FY14 Technical Programs

1. FY14 Technical Programs Program & Finance Committee Meeting April 3, 2013

2. Program Areas • Pollution Control Standards Programs • Biological Programs • Monitoring Programs • Assessment Programs • Source Water Protection & Emergency Response • Special Projects • EPRI Trading • Wabash Continuous Monitoring • NRSA • Water Resources

3. FY14 Proposed Standards Programs • Initiate 2015 Triennial Standards Review • Webinar & web-based public workshops to receive public input. • Eliminating costly public workshops • Consideration of Public Comments – Summer 2014 • Begin development of specific revisions to standards. • Complete FGD monitoring project. • Complete MeHg BAF Study. • Finalize Variance Issues – Streamling/coordination; use compliance schedules and enforcement orders. • Complete implementation procedures for TDS, ammonia & Temperature (HH) criteria.

4. FY14 Proposed Monitoring Programs • Bimonthly – Added Bromide @ $5k increase. • Clean metals – Reduced blanks to 20% @ $15K decrease • Algae/Nutrients Monitoring – added shipping costs, removed R4 Rtag meeting @ $500 decrease. • Wabash Monitoring – IDEM-funded project 1.5 additional yrs. • Travel budget increased by $3,500 • $32k originally budgeted for intern being used to support regular staff. • Continue Myers & Smithland continuous monitoring.

5. FY14 Supplemental Monitoring • Investigate temperature impairments in lower river. • 2 longitudinal temperature surveys planned. • Bimonthly/Clean Metals Programs • Eval cost-benefit moving to quarterly sampling. • Eval cost-benefit reducing sample coverage vs. frequency. • Eval cost-benefit of tributary monitoring. • Evaluate current set of parameters. • Evaluate approach of fixed stations vs. 5-yr rotating pool approach .

6. Biological Programs • Fish & Bug Assessments in 4 pools • Dashields, Hannibal, RC Byrd, Smithland • Fish assessments at 18 Fixed Stations • Fish Tissue collection to support consumption advisories & 305(b) • Mobile Aquarium displays • National Rivers & Streams Assessment

7. FY14 Proposed Assessment Programs • Ongoing reporting of monitoring data. • Complete 305b Assessment • Develop protocol for use of outside data. • Develop methodology for use of fish tissue data. • Complete mercury trends assessment in fish & water. • Compare results to installation of FGDs. • Staff participation in: • GOM Hypoxia Task Force. • National Monitoring Council. • Water Environment Federation (WEFTEC). • Big Sandy Coalition.

8. TMDLs • Continued support and coordination of bacteria TMDL. • Maintain Bacteria TMDL website. • Participate in public meetings if scheduled by EPA.

9. Special Projects • EPRI Trading Project – staff support. • GOM Sub-Basin Steering Committee mtgs. • Groundwork for 3 nutrient pilot trades. • Wabash Monitoring Project – continue 1.5 yrs. • Water Resources – complete studies.

10. Technical Committee Recs

11. NPDES Subcommittee Recommendations 1) Develop guidance on permitting of criteria that apply at intakes. 2) Develop streamlined variance review procedure. 3) Coordinate with Power Industry Advisory Committee on development of implementation guidance for the human health temperature criterion.

12. Biological Water Quality Subcommittee Recommendations • Validate responsiveness of newly created Macroinvertebrate index. • Bracket biological survey pools with continuous conductivity & temperature data loggers prior to sampling. • Continue with plans to participate in USEPA’s National Rivers & Streams Assessment as planned. • Continue to pursue external funding to conduct additional mussel surveys.

13. Monitoring Strategy Subcommittee Recommendations • Evaluate cost-benefit of reducing from bimonthly to quarterly sampling (Bimonthly/Clean Metals Monitoring Programs). • Evaluate cost-benefit of reducing number of stations versus reducing sampling frequency (Bimonthly/Clean Metals Monitoring Programs). • Evaluate current set of parameters analyzed (Bimonthly/Clean Metals Monitoring Programs). • Evaluate cost-benefit of reducing blank analyses (currently 100%) for clean metals program (Bimonthly/Clean Metals Monitoring Programs). • Investigate adding parameters that can be run using the in-house Ion Chromatograph especially for bromide and fluoride (Bimonthly/Clean Metals Monitoring Programs).

14. Monitoring Strategy Subcommittee Recommendations (cont.) • Temperature violations in lower river need to be investigated. • Investigate the feasibility of making ODS data sets publicly available. • Strive to maintain 4 pools per year which keeps us on schedule to complete entire river every 5 years. • Define the fish species which fall into each of the trophic levels specifically for the Ohio River (important for mercury impairment issue). • Investigate entering biological data into EPA’s STORET national database.

15. Additional TEC Recommendations on PCS • Address near-term variance review needs. • Review technical aspects of the appropriateness of the mixing zone prohibition for BCCs for the Ohio River.

16. Source Water Protection Program Objectives: • Review all sources of available information to maintain cognizance of river-, shore- and watershed- based activities that may adversely impact drinking water treatment or quality • Evaluate and communicate activities as necessary to state and/or federal agency personnel and drinking water utility personnel to assure consideration is given and optimal protection is provided to drinking water utilities/intakes

17. Emergency Response Preparation • Coordinate meetings of various emergency response/spill/water quality investigation groups to improve interstate communication and coordination • Upper Ohio River Focus Group • Cincinnati Sub-area Focus Group • Incident Action Plan and Tactical Response Plan • Great Rivers Spills Communication Group • Ohio, Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers • Huntington Area Tri-State Spills Communication Group

18. Spill Notification and Tracking • Receive and evaluate NRC reports and spill information from other sources 24/7 • Update and distribute Ohio River Emergency Response Directory • Monitor spill reports from all sources and communicate information to drinking water utilities

19. Organics Detection System - Organics Detection System Renovation Project 345 • Two separate programs: • ODS – Operation and maintenance • ODS Renovation Project 345 (ODS-R) – Upgrade existing system and equipment • Virtually seamless programmatically to date • 9 sites completely upgraded; 1 new site added, 5 remaining • Pittsburgh, Wheeling, St. Albans, Paducah, Portsmouth • New site recommended, Maysville, KY

20. ODS Renovation ODS Site to be Upgraded New Site Upgraded Sites PA Ohio Indiana In process West Virginia Illinois Kentucky

21. Questions?