The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is requesting water quality information for the development of Alaska’s 2018 Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report (Integrated Report). This biennial report describes to Alaskans the health of Alaska’s waters (as required under Sections 303(d) and 305(b) of the federal Clean Water Act) and includes the list of impaired (polluted) waters. The Report and its assessments are transmitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

For over 30 years, DEC has submitted a “paper” Integrated Report to the EPA to satisfy the reporting requirements of the Clean Water Act. The water quality assessment information is then managed and maintained in an EPA online system called ATTAINS (Assessment and Total Maximum Daily Load Tracking and Implementation System (ATTAINS)). The system provides information on the status of waters at national, state and site-specific waterbody levels. EPA is currently redesigning the ATTAINS system to allow for a more efficient and greater use of the data by States and the public. The new version of the system is scheduled for release in summer 2017.

In conjunction with the EPA’s ATTAINS redesign effort, the DEC Division of Water conducted a critical review of the process for developing the Alaska’s Integrated Report. This resulted in the agreement on significant changes and approaches to the Report development, resulting in a more streamlined process. Subsequently, the 2018 Alaska’s Integrated Report to the EPA will be an electronic submittal, with data and assessments assessable directly from ATTAINS. For more information about the Alaska’s Integrated Report and associated documents please visit our webpage at http://dec.alaska.gov/water/wqsar/waterbody/integratedreport.htm.

DEC encourages the public to submit existing and readily available water quality data and related information for consideration by the Department for inclusion in the 2018 Integrated Report. In order for consideration in the final 2018 Integrated Report, all new data and information must be submitted to DEC no later than 5 PM Wednesday, May 31, 2017.

DEC will review all information submitted and will public notice the draft 2018 Integrated Report in late 2017 or early 2018. A final Integrated Report is required to be submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency by April 1, 2018.  The final report will be available to the public.

Alaska’s final 2018 Integrated Report will be available on-line on the Integrated Report web page at

http://dec.alaska.gov/water/wqsar/waterbody/integratedreport.htm.

Please forward all water quality information, data, and comments to:

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
Division of Water
Attention: Drew Grant
410 Willoughby, Suite 303
P.O. Box 111800
Juneau, Alaska 99801-1795
Phone: (907) 465-5304
Fax: (907) 465-5274
E-mail: drew.grant@alaska.gov

To sign up to get DEC Nonpoint Source program announcements visit http://list.state.ak.us/mailman/listinfo/dec.wqsar.nps.

The State of Alaska, Department of Environmental Conservation complies with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. If you are a person with a disability who may need a special accommodation in order to participate in this public process, please contact Natalie Wolfe at (907) 269-0291 through the Alaska Relay Service, TDD Relay Service 1-800-770-8973/TTY or dial 711, or www.akrelay.com, within 30 days of publication of this notice to ensure that any necessary accommodations can be provided.