Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Plan Will Affect West Virginia

EPA has announced the availability of a plan for reducing hypoxia, or oxygen depletion, in the Gulf of Mexico. One method of doing that is to reduce nutrient loading from the states that drain to the Mississippi River. The 2008 Action Plan greatly increases accountability and specificity through the inclusion of an Annual Operating Plan and Annual Report to maintain and track progress between reassessments, state-led nutrient reduction strategies, complementary federal strategies, and an outreach plan to engage stakeholders.
Eleven key actions in the 2008 Action Plan outline critical needs to complete and implement nitrogen and phosphorus reduction strategies, promote effective conservation practices and management practices, track progress, reduce existing scientific uncertainties, and promote effective communications to increase awareness of Gulf hypoxia.

Most of West Virginia drains to the Mississippi, and any reductions on nutrient loading will certainly affect West Virginia businesses and municipalities

You can see the plan at http://www.epa.gov/msbasin/taskforce/actionplan08.htm

EPA Approves Changes to West Virginia's Drinking Water Program.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-8580-7]
Notice of Tentative Approval and Solicitation of Request for a Public Hearing for Public Water System Supervision Program Revisions for the State of West Virginia
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of Tentative Approval and Solicitation of Requests for a Public Hearing.
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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the State of West Virginia is revising their Public Water Supply Supervision (PWSS) program to meet the requirements of Section 1413 of the Safe Drinking Water Act. West Virginia has adopted regulations for the Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule (LT2) to improve public health protection through the control of microbiological contaminants by targeting additional Cryptosporidium treatment requirements to higher risk systems, and for the Stage 2 Disinfection By-Products Rule (Stage 2) to reduce exposure to Disinfection By-Products (DBP) by requiring systems to meet maximum contaminant levels as an average at each compliance monitoring location, rather than as a system-wide average, for two groups of DBPs, trihalomethanes (TTHM) and five haloacetic acids (HAA5).
EPA has determined that these revisions are no less stringent than the corresponding Federal regulations. Therefore, EPA has decided to tentatively approve these program revisions. All interested parties are invited to submit written comments on this determination and may request a public hearing.
DATES: Comments or a request for a public hearing must be submitted by July 17, 2008. This determination shall become effective on July 17,
2008 if no timely and appropriate request for a hearing is received and the Regional Administrator does not elect to hold a hearing on his own motion, and if no comments are received which cause EPA to modify its tentative approval.
ADDRESSES: Comments or a request for a public hearing must be submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103-2029. All documents relating to this determination are available for inspection between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, at the following offices:
? Drinking Water Branch, Water Protection Division, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency Region III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103-2029.
? West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, Environmental Engineering Division, Capitol and Washington Streets, 1 Davis Square, Suite 200, Charleston, WV 25301-1798.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michelle Moustakas, Drinking Water Branch (3WP21) at the Philadelphia address given above; telephone (215)
814-5741 or fax (215) 814-2318.

Huntington Faces Combined Sewer Overflow Problem

Huntington is the latest West Virginia city to consider how it will pay for the federally-mandated requirement to separate its storm water and its sanitary sewer systems. Like most cities, Huntington has one series of interconnected pipes for the two systems, which lead to the waste water treatment plant. This works well when it isn't raining. When it rains heavily, the the plant is overwhelmed, and a mixture of storm water and raw sewage is discharged into the Guyandotte and the Ohio Rivers. This is referred to as a combined sewer overflow, or CSO, and it is common throughout the nation.

It is extremely expensive to separate systems and install sufficient treatment of storm water to meet water quality standards. EPA is starting to crack down on cities that have not taken care of this problem, and cities are being forced to consider where they will get the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to implement the necessary changes. The amount of federal funds available is completely inadequate for all that has to be done. Some cities have bitten the bullet and increased sewer fees, as I believe Charleston has.

Once again, Huntington has proven itself to be the most beautiful city in West Virginia, with the lousiest governance. If you want to see an article on the city's reaction to the CSO problem, see http://www.huntingtonnews.net/local/080607-rutherford-localsewerrateincrease.html