Texas Administrative Code › Title 30 - ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY › Part 1 - TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY › Chapter 220 - REGIONAL ASSESSMENTS OF WATER QUALITY › Subchapter A - PROGRAM FOR MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT OF WATER QUALITY BY WATERSHED AND RIVER BASIN › Section 220.4 - Responsibilities of River Authorities and Designated Local Governments

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Each river
				  authority and designated local government that has entered into an agreement
				  with the commission to perform duties under this chapter shall:
(1) Organize and lead a basin-wide steering
				  committee to assist with the development of water quality objectives and
				  priorities for the basin and to fulfill responsibilities described in §
											220.5
				  of this title (relating Responsibilities of Steering Committees). Membership of
				  the committee will reflect a diversity of interests in the basin and will
				  include persons paying fees described under Chapter 21 of this title (relating
				  to Water Quality Fees), the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board and
				  other appropriate state agencies (for example, Texas Parks and Wildlife
				  Department, Texas Water Development Board, Texas General Land Office, Texas
				  Department of Health, Texas Department of Agriculture, Texas Railroad
				  Commission, and the Texas Department of Transportation), private citizens,
				  representatives from political subdivisions, and other persons with an interest
				  in water quality matters in the watershed or river basin.
(2) Develop and maintain a basin-wide water
				  quality monitoring program that eliminates duplicative monitoring, facilitates
				  the assessment process to identify problem areas and support long-term trend
				  analyses, and targets monitoring to support the wastewater discharge permitting
				  and standards process.
(A) A quality assurance
				  project plan must be developed and approved to support all data collection
				  activities. Data collected by subcontractors and others under this program must
				  conform to the approved quality assurance project plans.
(B) The water quality monitoring program
				  shall address collection of baseline water quality data to support trend
				  analyses and development of the statewide water quality inventory required
				  under federal Clean Water Act, §305(b).
(C) The water quality monitoring program
				  shall include site-specific data collection to support the wastewater discharge
				  permitting process for fee payers in the basin.
(D) The water quality monitoring program
				  shall include watershed specific data collection to address priority water
				  quality problem areas identified by river authority trends analyses or steering
				  committee input.
(3)
				  Establish and maintain a watershed and river basin water quality database
				  and/or clearinghouse composed of quality-assured data, river authority
				  programs, wastewater discharge permit holders, state and federal agencies, and
				  other relevant data sources. This data shall be submitted to the commission for
				  inclusion in the State of Texas Surface Water Quality Monitoring database and
				  shall be made available to any interested person.
(A) Each river authority and designated local
				  government shall establish and maintain the technology to aid in the electronic
				  dissemination of water quality data and information for their basin. Water
				  quality data for the basin shall be submitted to the commission at a minimum of
				  once every six months in an agreed format for inclusion in the statewide water
				  quality database.
(B) River
				  authorities and designated local governments shall participate in task force
				  meetings to establish, review, and update data management procedures to reflect
				  changes in information management technology.
(4) Identify water quality problems and known
				  pollution sources and set priorities for taking appropriate actions to
				  eliminate those problems and sources.
(A)
				  Each river authority shall utilize the commission's procedures for data
				  evaluation and analyses to the maximum extent possible. If alternative
				  evaluation processes are necessary, the procedure must be presented in writing
				  to the commission for approval by the executive director prior to its
				  application.
(B) In order to assure
				  inclusion in the development of the statewide water quality inventory, the
				  analytical procedures shall be comparable to those used by the
				  commission.
(C) Steering committees
				  shall be provided the opportunity to actively participate in the identification
				  of priority problem areas and the development of appropriate actions to address
				  the problems and pollutant sources. Steering committees shall have the
				  opportunity to determine the priority of maintaining or protecting watersheds
				  with existing good quality water.
(5) Develop a process for public
				  participation that includes the basin steering committee and that provides for
				  meaningful review and comments by private citizens and organizations in the
				  local watersheds.
(6) Recommend
				  water quality management strategies for correcting identified water quality
				  problems and pollution sources.
(7)
				  Develop work plans which include priorities of the state and regional water
				  quality management program. Upon agreement between the commission, the river
				  authority, and/or designated local government, the provisions of the work plan
				  become the scope of work of the program contract or cooperative
				  agreement.