RULES AND REGULATIONS
Title 25--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
DELAWARE RIVER BASIN COMMISSION
[25 PA. CODE CH. 901]
Temporary Amendment of the Water Quality Regulations, Water Code and Comprehensive Plan to Designate the Lower Delaware River a Special Protection Water
[35 Pa.B. 5005] Summary
At its public meeting on January 19, 2005, the Commission temporarily amended the Commission's Water Quality Regulations, Water Code and Comprehensive Plan by classifying the Lower Delaware River--the reach between River Mile 209.5, which is the downstream boundary of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, and River Mile 133.4, which is the head of tide at Trenton, NJ --as Significant Resource Waters. The effect of this action was to make the Lower Delaware River subject to all provisions of the Commission's Special Protection Waters regulations except those that depend for implementation upon the use of numeric values for existing water quality.
Dates
This rule is effective immediately, and unless extended by amendment, it shall expire on September 30, 2005. An accompanying notice in today's Pennsylvania Bulletin proposes to extend the rule through September 30, 2006, pending a separate notice and comment rulemaking to permanently classify the Lower Delaware. See 35 Pa.B. 5013 (September 10, 2005).
Supplementary Information
On September 22, 2004, the Delaware River Basin Commission published on its website a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to amend the Water Quality Regulations, Water Code and Comprehensive Plan to designate the Lower Delaware River a Special Protection Water. Notice was published in the Federal Register on September 23, 2004 (69 FR 57008), the Delaware Register of Regulations on October 1, 2004, the New Jersey Register on October 4, 2004, the Pennsylvania Bulletin on October 9, 2004, and the New York Register on October 20, 2004. A public hearing was held on October 27, 2004, and the public was invited to comment, either in person at the hearing or in writing through November 30, 2004. During the comment period, the Commission received approximately 250 letters from business, industry, individuals, municipalities and elected officials, including some opposed to designation. It also received between 1,100 and 1,200 letters and petitions in favor of designation. The Commission modified its proposed rule in part based upon comments received on the proposed action and in part based upon the need for additional analysis before all provisions of the Special Protection Waters regulations could be put into effect in the Lower Delaware.
In enacting the amendment, the Commission found on the basis of a series of studies, prior findings, plans and a federal designation, that the Lower Delaware River is characterized by exceptionally high scenic, recreational, and ecological values and water supply uses that require special protection. Before deciding whether or not to classify certain sections of the Lower Delaware River as Outstanding Basin Waters, as originally proposed, and whether to make the temporary Special Protection Waters designation permanent for some or all of the Lower Delaware River, the Commission wishes to establish numeric values for existing water quality based upon analysis of a 5-year (2000-2004) data set, for which the final year of data only became available late in 2004. The Commission recognized that the process of developing numeric values based upon 5 years of data and subjecting them to public review and comment could take many months. It decided to provide temporary classification in order to protect the exceptional value of the Lower Delaware from degradation during that period. The proposed values for existing water quality in the Lower Delaware River based on the 5-year data set have been compiled and will be the subject of a separate notice and comment rulemaking by the Commission.
Further Information, Contacts:
The complete text of Resolution No. 2005-2, temporarily amending the Water Quality Regulations, Water Code, and Comprehensive Plan by designating the Lower Delaware River a Special Protection Water, is available on the Commission's website at www.drbc.net or upon request from the Delaware River Basin Commission, P. O. Box 7360, West Trenton, NJ 08628-0360. For further information, contact Pamela M. Bush, Commission Secretary and Assistant General Counsel, Delaware River Basin Commission, at (609) 883-9500, Ext. 203.
The final-form rulemaking temporarily amends Article 3, Section 3.10.3.A.2.g.2)., listing stream reaches classified as Significant Resource Waters, by the addition of the following subsections 3.10.3.A.2.g.2).(b); 3.10.3.A.2.g.6).; and 3.10.3.A.2.g.7).
(b) The Lower Delaware River between River Miles 209.5 (the downstream boundary of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area) and 133.4 (the Head of Tide at Trenton, NJ);
* * *
6) For the stream reaches listed in Section 3.10.3.A.2.g.2).(b), all provisions of Section 3.10.3.A.2 shall be in effect except those listed below:
* The requirement at Section 3.10.3.A.2.b.2). that ''[p]oint and non-point sources from outside the boundaries of stream reaches classified as Significant Resource Waters shall be treated as required and then dispersed in the receiving water so that no measurable change occurs at Boundary and Interstate Special Protection Waters Control Points.''
* The requirement of Section 3.10.3.A.2.b., read in combination with Section 3.10.3A.2.d.6), that new and expanding wastewater treatment projects discharging to Special Protection Waters may be subject to additional treatment requirements, above and beyond the effluent criteria defining Best Demonstrable Technology, as necessary to ensure no measurable change in existing water quality in Special Protection Waters.
* The requirement at Section 3.10.3A.2.f. that state environmental agencies ''shall assure to the extent possible, that existing water quality in Special Protection Waters is not measurably changed by pollution discharged into the intrastate tributary watersheds within their jurisdiction.''
Sections 3.10.3.A.2.g.2).(b) and 3.10.3.A.2.g.6). shall expire on September 30, 2005, unless extended by amendment to this rule.
PAMELA M. BUSH, ESQ.,
SecretaryFiscal Note: Fiscal Note 68-43 remains valid for the final adoption of the subject regulation.
Annex A
TITLE 25. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
PART V. DELAWARE RIVER BASIN COMMISSION
CHAPTER 901. GENERAL PROVISIONS § 901.2. Comprehensive Plan and water quality.
The Comprehensive Plan regulations as set forth in 18 CFR Part 401, Subpart A (2005) and the Water Code and Water Quality Standards as set forth in 18 CFR Part 410 (2005) are hereby incorporated by reference and made a part of this title.
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 05-1671. Filed for public inspection September 9, 2005, 9:00 a.m.]
No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Bulletin full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.
