Skip to main content

On June 13, AMWA submitted comments to EPA on a draft document the agency coauthored with USGS entitled Draft Technical Report: Protecting Aquatic Life From Effects of  Hydrologic Alteration. The authoring agencies identified the draft as a source of information on the natural hydrologic flow regime and the potential impacts of flow alteration on aquatic life. The document is also billed as a non-prescriptive framework to quantify targets for flow that are protective of aquatic life and identify Clean Water Act programs that can be used to support the natural flow regime and maintain healthy aquatic biota. AMWA and other groups have voiced concern that the document, if finalized as drafted, will be used as the basis for the agency to regulate the quantity of water flowing through streams.  

AMWA’s letter illustrates four main points, specifically that the authors:  1) provide a greater, more holistic context for the other designated uses under the Clean Water Act (CWA) rather than focus solely on aquatic life protection, 2) clarify the implications on climate change and climate on hydrologic alteration, 3) carefully remove or edit text that makes or implies policy recommendations, and 4) overall, better explain what the document is and how to use it. 

An overarching concern that AMWA voiced about the draft document is its strong implication that any existing or proposed flow regime alteration, which does not support fish and other biota dependent on the flow regime, is a violation of the water quality standards and thus the CWA. AMWA’s comments specify that the document should not focus solely on aquatic life to the detriment of the other designated uses of a water body. Another concern expressed in AMWA’s comment letter is that the draft infers and includes policy recommendations, which is something that a technical document coauthored by USGS should not do. The draft document mixes policy, guidance and technical information. AMWA’s comments point out several examples of this mixing and provide recommendations for how to address it. EPA and USGS have not released a timeline for finalizing the document.