May 2014 National Training Workshop on CWA §303(d) Listing & TMDLs

Purpose of the Training Workshop

To provide an opportunity for state, tribal, and territorial participants from Clean Water Act Section 303(d) programs—along with their federal counterparts—to learn about and discuss ways of implementing the Prioritization Goal of the new Long-Term Vision for Assessment, Restoration, and Protection under the Clean Water Act Section 303(d) Program.

 

Clean Water Act Jurisdiction

The U.S. Supreme Court issued the latest in a series of rulings defining the scope of the federal Clean Water Act in 2023, in Sackett v. United States. Prior rulings also affected the reach of the Act, including SWANCC v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (2001) and Rapanos v. United States (2006), created great uncertainty for landowners, environmental advocates, and regulators about whether many types of wetlands, small and intermittent streams, and other waters are subject to federal jurisdiction.

Sustainable Use of Land in the Chesapeake Bay Region

The Environmental Law Institute works throughout the Chesapeake Bay region to promote new tools that support smart growth and reinvestment across the Bay states. Although the Institute has focused extensively on Pennsylvania and Maryland, we have also engaged in Chesapeake Bay-wide research on smart growth.

Featured Areas of Expertise and Resources:

  • Chesapeake Bay-Wide Smart Growth Research:

Watershed Policy and Management

ELI examines federal, state, and local measures to protect water resources and assure their availability for use while maintaining ecological and hydrological integrity of watersheds, estuaries, basins, and groundwater systems. ELI's Sustainable Use of Land in the Chesapeake Bay Program also works to promote new tools that support smart growth and reinvestment across the Bay states.

Priority Areas of Expertise and Resources:

Non-Point Source Pollution Research

Paying landowners not to pollute, providing free technical advice, and relying on voluntary adherence to BMPs has proven to be an incomplete strategy in many cases. Gradually, states are turning to enforceable mechanisms — including discharge prohibitions, direct enforcement of water quality standards, pollution abatement orders, required operating practices, nuisance and misdemeanor prosecutions, and civil and administrative penalties — to supplement other approaches.

A Handbook for Prioritizing Wetland and Stream Restoration and Protection Using Landscape Analysis Tools

Landscape prioritization tools - landscape metrics or indeces that generate an output corresponding to one or more prioritization objectives based on a set of data factor inputs - may be used by regulatory and non-regulatory wetland programs at the local, state, and national levels to guide prioritization of wetland protection and restoration that best meet one or more objectives.

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