Novel Region III TMDL May Test Agency's Ability To Regulate Water 'Flow'

摘要

State and local officials are raising concerns about the legality and practicality of a novel EPA effort to regulate excessive water "flow" as a proxy for "sediment" in an impaired stream in Fairfax County, VA, an approach that the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) has encouraged but that EPA may not have authority to regulate.rnThe county's board of supervisors recently wrote the agency a letter questioning whether EPA has the statutory authority or the regulatory discretion under the Clean Water Act (CWA) to require the county to restrict the flow of water in the impaired sections of the creek.