Press Release Issued by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7
901 N. Fifth St., Kansas City, KS 66101

Decision on Nebraska's Impaired Waters List

Contact Information: Kris Lancaster, (913) 551-7557, lancaster.kris@epa.gov

(Kansas City, Kan., Feb. 3, 2009) - EPA has released its decision on Nebraska's 2006/2008 list of impaired waters.

EPA is approving Nebraska's decision to list 177 waters and is postponing final action on 37 lakes and reservoirs. EPA and the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) have agreed to revise Nebraska's lake and reservoir criteria plan. The revised criteria will be used in the next listing cycle to assess these 37 lakes and reservoirs.

NDEQ submitted its impaired waters list to EPA for review and approval, as required by the Clean Water Act. The Clean Water Act requires EPA to review the state's list of impaired waters to determine if the state reasonably considered available water quality-related data, and identified waters to be listed.

The impaired waters identified on Nebraska's list will help to reduce sources of water pollution in the state. EPA applauds NDEQ for its diligent work in assessing the water quality of Nebraska's lakes and streams.

EPA's Feb. 3, 2009, decision letter provides a more detailed description of EPA's review and the basis for this action. The decision letter, including the Nebraska 2008 Water Quality Integrated Report, which includes the impaired waters list, is available at http://www.epa.gov/region07/news_events/legal.
 

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Note from NDEQ: To view more information about Nebraska’s TMDL program and the 2008 Impaired Water List, go to Impaired Water and Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) on this website.