Chris Wieberg, Director

Water Protection Program

Water Protection Program

Update

A Year In Review and Priorities Moving

Forward

Number of rules revised or new 83/118 • 18 rescissions • 64 amendments • 1 new rule • Total number of restrictions 7,218 • Total number of restrictions removed 2,865 • Percentage of restrictions removed 39.7%

In October of 2018 the CWC adopted the majority

of RTR amendments which became effective on

February 28th, 2019

The CWC approved the 2018 303d list in October

2018

• 26 waterbodies re-categorized as attaining

Water Quality Standards

In late 2018 we were still wrapping up work from

the Drought of 2018

• Grant Funding – Committed over $900,000 in grants to system

experiencing loss or potential loss of critical drinking water services or facilities as a result of drought

• Effluent Reuse Discussions

In November 2018 improvements were made to

our ICIS-NPDES data transfer

• Now have more accurate data being displayed

in ECHO

• Reduction in “False” violations due to data

issues

• Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement data is

now being batched to the federal system.

In December 2018 we were also involved in DEQ

level negotiations related to ongoing EPA

enforcement cases

• DNR took over 50+ EPA Enforcement case in

various media. 11 were water cases

• We have regular update meetings with R7 on

the status of these cases 11 cases

The Clean Water Commission received

approval of the NNC for Lakes on December

14th 2018

Lake

Ecoregion

Chl-a

Response

Impairment

Thresholds

Nutrient Screening

Threshold s

TP TN Chl-a

Plains 30 49 843 18

Ozark

Border 22 40 733 13

Ozark

Highlands 15 16 401 6

Lake Ecoregion Values (µg/L)

In January 2019 the WPP and Commission

approved a grant to MPUA-RSC to provide

planning assistance to small communities.

• Pilot grant to assist small communities with

much needed planning assistance

• More to come on this during the seminar….

In February of 2019 the WPP began drafting

amendments and revisions to the 2010 Nutrient

TMDLs

• First PN’s happened in the summer of 2019 but

were pulled back to rework the amendments.

• Future PN’s expected this fall and winter

• Focus is on new data and nutrient WLAs that

can be achieved via Enhanced Nutrient

Removal Technology

In March 2019 Northwest MO experienced

historic flooding that had impacts of water and

wastewater facilities.

• This and other precipitation related flooding

occurring on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers

until July of 2019

Early 2019 Flood Extent 1993 Flood Extent

2019 vs. 1993

St. Joseph WWTF

Craig WWTF

Big Lake State Park WWTF

2019 vs. 1993

Early 2019 Flood Extent 1993 Flood Extent

Booneville WWTF and DWTP Columbia WWTF and DWTP

Jefferson City WWTF

2019 vs. 1993

Early 2019 Flood Extent 1993 Flood Extent

New Madrid WWTF

New Madrid Power Plant

Cape Girardeau WWTF

In May of 2019 Jefferson City was hit by an EF3

tornado

• The DNR LCSOB was near the path and

received minor damage.

• WPP team members were asked to stay

home for a couple of days while clean up

occurred

• Several team members experienced

property damage during this event

In July 2019 the Clean Water Commission

approved the amended 2020 listing Methodology

document

• Originally approved in July 2018

• CWC requested that the program work on outstanding

issues for a potential amendment

• The program held several work group meetings on topics

• Focus of the amendment was the 12 step (now 13)

process for biological assessments on small streams

• Most items were resolved via the amendment

• Working on the 2022 LMD right now

In July the Division of Environmental Quality

officially established the Central Field Operations

group

• Conduct field work and

inspections

• Assist with coordination

efforts between the

program and field offices

• Provide a field presence

in the Program office

• Currently staffed up to

conduct Water related

field work.

Coming Up

In late 2019 WPP will be accepting grant applications for

our new Regionalization and Consolidation Grant

• Largest sector of enforcement is small private domestic facilities

• We have more than most states

• Grant for municipalities connecting small public or private systems that are permitted or should be permitted

• We intend to do this solicitation every year

• Covers 100% of the cost of connect

In Late 2019 WPP will be gathering public input

on hydrogeological evaluations associated with

permitting

• This document as guidance when performing collapse potential

evaluations to support WPP construction and operating permit

decisions for wastewater treatment facilities.

• This public notice is an opportunity to receive input on the proposed

procedure document, which describes how the collapse potential is

determined by geologists with the Missouri Geological Survey.

• The public notice period is August 23, 2019 to September 23, 2019.

The document can be found at https://dnr.mo.gov/env/wpp/wpcp-pn.htm

In late 2019 the WPP will be establishing new

procedures

• NH3

– Use the criteria directly as the wasteload allocation

– Similar to KS and IA

• Data Exclusions

– Set a policy on when data can be excluded or

established as an outlier

• Fertilizer Exemptions

– 120 exemptions – need to be evaluated and renewed

In 2020 the WPP will be subject to an EPA

review of our NPDES program

• Review of permits

• Review of enforcement actions

• Review of Inspection processes via oversight

inspections

• MS4, CAFO, Pretreatment etc.

• Outstanding Items from the 2014 review

2019 WPP priorities Decreasing Permit Backlog and processing times

Implementation of the Revised WQS

Drought Mitigation

Complete the Red Tape Reduction

NEXIS (Nutrient Exchange Incentive System)

Questions for me….

Thank You

• Questions and Comments for WPP can be

directed to:

chris.wieberg@dnr.mo.gov

573-522-9912