Menu

A report released by groups affected by Clean Water Act regulations will help ensure that sound science is used when states submit their annual listings of impaired waters to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). AFBF, along with the Federal Water Quality Coalition and the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies, commissioned the report to help states improve their procedures in assessing local water quality conditions. States are required to submit lists of impaired waters to the EPA in October.

"We have long been concerned about the science behind the data and information used to determine which waters are 'impaired,'" said Don Parrish, AFBF senior director of regulatory relations. "We want to improve the tools, methods and processes for assessing water quality. This new report will help states achieve that."

Parrish added that some states' track records were a cause for legitimate concern. "A lot of this data was derived back when states viewed it as being beneficial to find a lot of dirty water out there. They were actually given more federal funds based on the amount of problems they had, so obviously the more funds, the more dirty water, the more dirty water, the more funds. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy. So we'd been very critical of that process for a long time."

OFBF is currently working on state legislation that mandates the use of "credible data" in all water quality monitoring activities. OFBF believes the Ohio EPA has done a good job of using science in its work.