Abstract |
Section 303(d) of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) implementing regulations direct each state to identify and list waters, known as water quality limited segments (WQLSs), in which current required controls of a specified substance are inadequate to achieve water quality standards. For each WQLS, the State is to either establish a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) of the specified substance that the waterbody can receive without violating water quality standards, or demonstrate that water quality standards are being met. The Corsica River (basin number 02-13-05-07) was first identified on the 1996 303(d) List submitted to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) as impaired by nutrients, sediments and fecal coliform, with listings of biological impacts in the non-tidal portions and toxics in tidal portions added in 2002. This document, upon EPA approval, establishes a TMDL of fecal coliform for the Corsica River. A TMDL of nutrients was approved in 2000; the suspended sediment, biological, and toxic impairments within the Corsica River basin will be addressed at a future date. |