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Modeling and TMDL Unit :: The N.C. Water Quality Assessment and Impaired Waters List (305(b) and 303(d) Report)

What is the 303(d) list?

Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act (CWA) requires states to develop a list of waters not meeting water quality standards or which have impaired uses. Listed waters must be prioritized, and a management strategy or total maximum daily load (TMDL) must subsequently be developed for all listed waters.

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What is the Integrated Report?

In 2002, North Carolina prepared the first North Carolina Water Quality Assessment and Impaired Waters List, also referred as the 2002 Integrated Report. This report is based on US EPA guidance issued during the latter portion of 2001 and fulfills requirements of previous 305(b) reports and 303(d) lists of impaired waters. A provisional final report was approved on March 18th, 2003.

The 2002 Integrated Report is made available in two pieces: the report itself which contains the impaired waters list, and a database of all waters currently supporting uses or for which there was insufficient information to rate.

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Integrated Reports (305(b) and 303(d))
Adobe Acrobat Reader software is required to read some files.

Year	Report Description	Document
2010 Draft	NOTICE: State of North Carolina Division of Water Quality Public Notice of Availability of THE DRAFT 2010 303(d) list of IMPAIRED Waterbodies. Comments may be submitted electronically by 11:59 PM on March 3, 2010 to jennifer.everett@ncdenr.gov. The list may be modified based on the comments received. The final list and responses to comments will be available on this website after EPA approval. Written comments may also be submitted through the mail and postmarked no later than March 3, 2010 to: Jennifer Everett NC Division of Water Quality Planning Section 1617 Mail Service Center Raleigh, NC 27699-1617 Documents: Revised Assessment Methodology Entire Category 5 303(d) list Draft 2010 303d_GIS.zip (8.7MB zip file) FOR GENERAL QUESTIONS: Kathy Stecker (919) 807-6422 Email: kathy.stecker@ncdenr.gov FOR SPECIFIC LISTING QUESTIONS: Cam McNutt (919) 807-6435 Email: cam.mcnutt@ncdenr.gov
2008 Revised Draft	NOTICE: The comment period for the 2008 303(d) list has ended on January 25, 2010.
2006 Final	Final North Carolina Water Quality Assessment and Impaired Waters List (2006 Integrated 305(b) and 303(d) Report). Approved May 17, 2007.	2006_IR_ Final 2006_303d_Final 06 IR County Summary 06 IR Muni Summary DRAFT 2006 IR GIS - 16MB ZIP File
2004 Final	Final North Carolina Water Quality Assessment and Impaired Waters List (2004 Integrated 305(b) and 303(d) Report). Approved November, 2006.	Document 303(d) List
2002 Final	Final North Carolina Water Quality Assessment and Impaired Waters List (2002 Integrated 305(b) and 303(d) Report.	PDF
2000 Final	Targeted TMDLs from North Carolina's 303(d) List.	PDF
2000 Final	Delisted Streams on North Carolina's 303(d) list.	PDF
	Archive of previous Integrated Reports [305(b and 303(d)]

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Submitting Data

The North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Division of Water Quality (NCDENR-DWQ) invites all interested parties to submit water quality data and information.

Submitted information will be considered in assessing the health of the waters in the basin. This information is relevant to the development of the Basinwide Water Quality Plans and as a reporting requirement to the US EPA under Section 303(d) of the Federal Clean Water Act. NCDENR-DWQ staff will evaluate submissions to determine if they are applicable and useful to the basinwide planning process or 303(d) reporting requirements.

Submission Criteria:

Letters, including photographs and other information, may be submitted regarding the uses of surface waters for boating, drinking water, swimming, aesthetics, and fishing.

Summary reports and memos including distribution statistics will be accepted. If information includes summaries of chemical or biological sampling data, maps showing sampling locations must be included. All information must be scientifically valid and verifiable by NCDENR-DWQ staff.

Raw data should be submitted electronically and must be accompanied by the methods used to collect and analyze the samples. Documentation of applicable quality assurance/quality control programs in a Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) is required.

Qualifiers must be in separate fields and must be defined (e.g. < is non-detected value).

Pollutant name, with units, must be defined. STORET codes may also be used.

All sampling locations must be referenced on maps and with latitude and longitude. Electronic maps will be accepted in Adobe Acrobat, ArcView shapefile, tif, gif, jpg, and bmp image format. For co-located samples at multiple depths, depths must be specified in a separate field in the database.

Electronic data will be accepted in delimited ASCII, spreadsheet (e.g., Excel, Quattro Pro, Lotus 1-2-3), or database (e.g., Access, dBase, or SAS) platforms.

The name and telephone number of a contact person must also be provided with information submitted. NCDENR-DWQ will call this person if questions arise concerning the information. The information submitted will not be returned.

Information not received as specified in this solicitation may not be considered.

Submitting Information

To submit information by mail, address to:

Kathy Stecker
MODELING & TMDL UNIT
DIVISION OF WATER QUALITY PLANNING
NC DENR
1617 MAIL SERVICE CENTER
RALEIGH NC 27699-1617

For questions about submitting information:

Kathy Stecker
919-807-6422
kathy.stecker@ncmail.net

For questions about upcoming workshops and the Basinwide Planning Schedule:

Dianne Reid
Basinwide Planning Unit Supervisor
(919) 807-6427
dianne.reid@ncmail.net
Basinwide Planning_Schedule

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Quality Assurance Project Plan

The purpose of a Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) is to document planning results for environmental data operations and to provide a project-specific blueprint for obtaining the type and quality of environmental data needed for a specific decision or use. Stakeholders (i.e., data users, data producers, decision makers, etc.) should be involved in the planning process to make sure as many possible needs can be addressed with the project.

DWQ reserves the right to make all final interpretations of data submitted and whether that data represents a contravention of use-support.
Guidance for developing the QAPP:
EPA general guidance
EPA volunteer monitoring guidance

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Hard Copies

Hard copies of the narrative and list may be obtained by contacting:

DIVISION OF WATER QUALITY PLANNING
NC DENR
PO BOX 29535
1617 MAIL SERVICE CENTER
RALEIGH NC 27699-1617

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Questions About the List

Questions about the 303(d) list may be directed to Kathy Stecker
at (919) 807-6422