Response to Public Comments

Water Quality Standards Regulatory Revisions

Final Rule

August 2015

40 CFR Part 131

Docket #: EPA-HQ-OW-2010-0606
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Table of Contents

Disclaimer..................................................................................................................................................... iii

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. iii

A. Methodology EPA Used to Sort and Code Public Comment Letters ................................................... vi

B. Components of a Coded Comment Letter.......................................................................................... vii

C. Locating Your Comments and EPA’s Response in the Final Document............................................. viii

Getting Familiar with the Types of Tables in Chapter 1..................................................................... viii

Finding Comment Excerpts and Responses........................................................................................ xii

Fictional Example................................................................................................................................xiii

D. Duplicate Comment Letters, Form Letters, Mass Campaign Letters, and Attachments....................xiv

Duplicate Comment Letters................................................................................................................xiv

Form Letters and Mass Campaign Letters..........................................................................................xiv

Attachments........................................................................................................................................xiv

Chapter 1 – Issue Categories, File Names, and Index of Comments

Table 1 – Issue Categories...................................................................................................................... 1-1 

Table 2 – Issue Category Page Ranges and Chapters 2 and 3 File Names............................................. 1-5 

Table 3 – Index of Comments by Author ............................................................................................... 1-6 

Table 4 – Index of Comments by Organization.................................................................................... 1-22 

Chapter 2 – Comments

1. Overall Rule........................................................................................................................................ 2-1 

2. Introductory and General Information ............................................................................................ 2-87

3. Legal Authority............................................................................................................................... 2-110

4. Administrator’s Determination...................................................................................................... 2-146

5. Designated Uses............................................................................................................................. 2-230

6. Triennial Reviews........................................................................................................................... 2-463

7. Antidegradation ............................................................................................................................. 2-566

8. Variances........................................................................................................................................ 2-967

9. Compliance Schedule Authorizing Provisions.............................................................................. 2-1310

10. Other Changes............................................................................................................................ 2-1388

11. When Does This Action Take Effect ...........................................................................................2-1408
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12. EPA’s Economic Analysis............................................................................................................ 2-1409

13. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews..................................................................................... 2-1449

14. Miscellaneous ............................................................................................................................ 2-1451

Chapter 3 – Response Essays

1. Overall Rule........................................................................................................................................ 3-1 

2. Introductory and General Information ............................................................................................ 3-10

3. Legal Authority................................................................................................................................. 3-16

4. Administrator’s Determination........................................................................................................ 3-21

5. Designated Uses............................................................................................................................... 3-33

6. Triennial Reviews........................................................................................................................... 3-111

7. Antidegradation ............................................................................................................................. 3-138

8. Variances........................................................................................................................................ 3-290

9. Compliance Schedule Authorizing Provisions................................................................................ 3-409

10. Other Changes.............................................................................................................................. 3-428

11. When Does This Action Take Effect ............................................................................................. 3-433

12. EPA’s Economic Analysis.............................................................................................................. 3-436

13. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews....................................................................................... 3-453

14. Miscellaneous .............................................................................................................................. 3-455
Introduction 

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Disclaimer

The Response to Comments Document, together with the preamble to the Water Quality Standards Regulatory 

Revisions final rule, presents the responses of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the more than 

150 unique public comment letters received on the proposed rule 78 FR 54517 (September 4, 2013). EPA has 

addressed all significant issues raised in the public comments.

As a result of changes made to the preamble and final rule prior to signature, and due to the volume of 

comments received, some responses in the Response to Comments Document may not reflect the language in 

the preamble and final rule in every respect. Where the response is in conflict with the preamble or the final 

rule, the language in the final preamble and rule controls and should be used for purposes of understanding 

the scope, requirements, and basis of the final rule. In addition, due to the number of comments that 

addressed similar issues, as well as the volume of the comments received, the Response to Comments 

Document may not always cross-reference each response to the commenter(s) who raised the particular issue 

involved. The responses presented in this document are intended to augment the responses to comments that 

appear in the preamble to the final rule or to address comments not discussed in that preamble. Although 

portions of the preamble to the final rule are paraphrased in this document where useful to add clarity to 

responses, the preamble itself remains the definitive statement of the rationale for the revisions adopted in 

the final rule. In many instances, particular responses presented in the Response to Comments Document 

include cross-references to responses on related issues that are located either in the preamble to the final rule 

or elsewhere in the Response to Comments Document. All issues on which EPA is taking final action in the rule 

are addressed in the rulemaking record.

