The EPC adopted the cold water stream protocol in December 2004.  It will consider adopting the new water quality standards at its January 17 meeting.

EPA APPROVES 2004 STANDARDS FOR COLD-WATER STREAMS

DES MOINES - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved the DNR's revised water quality standards for cold-water streams. The DNR can now apply those standards, which it adopted in December 2004.

Water quality standards are the cornerstone for many DNR programs. The standards define uses for rivers, streams and lakes and determine what the level of water quality should be for each water body. Some standards are designed to provide safe drinking water, some to protect aquatic life and wildlife, and some to ensure safe recreational uses for the public, such as swimming.

The revised standards protect certain aquatic life, such as trout, which need cold-water conditions to survive. The standards include a new process for determining which streams should be protected for cold-water uses. The revised standards also define two classifications, instead of one, to reflect the different uses by cold-water aquatic life.

"These standards will help us decide what streams need to be protected as a cold-water stream," said Chuck Corell, head of the DNR's water quality bureau. "As we use the new process, we know that streams - and the aquatic life that lives in those streams - will have the appropriate level of protection."

The DNR's Environmental Protection Commission (EPC) must approve the change of a stream's classification to a cold-water use. In addition, the DNR will ask the EPC later this month to approve proposed changes to the DNR's warm-water standards.

After receiving public comments, the DNR submitted the 2004 revised water quality standards to the EPA in February 2005 for approval. States are required to review their water quality standards at least every three years and submit new or revised standards to the EPA as detailed in the Clean Water Act.

For more information, contact Chuck Corell at (515) 281-4582.