Agenda - 06-07-1993 - VII-C - Laserfiche WebLink

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10 address not only marinas, but also, docks, piers, and mooring areas. A cost-share program should be established to support the retrofit of existing facilities with marine sanitation device pump-out equipment. Increased levels of boater education should encourage boating practices which protect • water quality. (See Water Quality Action Plan, Management Action I.) • Refine water quality criteria and classifications as necessary to improve the protection of aquatic communities from cumulative impacts of nonpoint source pollution. Water quality standards are designed to protect the aquatic environment from degrading conditions and cumulative impacts which threaten the survival and propagation of aquatic life. To provide adequate protection to important aquatic resources and habitats, additional research should focus on the feasibility of water quality criteria for transparency, nitrate, total suspended solids, biotic indices, and vital fisheries habitats classifications. (See Water Quality Action Plan, Management Action A.) • Expand estuarine water quality modeling efforts. Modeling provides an understanding of the functioning of and cycles in complex ecosystems. Expanded efforts to model the estuarine system would increase the ability to assess the impacts that can be expected from various uses and would assist in setting discharge limits that take nonpoint source loads into account. Expanded modeling efforts should increase consideration of terrestrial and airborne nutrient loading; surface and groundwater cycling; toxicant loadings, fate, and transport; and cumulative loadings effects. (See Water Quality Action Plan, Management Action B.) ... :; ......:......... x;::?:i•.;5::;5>5:::>:::::::;<:::�::;iii%i22`;+::;Sy;P;So-:�;;;«;:;:;;;::;: ::;:<;:%<:: :::<::::�i::::..,::,:::::.::.::�� ..�i:ai :i'i'i'=>::::a:,::...............:.....:.•...........................,..................... The pollutant loadings caused by point source discharges are more easily identified and managed than nonpoint sources, and are therefore, more closely regulated. Point sources continue to be a significant source of biological oxygen demand, toxicants, fecal coliform, and excess nutrients to the Albemarle-Pamlico system. The impact of point sources can be further controlled through proactive management approaches and clean-ups which address past contamination. • Strengthen criteria used in setting point source discharge permit limits by lowering the allocation of instream assimilative capacity to 75% and upgrading secondary wastewater treatment requirements. Assimilative capacity is the natural capability of a water body to receive a pollutant without violating water quality criteria or impairing its functional use. The Division of Environmental Management currently allocates 100% of assimilative capacity when setting permit limits for dischargers. Lowering this allocation to 75% would provide a safety zone that.would protect the water from unforeseen cumulative impacts. In addition, further water quality protection would be provided by upgrading wastewater treatment requirements for new or expanded treatment plants. Economically feasible technology exists to comply with higher limits. (See Water Quality Action Plan, Management Action K) • Increase availability of waste reduction and plant performance analyses and operator training programs to promote the improvement of point source operations and impacts. Technical assistance provided to dischargers through the state's Pollution Prevention Program and Pre-treatment Program have aided in reducing pollutant inputs, increasing efficiency, and reducing waste at the source. Increased levels of technical assistance will fill a demand for such service and achieve further water quality improvements. (See Executive Summary—9