Effective Date of Revisions to the Water Quality Planning and Management Regulation and Revisions to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Program in Support of Revisions to the Water Quality Planning and Management Regulations; and Revision of the Date for State Submission of the 2002 List of Impaired Waters

Today's action establishes April 30, 2003 as the effective date of the revisions to EPA's Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) and National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Program (NPDES) regulations published in the Federal Register on July 13, 2000. The July 2000 rule amends and clarifies existing regulations implementing section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act (CWA), which requires States to identify waters that are not meeting State water quality standards and to establish pollutant budgets, called TMDLs, to restore the quality of those waters. The rule also lays out specific time frames under which EPA will assure that lists of waters not meeting water quality standards (the 303(d) lists) and TMDLs are completed as scheduled, and that necessary point and nonpoint source controls are implemented to meet TMDLs. In addition, today's action amends 40 CFR 130.7(d)(1), currently in effect, to revise the date on which States are required to submit the next list of impaired waters from April 1, 2002 to October 1, 2002. This new date will provide States who wish to do so the time to incorporate some or all of the recommendations suggested by EPA in a forthcoming guidance entitled: 2002 Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report Guidance, which is currently undergoing a final review.