The Department of Environmental Quality invited public comment on proposed amendments to water quality standards of the State. The proposed amendments include a revision of Antidegradation Review, Segmentation of Great Salt Lake into 4 Bays and transitional wetlands (below 4208 feet) along the shoreline, and a tissue based numeric standard for selenium in Gilbert Bay of 12.5 mg/kg (the EC10) with an Assessment Procedure that will apply annual selenium caps to all permitted discharges when the geometric mean egg selenium concentration reaches 60% of the standard. Many other changes that require careful review are also proposed.  Two public hearings were scheduled in August and comments were due on 20 August.  

FOR A LITTLE HISTORY on this topic and to review our submitted comments and all the recommendations, please click on "Read more..." 

On May 28th, the GSL Water Quality Steering Committee voted to recommend a water quality standard for selenium in the open waters of Great Salt Lake to the Water Quality Board.

The final vote from the Steering Committee was:
    
    5 members voted for an EC<1 @ 5 mg Se/kg
    1 member voted for an EC 6 @ 10.4 mg Se/kg
    10 members voted for an EC 10 @ 12.5 mg Se/kg

Consensus was not achieved by the Steering Committee. Therefore, each of the three recommendations are accompanied by a position paper to explain why those members voted as they did. Additionally, all agreed that an assessment methodology is a necessary tool for implementing a monitoring regimen, which would protect against impairment. Although a precedent in water quality policy would be created, this assessment methodology should be coupled with the recommendation for the standard as a part of the rulemaking process.

The Water Quality Board met on June 20th to review this package of information, along with other water quality issues. The Board has published a public notice to invite the public comments.  Most of the information is printed above, but you can download a copy for your records by clicking here:  r317-2_wqs_public_notice_071508

This is a very important opportunity for the public to continue to be heard. It’s important for the public to  speak on behalf of establishing the first numeric standard for Great Salt Lake. And in doing so, advocate for an assessment methodology to be a part of the rule. This will ensure that careful monitoring will be achieved. And if there is any indication that the concentration of selenium is on the rise, protective measures will be implemented to prevent impairment of the Lake.

The position papers are posted below.

 no_effect_selenium_standard_for_gsl_minority_report_final 194.70 Kb 

 rec_for_se_std_for_gsl_-_dl_fin 143.89 Kb

 selenium_recommendation_final 108.39 Kb

FRIENDS submitted a brief version of our overall comments to the Board on 19 August 2008                         fogsl_state_waters_com 43.57 Kb

Western Resource Advocates also submitted detailed comments.   wracomments19aug08 113.95 Kb

Additional details are available on the DEQ website: www.waterquality.utah.gov/rules/rulechange.htm