What if it is not feasible to reach Water Quality Standards due to nature or uncontrollable factors?
DEQ’s focus in this area is to ensure that the water quality goals we are trying to achieve are appropriate and worth the resources that will need to be spent to achieve them. In some streams, bacteria contributed by wildlife result in standards violations. In order to begin to address this issue, the Commonwealth has developed criteria to protect the secondary contact recreational uses. These new criteria will become effective pending EPA approval. In order for the new criteria to apply to a stream segment, the primary contact recreational use must be removed. To remove a designated use, the state must demonstrate that the use is not an existing use, that donwstream uses are protected, and that the source of bacterial contamination is natural and uncontrollable by effluent limitations and BMPs, This and other information is collected through a special study called a Use Attainability Analysis (UAA). All site-specific criteria or designated use changes must be adopted as amendments to
