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What does the rule require?
The rule requires that all applicable
facilities do the following:
• Prevent discharge
of drugs and pesticides
that have
been spilled and
minimize discharges
of excess feed.
• Regularly maintain
production and
wastewater treatment
systems.
• Keep records on numbers and weights of animals,
amounts of feed, and frequency of
cleaning, inspections, maintenance, and repairs.
• Train staff to prevent and respond to spills
and to properly operate and maintain production
and wastewater treatment systems.
• Report the use of experimental animal drugs
or drugs that are not used in accordance
with label requirements.
• Report failure of or damage to a containment
system.
• Develop, maintain, and certify a best management
practice plan that describes how
the facility will meet the requirements.
The rule requires flow through and recirculating
discharge facilities to minimize the discharge
of solids such as uneaten feed, settled
solids, and animal carcasses.
The rule requires open water system facilities
to do the following:
• Use active feed monitoring and management
strategies to allow only the least possible uneaten
feed to accumulate beneath the nets.
• Properly dispose of feed bags, packaging
materials, waste rope, and netting.
• Limit as much as possible wastewater discharges
resulting from the transport or harvest
of the animals.
• Prevent the discharge of dead animals in the
wastewater.
How can I get copies of the rule or
additional information?
For a copy of the final rule, contact the Office
of Water Resource center at (202) 566-
1729 or center.water-resource@epa.gov. You
can also write or call the National Service Center
for Environmental Publications (NSCEP),
U.S. EPA/NSCEP, P.O. Box 42419, Cincinnati,
Ohio 45242-2419, (800) 490-9198, www.epa.
gov/ncepihom/. Electronic copies of the preamble,
rule, and major supporting documents
are available at www.epa.gov/guide/aquaculture
or in E-Docket at www.epa.gov/edocket/.
Once in the E-Docket system, select
“search,” then key in the docket identification
number (OW-2002-0026). For additional information,
contact Ms. Marta Jordan at (202)
566-1049 or jordan.marta@epa.gov.
Small Flows Quarterly, Fall 2004, Volume 5, Number 4
New Rule to Protect Nation’s Beaches
As part of the Clean Beaches
Plan, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) has issued a proposed
regulation to improve standards
for water quality monitoring at
our nation’s beaches. EPA acted to
ensure that more protective healthbased
standards are in place in all
states and territories bordering Great
Lakes or ocean waters.
“We are working as partners with
the states and territories to promote
scientifically strong, defensible standards
for coastal and Great Lakes
recreational waters,” said EPA Acting
Assistant Administrator Ben Grumbles.
“States have made good
progress over the last several
months. We expect this to continue,
but in the meantime, we are ensuring
that the public is protected by
having federal standards in place.”
Of the 35 states and territories
that have coastal or Great Lakes
recreational waters, ten have already
adopted EPA’s recommended criteria
for all their coastal recreational waters,
and 17 states are in the process
of adopting these criteria. Other
states have adopted the criteria for
portions of their waters, while a small
number have yet to take action. EPA
will exclude from the final federal
regulation any state or territory that
adopts these more protective healthbased
criteria. The proposal has a 30-
day comment period, and EPA will
issue a final standard in early fall.
The Beaches Environmental Assessment
and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act
of 2000 required coastal states and
states bordering the Great Lakes to
adopt EPA’s most current bacteria criteria
by April 10, 2004 to better protect
beach goers from harmful
pathogens. The Act requires EPA to
propose federal standards for the
state’s coastal or Great Lakes waters
for states that have failed to meet the
deadline. Specifically, for these states,
EPA is proposing E. coli and enterococci
criteria for their coastal recreational
waters. These bacteria do not directly
cause illness, but are good indicators
of harmful pathogens in waterbodies.
The Administration’s Clean
Beaches Plan includes grant funding
to all BEACH Act states and territories
to ensure continued monitoring
of the nation’s beaches and public
notification of beach closures and
advisories. These funds are designed
to ensure the protection of public
health and to improve information
on the quality of waters at the nation’s
beaches. EPA estimates that
Americans take a total of 910 million
trips to coastal areas each year and
spend about $44 billion at those
beach locations.
Information about the beach criteria
proposal, a list of states and
their status as of July 1, 2004, and
the EPA’s Clean Beaches Plan is available
at: www.epa.gov/beaches/.
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