs must also set baseline data and measure ecological effects from major point source discharges. Before starting any intensive program, the Administrator and the Under Secretary must sign a Memorandum of Understanding that states each agency’s monitoring and reporting duties and may include other federal agencies. The Administrator, the Under Secretary, and affected State Governors must ensure these programs are followed. Federal help for non-Federal groups can be given only if not less than 50 percent of the monitoring costs paid by those groups come from non-Federal sources. Within 1 year after October 29, 1992, the Administrator and the Under Secretary must send Congress a Comprehensive Implementation Strategy, after consulting listed federal agencies and coastal Governors and publishing a draft at least 3 months before submission for public comment; within 1 year after sending the Strategy they must enter into an MOU with appropriate federal agencies to coordinate monitoring.