Dissolved oxygen rules set to come Sept. 22: EPA official

Dissolved oxygen (and the lack of it) has been the star of the show for many Water Quality Advisory Committee meetings of the Delaware River Basin Commission in the past few years, and it made a guest appearance at the committee meeting on Monday.

Greg Voigt, from the Water Division of the Environmental Protection Agency Region 3 in Philadelphia, summed up what we have previously reported here. 

Voigt said that the proposed new dissolved oxygen rules are “with” the Office of Management and Budget and once it’s done, the rules will go to the EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin, for his signature. Then Congress has a 60-day review period before the rules are entered into the Federal Register.

Plagued with innumerable setbacks, new DO rules are a long time coming.

A federal judge has given the EPA until Sept. 22 to issue a final revised water quality standard though the new rules could be delayed if the EPA can show a good reason for a delay, such as extenuating circumstances.

Voigt said the EPA is still guided by that judge’s demand that the rules be set by Sept. 22.

But other guest stars shared the spotlight at the meeting: bacteria, toxics and salt.

Addressing transparency and expertise

Before getting to those, it was noteworthy that many of the presentations gave credit to the cooperation from one or more of the four states in the watershed, and the EPA, for example, paying for water quality testing, or consulting on a shared approach to a problem of coordinating limits for “bad stuff.”

Cooperation would seem like a good thing, but not, perhaps when it leads to a lack of transparency.

At least according to Jason Cruz, an environmental scientist from the Philadelphia Water Department, and the DRBC’s regulated community representative, who said PWD and other water utilities in the basin are likely to be affected by whatever solutions are developed and that means they should be able to participate.

In addition, he said, many water utilities, like PWD, have their own extensive scientific and technical expertise that could help.

That view was echoed by Charles Hast, director of engineering at DELCORA, the Delaware County Regional Water Quality Control Authority.

Namsoo Suk, DRBC’s director of Science and Water Quality Management, thanked Cruz for his comment and said: “It was important to hear from all entities before any final decisions. We will try and open up all the procedures.”

Meetings of the WQAC have been far fewer since the EPA essentially took over the promulgation of those new DO rules, but the lack of meetings is clearly not a sign of inactivity.

Suk talked through a slide that showed some of what his group has been up to — essentially a lot of work through the eutrophication model that the DRBC developed to understand the DO problem and refining the results.

Suk also gave a state of play on the DO situation from the DRBC’s point of view.

● New DO criteria will require significantly better (higher) DO condition

● DRBC estuary DO model developed for the purpose of calculating WLAs (waste load allocations) and represents state-of-the-art

● A few waste water treatment plants drive the summer “sag” (low DO levels) because of high ammonia levels

● Upgrades to remove ammonia will incur significant costs

● Ammonia removal at treatment plants is feasible

Which simply states the nub of the problem that’s been argued about for many years: Yes, the problem is ammonia. Yes, it’s coming from a few plants. Yes, it can be treated. However, it’s going to cost a lot of money.

And here’s what the go-forward plan is from the DRBC’s perspective:

● Currently finalizing a high-level strategy document with co-regulators that articulates regulatory basis, responsibilities, and schedule

● DRBC anticipates applying its estuary DO model to perform a focused technical study to determine allocations for criteria implementation

● Co-Regulators Workgroup: Approximately monthly meetings, resolve technical issues, address each state’s regulations and policies

●Water Quality Advisory Committee: Plan to meet four to six times in 2026, provide updates and solicit input from committee members

Here’s where you see the problem that Cruz spoke about, the co-regulators (the states and EPA) meet monthly and it seems that the input from the water utilities is not invited until the working group has deliberated.

Next guest: toxins

Jeremy Cockle, senior chemist/toxicologist at the Delaware River Basin Commission, talked about how the DRBC’s surface water quality standards for toxics are out of step with EPA nationally recommended criteria and state criteria.

In some cases, they are higher and some lower and the toxins itemized are not the same.

So, a radical transformation is underway to bring the DRBC standards to align with EPA and relevant states’ standards

The DRBC is calling this a “states go first” process. He noted that the DRBC is understaffed to bring its different standards up to date since he’s essentially the only staffer doing this work. By adopting the “states go first” approach it will make all the standards in agreement.

Have a look as some of the toxins recently measured in the tributaries by the DRBC.

When that work is done, it will be presented to the Toxics Advisory Committee and that will open the public participating process.

The DRBC also intends to revise its surface water quality standards for bacteria.

Mirroring the approach to be taken for toxins, the new standards will reflect EPA and the states’ standards.

There will be public notice of the new standards likely in spring 2026, with final adoption in 2026-27.

Last guest star: salt

One of the most easily understood problems that we’re facing in the river is salt, with chloride concentrations ever increasing.

And the unfortunate reality is that despite work being done here in the basin and elsewhere, all entities really struggle to identify an effective solution, said one of the slides presented by Elaine Panuccio, senior water resource scientist.

Also, that “outreach and voluntary approaches only go so far.”

The DRBC has formed a salinity workgroup (SIFT) to discuss management approaches and is working with Bridgeton Township, Pa., in a pilot program to understand current salting practices and what the DRBC can do to help with salt reduction efforts.

If you’re interested in participating in the SIFT workgroup, or the pilot study, reach out: elaine.panuccio@drbc.gov