Water Evaluation

Standards

Water Condition

Related Programs

Wisconsin Administrative Codes [PDF]

Wisconsin's Impaired Waters Process

Find Impaired Waters

Interactive Map

Browse Impaired Waters Surface Water Data Viewer. (Use "Zoom To" to go to a place. Then click Layers, Monitoring &Assessments, Impaired Waters) interactive map

About the List

Section 303(d) of the federal Clean Water Act requires states to develop a list of impaired waters ("303(d) list"). A water is considered impaired if a) the current water quality does not meet the numeric or narrative criteria in a water quality standard or b) the designated use that is described in Wisconsin Administrative Code is not achieved. A documented methodology describes the approach used to list waters as impaired.

Search Proposed 2012 List

Search 2012 Current, Proposed, and Restored Impaired Waters
Help Screens: Water Search by Name || Select Search Results || Impaired Water Detail Page
Search by: Water, County, Watershed, Listing Status, Pollutants, Impairments

Year 2010 WDNR Submittal to USEPA

Listed GIS Shapefiles 2010 Impaired Waters (> 10 MB Zip File)
Impaired Waters List as proposed in April 2010 to EPA









Listing Process

Impaired Waters Lifecycle: Identification to Restoration

Clean Water Act Requirements

Kohlsville River Restoration

Kohlsville River Restoration

Wisconsin Water Quality Standards Management Approach

The identification and listing of waters as impaired is one step in a continual process of waterbody Classification, Assessment, and Management, the ultimate goal of which is to protect, restore, and maintain the full potential of each waterbody to the maximum extent possible.

Classification: All waters are designated full fish and aquatic life under the Clean Water Act "Fish and Aquatic Life Use". All Wisconsin waters are also classified as "full body contact" under the "Recreational Use" Category. These classifications are developed under the state's standards adminstrative rule and use designations are assigned based on state rule and guidance.

Assessment: Evaluating attainment of water quality standards involves determing water condition for each Use Designation (Fish and Aquatic Life, Recreation, etc). The Wisconsin Consolidated Assessment and Listing Methodology (WisCALM) describes how Wisconsin determines water condition. Monitoring results on potentially impaired waters compared to pre-established quality thresholds for specific parameters that describe condition levels for designated uses including fish and aquatic life, recreation, etc. Waters that indicate impairment are submitted to USEPA for new listings based on the pollutant and impairment indicator. USEPA terms pollutants "causes" of impairment and matches these pollutants or "causes" with known or suspected sources of pollution.

Management: Wisconsin's delegated responsibilities under the Clean Water Act include the protection, management and restoration of waters as their condition indicates. In the case of "impaired waters", the management process is designed to lead to the full restoraiton of the water. (Read More...).

Identifying Impairments

Identifying Impairments

Monitoring, Assessments, and Listings

Monitoring Strategy

Targeted Monitoring

Identifying Condition: WisCALM (Assessment Guidance for Identifying Impaired Waters)

Impaired waters are identified through comparing monitoring results for a given water to pre-established quality thresholds for specific parameters that describe condition levels for the subject designated use. For example, attainment of Fish and Aquatic Life uses for a given stream is determined by reviewing monitoring results collected within the last five years for aquatic macroinvertebrate species and fish species. Field results are compared to expected values for analytical tools, such as the Fish Index of Biological Integrity (Fish IBI) and the Macroinvertebrate Index of Biological Integrity (Bug IBI).

When one or both of the Fish IBI and Bug IBI values for a given stream consistently show poor values over time, the water is further evaluated to determine specific pollutants and the resulting impairments related to the poor biological communities. Land surveys, instream habitat evaluations, and stream chemistry data are gathered to determine the specific pollutants and associated impairments for the stream or section of stream. This additional evaluation is necessary to differentiate 'natural conditions' from those where human-induced problems affect water condition.

Water Quality standards are implemented by criteria created for a wide range of pollutants such as phosphorus, sediment, bacteria ( E.coli), PCBs, and mercury. A water is polluted or "impaired" if it does not support full use by humans, wildlife, fish and other aquatic life and it is shown that one or more of the pollutant criteria are not met. The tabs that follow on this page describe the incremental process that impaired waters go through on the road to restoration, beginning with listing and ending wtih delisting the restored water.

The federal Clean Water Act (CWA) requires that states adopt water quality standards to protect waters from pollution. These standards set the water quality goals for a lake, river, or stream by stating the maximum amount of a pollutant that can be found in the water while still allowing it to be used for fishing, swimming, and allowing aquatic organisms and wildlife to thrive.

Problem Detection to Solution

Developing Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs): Problem Detection to Solution

Creation of a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for an impaired water is the first step in finding solutions to restore an impaired water. A TMDL is essentially a pollutant “budget” for a water: how much of a pollutant can a water handle before exceeding water quality standards? TMDL development includes an intensive study of the sources of pollutants and quantifying loads and reductions for each source. TMDL development includes monitoring, modeling and writing the TMDL report.

Search for for waters in TMDL Development. || View "How-To" guide

Once developed, a public informational hearing will be held and a minimum 30-day comment period. Comments received from the public will be incorporated as needed into the document. The TMDL document is reviewed by DNR management and then submitted to US EPA for approval. Once approved, the status of these waters changes to “TMDL Approved” and the pollutant/impairment combination addressed is moved from Category 5a to Category 4a of the Integrated Report.

Map of all waters in TMDL development here.

Contact Information

For questions and comments about TMDL Development contact:
Nicole Clayton, 608-266-0152

Restoration

Putting Analysis into Action

The nature of moving a water from impairment to restoration involves contributions on many fronts. At WDNR, once a TMDL has been approved, for example, the work shifts from the Water Evaluation Sectoin over to the Runoff Management and Wastewater Permits programs, as appropriate. The WDNR's Waters Ready for TMDL Implementation provides a list of waters that have an approved TMDL and which either await or are in active TMDL Implementation. As resources become available, opportunities to achieve best management practices and other means of pollutant load reductions will be put in place.

The real movers on aquatic system restorations, however, are the people who live, work and play in the area of interest. Often it is through new agricultural and urban runoff controls, modified permit limits for industrial and municipal point sources, and a greater awareness and participation by residents, political leaders, businesses and government agences can the watershed be fully restored.

Meeting Water Quality Standards

Water Quality Biologists through the state continually monitor waters to determine their condition. As restoration practices are put in place in the watersheds of impaired streams and lakes, biologists initiate evaluation monitoring to determine if resource condition has been restored. A substantial number of waters have been listed and delisted in Wisconsin.

Delisting a water through the Clean Water Act 303(d) process entails applying the methodology used at the time the water was listed. In addition, a water may be delisted if the standards or decision rules have changed. For example, some Wisconsin waters were listed for mercury due to specific advice in place. However, when state agencies updated protocols for fish consumption and created a statewide general advice for mercury, some of the specific advice waters fell into the general advice area. As fish tissue is monitored and contaminated levels confirmed, the general advice waters are removed from the list.

Learn More

Wisconsin River Backwaters
Wisconsin River Backwaters

Links to Related Information Resources

USEPA Resources

Partner Agencies

Last Revised: Tuesday December 13 2011