Summary

The EPA Region 4 is requesting public comment on its decision to add 72 waterbody-pollutant combinations to North Carolina’s 2016 303(d) list. Section 303(d)(2) of the Clean Water Act requires that states deliver, every two years, lists of waters for which existing pollution controls fail to achieve or maintain state water quality standards. The EPA must approve or disapprove each list, referred to as a 303(d) list or list of impaired waters. The EPA partially approved North Carolina’s 2016 303(d) list, agreeing with the State’s listing of 1,231 waterbody-pollutant combinations as well as the removal of 44 waterbody-pollutant combinations. However, the EPA independently determined that 72 waterbody-pollutant combinations should have been included and has added those to the list.