Accordingly, the Response to Comments Document, together with the preamble to the final rule and the rest 

of the administrative record should be considered collectively as EPA’s response to all of the significant 

comments submitted on the proposed rule. The Response to Comments Document incorporates directly or by 

reference the significant public comments addressed in the preamble to the final rule as well as other 

significant public comments that were submitted on the proposed rule.

Introduction

On September 4, 2013 EPA published the Water Quality Standards Regulatory Clarifications Proposed Rule

with a 90-day public comment period ending on December 3, 2013. On November 27, 2013, EPA published an 

extension of the public comment period for 30 days ending on January 2, 2014. During the 120-day period, EPA 

received over 150 unique public comments from organizations and individuals. In addition, EPA received 2,568

mass campaign letters.

EPA coded public comment letters submitted in response to the September 4, 2013 proposal using issue 

categories developed for the proposed rule. The final response to comments document consists of the 

following:

• Introductory Chapter: Familiarizes commenters with the process EPA used to divide comments into 

similar issues for response; helps commenters learn how to find their comments. 

• Chapter 1: A tool for commenters to find their comments (similar to a table of contents). 

• Chapter 2: All the public comments broken out into comment excerpts and assigned to issue 

categories. 

• Chapter 3: All EPA response essays. 
Introduction 

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This Introductory Chapter describes the following:

A. Methodology EPA used to sort and code public comment letters. 

B. Components of a coded comment letter. 

C. Directions to locate your comments and EPA’s response in the final document. 

D. Methodology EPA used to address duplicate comment letters, form letters, mass campaign letters, and 

attachments. 

Important terms used in this document: 

• Commenter: organization or individual who submitted a comment letter.

• Comment letter: a letter submitted by one public commenter that contains all of the thoughts of that 

individual or organization. 

• Attachment: additional information/documents included in a comment letter submission. If a cover 

page is submitted with the main comment letter, the Docket will refer to the comment letter as an 

attachment (because it is the second, third, etc. item of the submission).

• Parent comment letter: in the case of duplicate comment letters, the letter from an organization or 

individual that is considered the main letter (i.e., not the duplicate letter).

• Duplicate comment letter: an exact copy of a comment letter (not considered a mass campaign letter) 

submitted by the same organization or individual more than one time.

• Mass campaign letter: nearly identical letters submitted by a large number of commenters, as part of 

a larger campaign effort. If identical, the Docket chose to use a parent letter to represent the whole 

group. For this rulemaking, the parent letter for the mass campaign is Author ID 0144.

• Comment excerpt: a portion of a comment letter assigned to a specific issue category (topic).

• Issue category: a topical bin used to group similar comment excerpts.

• Response essay: EPA’s response to all comment excerpts in an issue category.

• Subsection: the relevant response essay section that is applicable to a comment excerpt.

• Cross-reference: a secondary issue category assigned to a comment excerpt to provide additional 

response relevant to that excerpt, beyond the primary issue category.

• Author ID: the unique numeric identification number associated with a comment submission. If the 

same commenter submits multiple comment letters, a different author ID is assigned for each.

• Comment ID: The unique numeric identification number associated with a comment excerpt.

