Ohio officials are proposing a novel numeric water quality index that will allow regulators to use a series of weighted factors to determine whether waterbodies are impaired by nutrients, the first such index that state officials have proposed since EPA began pushing states to adopt numeric criteria to assess water quality harms from nutrients. State officials say they want to quickly complete their plan and submit it to EPA for approval both because they need to curb nutrient limits and because if they do not act, the agency could impose less-flexible federal limits - much as officials did in Florida. "Prolonged delays in Ohio's rule adoption efforts could lead to actions by U.S. EPA to promulgate standards for Ohio. These standards would almost certainly be less flexible and result in more extensive business impacts compared to the approaches under consideration by Ohio EPA," according to a recent fact sheet issued by the Ohio Division of Surface Water (DSW). Relevant documents are available on InsideEPA.com. See page 2 for details. (Doc. ID: 2437694) Some wastewater industry officials say the state's plan could serve as a model for other states that are grappling with how to regulate nutrients in their waters.
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