Federal Requirements - Water Quality Reporting

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (commonly referred to as the Clean Water Act (CWA)) requires each state to develop a program to monitor the quality of its surface waters. Section 305(b) of the CWA requires states to prepare, every two years, a report that describes, based on the monitoring data available, the status of water quality and the extent to which state waters meet goals of the Act. Section 303(d) of the CWA requires each state, “from time to time”, to list its waters for which effluent limitations are not sufficient to meet state water quality standards. In federal regulations for implementing Section 303(d), U.S. EPA has defined “from time to time” to mean April 1 of even-numbered years, which coincides with the deadline for Section 305(b) reporting.

Beginning with the 2004 water quality reporting cycle, U.S. EPA recommended that states provide a single water quality monitoring and assessment report—the Integrated Report—that combines the water quality reporting requirements of Section 305(b), the impaired waters listing requirements of Section 303(d) and the lakes reporting requirements of Section 314 of the Clean Water Act. This “Integrated Report” is composed of five categories that are designed to give the public and other stakeholders a comprehensive summary of the water quality status in the state. According to U.S. EPA’s guidelines, water quality problems identified in the Integrated Report should be emphasized and reflected in the state’s water quality management plan and annual work programs under Sections 106, 205(j) and 319 of the Clean Water Act.