The following acronyms may be used throughout the response comments document:

ANPRM Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

APA Administrative Procedure Act

BAT Best Available Technology Economically Achievable

BMP Best Management Practice

BPJ Best Professional Judgement

BPT Best Practicable Control Technology Currently Available

CFR Code of Federal Regulations

CPP Continuing Planning Process

CRA Congressional Review Act

CS Compliance Schedule

CSAP Compliance Schedule Authorizing Provision
Introduction 

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CSO Combined Sewer Overflow

CWA or the Act Clean Water Act

EA Economic Analysis

ELG Effluent Limitations Guideline

EPA or the Agency U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

FAQ Frequently Asked Questions

FR Federal Register

GLI or GLWQG Great Lakes Initiative/Great Lakes Water Quality Guidance (40 CFR part 132)

HAC Highest Attainable Condition

HAU Highest Attainable Use

ICIS Integrated Compliance Information System

ICR Information Collection Request

MS4 Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System

NPDES National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System

NPS Nonpoint Source

NSPS New Source Performance Standards

OMB Office of Management and Budget

ONRW Outstanding National Resource Water

PMP Pollutant Minimization Program

POTW Publicly Owned Treatment Work

PRA Paperwork Reduction Act

RFA Regulatory Flexibility Act

States and authorized tribes The 50 States, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Commonwealth of Puerto 

Rico, Virgin Islands, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern 

Mariana Islands, and Indian Tribes that EPA determines to be eligible for 

purposes of the water quality standards program.

TAS Treatment in a Manner Similar to a State

TMDL Total Maximum Daily Load

UAA Use Attainability Analysis

UMRA Unfunded Mandates Reform Act

U.S.C. United States Code

WLA Wasteload Allocation

WQBEL Water Quality-Based Effluent Limit

WQS Water Quality Standards
Introduction 

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A. Methodology EPA Used to Sort and Code Public Comment Letters

In responding to public comments, EPA used the following methodology to sort and code comment letters into 

similar topics for response in EPA’s comment response database (see previous page for an explanation of 

terms, if needed):

1. Reviewed each comment letter in its entirety.

2. Identified the major subjects addressed in each letter and assigned them to specific issue categories, 

resulting in multiple comment excerpts for most letters. Each issue category contains comment 

excerpts that were grouped for response based on similar issues.

3. Drafted a response essay for each issue category.

a. Response essays were developed to respond to the similar issues presented in the comment 

excerpts grouped in each issue category.

b. Each comment excerpt is responded to by one or more essays (to provide additional detail, if 

needed).

c. When essays are longer than a page, essay subsections may be identified in the response to an 

individual excerpt.

In the next section, learn how your coded comment letter looks after it has been coded. This will help you find 

your comments in the Response to Comments Document. Note your comment letter may have multiple 

comment excerpts, each of which has associated response essays. 
Introduction 

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B. Components of a Coded Comment Letter

The following diagram illustrates the components of a coded letter once the components have been entered 

into EPA’s comment response database. Refer to the section below on Locating Your Comments and EPA’s 

Response in the Final Document to learn how to find your comment and the associated response(s). 

Comment Letters with No Attachments

Comment ID: composed of the author ID and 

comment ID; a unique ID in the database to 

identify a particular comment excerpt

Author ID (first four numbers): Sequential 

numbering of comment letter authors determined 

by the rulemaking docket

Comment Excerpt ID (last three numbers): Sequential 

numbering of individual thoughts/comment excerpts 

within a comment letter

Issue Category: Reflects the subject area 

addressed by the comment excerpt 

001: The database automatically assign this, so all 

comment IDs will contain 001 between the author 

ID and comment excerpt ID

Comment Letters with Attachments

If your comment letter had an attachment once uploaded to the Docket, the numbering for the attachment 

will look like the example below (for attachment 1). Additional attachments will be numbered A2, A3, etc.

Attachment Number: When multiple documents were 

submitted by an author at the same time, they were assigned 

an attachment number
Introduction 

viii

C. Locating Your Comments and EPA’s Response in the Final Document

To locate comment excerpts and their associated responses, refer to the following discussion about tables you 

can use to find comment excerpts and steps you should take once you have the information you need from the 

tables. Note that the tables below are just portions of much larger tables and are only being used as examples. 

