EPA proposes temperature cleanup plan for Umpqua Basin

EPA proposes temperature cleanup plan for Umpqua Basin

Public can comment on plan until November 25

October 9, 2024

Seattle -- (October 09, 2024) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is accepting public comment on its proposed plan to reduce high water temperatures in the Umpqua River basin. EPA is assisting the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality by leading the effort to replace the 2006 Umpqua Basin temperature Total Maximum Daily Loads.

Warm temperatures in rivers and streams can harm the fish that live, migrate and spawn there.The agency is establishing a Total Maximum Daily Load project for temperature -- often referred to as a waterbody cleanup plan - to protect aquatic life in the Umpqua, South Umpqua, and North Umpqua rivers and their tributaries of Oregon.

In 2006, DEQ issued temperature TMDLs for the Umpqua Basin to address waterbodies that violated stream temperature standards set to protect fish and aquatic life.The TMDLs targeted heat pollution from two main human-caused sources: 1) nonpoint sources, such as streamside vegetation removal and flow modifications, and 2) point source discharges, such as industrial outfalls and wastewater treatment plants. The revised Umpqua Basin temperature TMDLs will include new load allocations for nonpoint sources and wasteload allocations for point sources.

For more information on how to comment on the draft plan, go to:https://www.epa.gov/tmdl/umpqua-river-basin-temperature-tmdls

EPA will take public comment on the plan until November 25, 2024.

EPA will be issuing the final Umpqua Basin temperature TMDL project by February 28, 2025.