Wisconsin Administrative Code › Department of Natural Resources › NR 100-199 - Environmental Protection - General › Chapter NR 102 - Water Quality Standards For Wisconsin Surface Waters › Subchapter III - Waterbody Assessments and Reporting › Section NR 102.51 - Assessment types

Current through June 24, 2024
The department may conduct different types of assessments
					 to determine the status of waterbody health and attainment of water quality
					 standards, depending on availability of data or methods used to collect the
					 data. The department shall, at a minimum, conduct all of the following:
(1) STATEWIDE CONDITION ASSESSMENTS. As part
				  of the biennial assessment report required under section 305 (b) of the Clean
				  Water Act,
				  33 USC
				  1315(b), and
				  40
				  CFR 130.8 and 130.10 (a) (1), the department shall report on water quality
				  status and trends at the state, regional, or watershed levels. The department
				  shall assess the extent to which surface waters of the state provide for the
				  protection and propagation of a balanced population of shellfish, fish, and
				  wildlife, and allow recreational activities in and on the water. Broad-scale
				  approaches may be used to conduct these assessments, including randomized
				  monitoring designs or other appropriate statistical methods.
(2) INDIVIDUAL WATERBODY ASSESSMENTS AND
				  SECTION 303 (D) LIST.
(a) The department
				  shall identify and report on waters not meeting any applicable water quality
				  standard prescribed under statute or a promulgated rule, pursuant to section
				  303 (d) of the Clean Water Act,
				  33 USC
				  1313(d), and
				  40
				  CFR 130.7 (b) and 130.10 (b) (2). The department shall assess individual
				  waterbodies that have sufficient and readily available datasets, as specified
				  in the department's water quality standards and assessment protocols, to
				  determine whether a waterbody is attaining water quality standards. The
				  department determines whether a waterbody's designated uses are supported by
				  evaluating attainment of its water quality criteria and biological assessment
				  thresholds. The department shall assess data collected from a waterbody against
				  each applicable water quality standard or assessment threshold independently,
				  unless a combined assessment procedure is specified in rule. The department
				  shall report any waters not attaining applicable water quality standards to the
				  U.S. EPA. Only water quality standards that have been promulgated via statute
				  or rule may be considered for the purposes of listing a waterbody on the
				  section 303 (d) list.
(b) When the
				  department submits the section 305 (b) biennial assessment report and section
				  303 (d) list, it shall provide all of the following information if an
				  assessment indicates that one or more of a waterbody's water quality standards
				  are not attained:
1. A waterbody is listed on
				  the section 303 (d) list for a pollutant if a pollutant's water quality
				  criterion is not attained and it may require a total maximum daily load
				  analysis.
2. A waterbody is
				  reported as having an observed effect of degradation if the waterbody does not
				  attain one or more biological assessment thresholds or water quality criteria
				  for parameters that are not pollutants, such as dissolved oxygen. In listing
				  observed effects, the department may not formally attribute these effects to a
				  specific pollutant until the department conducts an evaluation of potential
				  causes, including nonchemical stressors such as habitat degradation or
				  hydrological modification, and identifies one or more specific pollutants as
				  causing or contributing to biological degradation. Listing of observed effects
				  would not require development of a total daily maximum load for a waterbody
				  unless a specific pollutant exceeding its promulgated water quality standard is
				  identified by the department as a cause of the observed
				  effect.