The tables appear in their entirety in Chapter 1.

Getting Familiar with the Types of Tables in Chapter 1

Table 1. Issue Categories: Commenters can see which issue categories were used to sort and code comments 

into groups of similar issues for EPA’s response. The table is a listing of all issue categories used for coding

comments received on the proposed rule. An example portion of Table 1 is provided below.
Introduction 

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Table 2. Comment Excerpts Sorted by Issue Category: Commenters can obtain the page numbers where the 

comment excerpts assigned to each issue category are located. An example portion of Table 2 is provided 

below. Table 2 also indicates the name of the Chapter 2 file that the commenter should open to find their 

comments.

Issue Category Page Range: Page number 

range where the comment excerpts for a 

particular issue category can be found 

within Chapter 2

Chapter 2 File Name:

Indicates the file name of 

the document that 

contains comment excerpts

Chapter 3 File Name:

Indicates the file name of the 

document that contains 

comment response essays
Introduction 

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Table 3. Index of Commenters and Page Numbers (by Author Name): Commenters should use this table to 

find their author ID(s) and the page numbers for their comment excerpts (by author name). The table is sorted 

alphabetically by the last name of the person who submitted the comment letter. If no name was included in 

the original comment letter, the author will be listed as “anonymous commenter” and will be listed 

alphabetically using “commenter” as the last name. If you were one of multiple signatories for a comment 

letter, the author will be listed as the person(s) who signed the commenter letter or the first signatory in the 

list. If needed, try searching for all names of individuals who signed the letter. The author ID (the first four

numbers of the comment ID that identifies the submission by an individual author/organization) appears after 

the name in parentheses. An example portion of Table 3 is listed below.
Introduction 

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Table 4. Index of Commenters and Page Numbers (by Organization): If commenters are interested in 

searching for comments by organization, they should use Table 4 to find author ID(s) and the page numbers for 

the comment excerpts. The table is sorted alphabetically by organization, and the author ID (the first few 

numbers of the comment ID that identifies the submission by an individual author/organization) appears after 

the organization in parentheses. If no name was included in the original comment letter, the author will be 

listed as “anonymous commenter” (first name “anonymous” and last name “commenter”) and the 

organization will be listed as “NA” in Table 4. Public citizens will use Table 3 to find their comments because 

they have no organization (which will be listed as “NA”). If your organization was one of multiple signatories on 

a comment letter, the organization will be listed as the one that signed the commenter letter or the 

organization of the first signatory in the list. An example portion of Table 4 is listed below. Note that Table 4 

contains the same information as Table 3, but is just formatted by organization (instead of by individual 

author).
Introduction 

xii

Finding Comment Excerpts and Responses

1. Identify author IDs and corresponding page numbers for comment excerpts in which you are 

interested. Use Table 3 or Table 4 in Chapter 1, depending on whether you are interested in searching 

by author name (Table 3) or by organization name (Table 4). 

a. If Docket # EPA-HQ-OW-2010-0606 considered your comment letter to be a “mass campaign 

letter” that was identical to other letters, use Author ID 0144 (the parent letter for mass 

campaign letters) to find EPA’s response to your comments.

2. Compare page numbers obtained from Tables 3 and 4 with Table 2 (column 2) to determine in which 

issue categories the comment excerpts are located (based on page number).

3. Find the Chapter 2 report you are interested in (by issue category and page number). The file names of 

these Chapter 2 PDF reports are listed in column 3 of Table 2.

4. Open the Chapter 2 PDF report you are interested in and 

search for your author ID. Scroll to the end of each 

comment excerpt to see which essay number(s) respond 

to that comment excerpt.

5. Open and review the appropriate Chapter 3 PDF essay(s) 

to see how EPA responded to the comment excerpts. 

Use Table 2 (column 4) to locate the appropriate essay 

file.

6. Note that sometimes multiple essays are listed as 

responding to an individual comment excerpt. These 

additional essays are cross-references and add 

additional detail for EPA’s response to an individual comment excerpt. Be sure to review all essays 

listed to obtain EPA’s entire response.

