Compendium of Approaches to Incorporating Climate Change into the CWA 303(d) Program

Climate Change and the CWA 303(d) Program: Practices and Ideas from Conversations among State, Territorial, and Tribal Staff highlights various approaches to incorporating climate change factors into CWA 303(d) listing, TMDL development, TMDL implementation, and related activities and products. The objective of the document is to facilitate communication among water quality programs, especially CWA 303(d) programs, and help generate new ideas with regard to climate change.

With the 2022 - 2032 Vision for the Clean Water Act Section 303(d) Program containing a focus on climate change,  this is an opportune time to consider more thoroughly how to account for the impacts of climate change in CWA 303(d) Program activities and products as well as include it in communications and collaborations with other programs and stakeholders.

Most of the information in this document originated from registration responses and in-session discussions of state, territorial, and tribal staff as part of the 2021 National CWA 303(d) and Data Management Training Workshop, as well as presentations and discussions in the Climate Change and the CWA 303(d) Program: Opportunities for Progress workshop and 2022 National Training Workshop on Water Quality Data, Assessment, and Plans, each of which was convened by ELI through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). Follow-up conversations and independent literature reviews by ELI staff supplement that material.

This compendium is the result of Cooperative Agreement X7- 83592101-0 between ELI and the U.S. EPA. ELI alone is responsible for errors or inaccuracies. The information provided here is not intended to be exhaustive.