May a single Total Maximum Daily Load be set for a basin encompassing a number of impaired reaches if it does not provide for attainment of water quality standards on each reach? Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (D. Minn. Civ. No. 03-5450) (June 23, 2005) (memorandum and order). The EPA approved a Total Maximum Daily Load determination by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for fecal coliform bacteria in the Lower Mississippi River Basin. The U.S. District Court agreed with the MCEA that while a TMDL could be set basinwide, it must be adequate to ensure that applicable water quality standards are met in each of the 20 impaired river reaches and cannot be based on aggregated basinwide data. It further agreed with the MCEA that: (a) stream impairment levels on which the TMDL determination is made must be assessed by month and cannot be aggregated; (b) a TMDL must provide for water quality standards to be reached and cannot be denominated as “phased” to avoid that obligation; and (c) straight-pipe septic system discharges must be included in the TMDL allocation as “point sources.”
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