Use the Search Function to

Find Your Comment

Comments and responses are in Adobe 

PDF format. Perform searches for your 

comments in Chapter 2 files using the 

search button. Refer to the Docket for 

this rulemaking to view the comment 

letters in their entirety.
Introduction 

xiii

Fictional Example

To better understand how to find comments and EPA’s response to them, follow this fictional example. Using 

the excerpt of Table 3 above, M. Klotz finds that his/her comment letters were assigned author IDs 0177 and 

0269 (because the letter was submitted twice to the Docket). These same two letters can be found using Table 

4, if searching by organization (in this case the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation). 

Using the letter with the author ID 0177, M. Klotz sees that 0177 also is associated with 0177-A1 and 0177-A2 

(attachments to 0177). In this case, 0177-A2 is the main comment letter. Using 0177-A2, M. Klotz finds the 

associated page numbers for this letter to be pages 154, 366, 501, 621, 692, 777 (twice), 1146, 1262, 1272, 

1359, and 1481 (twice). This means that letter 0177-A2 was parsed into 13 unique ideas (comment excerpts)

that are coded under specific issue categories.

Using the excerpt of Table 2 

above, M. Klotz learns that 

those comment excerpts were 

coded to issue categories 4 

(page 154), 5 (page 366), 6 

(page 501), etc. M. Klotz would 

then go to the Chapter 2 

reports for these 3 example 

issue categories and search for 

his/her comments (using 

comment ID 0177-A2 for the 

search). To find the appropriate 

report to view, use Table 2, 

which matches issue categories 

and file names. For example, 

Table 2 shows that issue 

category 5 is located in the file 

called Comment5_Designated 

Uses_230-462.pdf. An example 

of what M. Klotz’s comment 

0177-A2.001.003 (issue 

category 5) looks like in 

Chapter 2 (issue category 5 file 

name Comment5_Designated 

Uses_230-462.pdf) is to the 

right. The example to the right 

also shows that comment 0177-

A2.001.003 is responded to by 

essay 5.g. To locate essay 5.g, 

refer to Table 2 (Chapter 1), 

which contains the file names 

for all response essays 

(Chapter 3). In this example, 

essay 5.g is in the Chapter 3 file 

for issue category 5 

(Essay5_Designated Uses_33-

110.pdf). 
Introduction 

xiv

D. Duplicate Comment Letters, Form Letters, Mass Campaign Letters, and 

Attachments 

Duplicate Comment Letters 

Note that comments were considered duplicates when the comment letter (not the attachment/data) was an 

exact duplicate of another comment letter (i.e., the parent comment letter). All identified duplicates that were 

not held by the Docket as a duplicate (which means the duplicate letter made it to the coding process) were 

coded exactly the same as the parent comment letter and will appear in the final Response to Comments 

Document. Therefore, it is possible you will see comment excerpts with the same text more than once.

Form Letters and Mass Campaign Letters

Form letters that were identified as a mass campaign letter and contained some unique portions of text were 

coded to 1.d (Form Letter) and the relevant issue categories were cross-referenced. For example, if part of the 

mass campaign letter was generally supportive of WQS variances, then the comment excerpt was coded to 1.d 

(Form Letter) and cross-referenced to 8.a (Variances: General Support). In this case, the comment excerpt will 

be responded to with essays 1.d and 8.a.

Form letters that were completely identical to other mass campaign letters are represented by a parent letter. 

Commenters that fit this scenario should use Author ID 0144 (if they do not see their individual name listed in 

Table 3) to see how EPA responded to their comments.

Attachments

Attachments that were considered additional data/information, and not a comment, were always coded into 

an additional data category, as described below.

Issue Categories for Data/Information

Data/Information Type Issue Category

Additional Data – Attachments that commenters included to provide additional 

information (e.g., related documents, memos, legal documents, a list of items 

included/referenced in the comment letter)

14.d