The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is requesting existing and readily available water quality information on the health of Alaska’s waters for the development of Alaska’s draft and final 2020 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 Integrated Report and its assessments are transmitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
DEC now submits the Integrated Report to EPA electronically. 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). Alaska’s 2020 Integrated Report will be submitted to EPA through ATTAINS.
For more information about Alaska’s Integrated Report and its associated documents please visit our webpage at http://dec.alaska.gov/water/water-quality/integrated-report. Limited summary data for the 2020 Report will be web posted on the Integrated Report page.
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 2020 Integrated Report. In order to be considered in the final 2020 Integrated Report, all new data and information must be submitted to DEC no later than 5 PM Friday May 17, 2019.
Additionally, the DEC Division of Water is also providing notice of two planning documents recently completed and the public is encouraged to review and comment on these strategic documents.
- DEC 2020 Consolidated Assessment and Listing Methodology (CALM). DEC has revised the 2018 CALM to reflect updates to the DEC CALM process. This includes clarifications pertaining to how statistical methodology is used in the DEC assessment and listing process.
- Listing Methodology for Determining Water Quality Impairments from Pathogens. The revisions were done to reflect Alaska’s adoption of Escherichia coli (E. coli) (freshwater) and enterococci (marine water) which replaced fecal coliform as the indicator bacteria for contact recreation uses in Alaska’s water quality standards and Beaches Environmental Assessment & Coastal Health (BEACH) monitoring programs.
Both documents are located on the Integrated Report web page: http://dec.alaska.gov/water/water-quality/integrated-report
DEC will review all information submitted and will public notice the draft 2020 Integrated Report in late 2019. Alaska’s final 2020 Integrated Report will be available on-line on the Integrated Report web page at http://dec.alaska.gov/water/water-quality/integrated-report
Please forward all water quality information, data, and comments to:
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation
Division of Water
Attention: Drew Grant
P.O. Box 111800
Juneau, Alaska 99811-1800
Phone: (907) 465-5304
Fax: (907) 465-5177
E-mail: drew.grant@alaska.gov
Additionally, DEC will accept comments by facsimile at (907) 465-5274. Comments may also be submitted electronically through the Alaska Online Public Notice System at http://aws.state.ak.us/OnlinePublicNotices. The comments must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. on Friday May 17, 2019. You should comment during the time allowed if your interests could be affected. Written comments received are public records and are subject to public inspection.
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 Theresa Zimmerman at (907) 465-6171 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.