1
June
26,
2003
Esteban
Mujica
Cotto,
Esq.
President
Puerto
Rico
Environmental
Quality
Board
P.
O.
Box
11488
San
Juan,
Puerto
Rico
00910­
1488
Dear
Mr.
Mujica:

The
U.
S.
Environmental
Protection
Agency
(
EPA)
has
completed
its
review
of
the
revisions
to
the
Puerto
Rico
Water
Quality
Standards
Regulation
(
PRWQSR)
dated
March
2003.
These
revisions
were
adopted
by
the
Puerto
Rico
Environmental
Quality
Board
(
PREQB),
and
submitted
to
EPA,
on
March
28,
2003.
They
became
effective
on
June
5,
2003.
By
letter
dated
May
28,
2003,
and
received
by
EPA
on
June
11,
2003,
Puerto
Rico's
Secretary
of
Justice
certified
that
the
2003
revisions
had
been
adopted
in
accordance
with
the
law
of
the
Ccommonwealth.
In
taking
this
action,
EPA
considered
the
following
documents
submitted
in
connection
with
the
revised
PRWQSR:

1.
the
letter
from
the
Commonwealth's
Secretary
of
Justice,
Ms.
Anabelle
Rodriguez
(
Attorney
General),
certifying
that
the
standards
were
duly
adopted
pursuant
to
Commonwealth
law
(
dated
May
28,
2003);

2.
the
applicable
notices
from
the
El
Vocero,
and
the
San
Juan
Star
(
both
dated
February
6,
2002);

3.
PREQB's
Resolution
and
Notification
R­
03­
5
regarding
the
amendments
to
the
PRWQSR
(
dated
March
31,
2003);
and,

4.
The
Responsiveness
Summary
(
Hearing
Examiner's
report)
on
the
comments
received
during
the
public
comment
period
and
at
the
public
hearing
held
on
March
6,
2002
(
dated
March
25,
2003).

Under
Section
303(
c)
of
the
Clean
Water
Act
(
CWA),
33
U.
S.
C.
§
1313(
c),
states
are
required
to
conduct
a
triennial
review
of
their
water
quality
standards
and
submit
any
new
or
revised
standards
to
EPA
for
review.
Federal
regulations
at
40
C.
F.
R.
§
§
131.20­
131.22
implement
these
requirements.
Puerto
Rico's
previous
review
and
revision
of
its
water
quality
2
standards
regulations
were
adopted
on
July
20,
1990,
and
became
effective
on
October
27,
1990.
As
part
of
the
review
process
on
the
2003
revisions,
PREQB
held
a
public
hearing
on
March
6,
2002
to
receive
public
input
and
comment
on
the
proposed
revisions
to
the
PRWQSR.
EPA
considers
the
adoption
of
the
2003
revisions
to
the
PRWQSR,
along
with
the
public
review
and
comment
process,
to
constitute
the
Commonwealth's
triennial
review
of
water
quality
standards.
Based
on
our
review,
PREQB's
procedures
are
consistent
with,
and
satisfy
the
procedural
requirements
of
40
C.
F.
R.
§
131.20.

The
following
constitute
the
revisions
which
are
being
addressed
under
this
action.
These
revisions
enhance
the
PRWQSR,
and
represent
improvements
in
the
PRWQSR.

°
revisions
to
the
Puerto
Rico
antidegradation
policy,
to
include
the
protection
of
threatened
and
endangered
species,
which
are
approved
as
being
consistent
with
the
requirements
under
40
C.
F.
R.
§
131.12;

°
the
adoption
of
several
new
and
revised
definitions
(
Article
1),
including
the
definitions
of
"
acute
effect,
existing
uses,
natural
background
concentration,
pollutant,
primary
contact,
and
sewage,"
as
well
as
the
deletion
of
"
pollute,"
which
are
approved
as
being
consistent
with
the
requirements
under
40
C.
F.
R.
§
131.3;

°
the
reclassification
of
10
bays/
estuaries,
which
were
previously
classified
as
Class
SC
waters
to
Class
SB
(
Article
2.1.3),
which
are
approved
as
being
consistent
with
the
requirements
under
40
C.
F.
R.
§
131.10(
a)
­
(
e);

°
the
inclusion
of
the
term
"
wetlands"
in
the
introductory
paragraph
regarding
the
applicability
of
the
Commonwealth's
general
water
quality
standards
to
the
waters
of
Puerto
Rico
(
Article
3),
which
is
approved
as
being
consistent
with
the
requirements
under
40
C.
F.
R.
§
122.2;

°
the
adoption
of
numerous
chemical­
specific
numeric
criteria
for
toxic
pollutants
of
concern
in
the
Commonwealth
(
Article
3.1.9
(
A)
­
(
E)),
as
required
by
Section
303(
c)(
2)(
B)
of
the
CWA,
which
are
approved
as
being
consistent
with
the
requirements
under
40
C.
F.
R.
§
131.11.

°
the
inclusion
of
the
protection
of
threatened
or
endangered
species
as
a
designated
use
for
Class
SB,
SC
and
SD
waters
(
Articles
3.2.2
­
3.2.4),
which
is
approved
as
being
consistent
with
the
requirements
under
40
C.
F.
R.
§
131.10(
a);

°
the
revision
of
the
fecal
coliform
criteria
for
Class
SD
waters
(
freshwaters)
from
2000/
100ml
(
geometric
mean)
to
200/
100ml,
and
4000/
100ml
(
not
to
exceed)
to
400/
100ml,
which
are
approved
as
being
consistent
with
the
requirements
under
40
C.
F.
R.
§
131.6(
c)
and,
40
C.
F.
R.
§
131.11(
a);

°
revisions
which
further
clarify
the
Commonwealth's
policy
on
the
requirements
for
3
point
sources
to
discharge
to
intermittent
streams
(
Article
4.3.
L
and
4.5.1.
B),
which
are
approved
as
being
consistent
with
the
requirements
under
40
C.
F.
R.
§
131.13;

°
a
revision
to
the
mixing
zone
policy
stating
that
mixing
zones
shall
not
be
located
areas
which
are
habitat
for
threatened
or
endangered
species
(
Articles
5.4.11),
which
is
approved
as
being
consistent
with
the
requirements
under
40
C.
F.
R.
§
131.13;

°
revisions
to
the
provisions
for
the
granting
of
temporary
exemptions
(
variances)
to
specify
that
any
approval
by
the
Commonwealth
of
a
temporary
exemption
will
comply
with
the
following
terms
and
conditions:
(
1)
the
application
must
contain
a
justification
for
the
requested
variance
consistent
with
40
C.
F.
R.
§
131.10(
g)(
6),
that
the
costs
necessary
to
comply
with
the
relevant
water
quality
standard(
s)
would
result
in
substantial
economic
and
social
impacts;
(
2)
the
variance
shall
be
adopted
only
after
completion
of
a
public
participation
process,
in
conformity
with
Puerto
Rican
law
and/
or
regulation,
as
would
apply
to
any
revision
to
the
PRWQSR;
(
3)
the
variance
shall
be
submitted
for
EPA
review
and
approval
as
a
change
to
water
quality
standards
before
it
may
take
effect
(
40
C.
F.
R.
131.21);
and
(
4)
if
approved,
the
variance
shall
be
published
in
the
PRWQSR.
(
Article
9).
These
revisions
are
approved
as
being
consistent
with
the
requirements
under
40
C.
F.
R.
§
131.13;
and,

°
inclusion
of
applicable
technical,
administrative,
and/
or
editorial
corrections
or
clarifications
to
existing
provisions
throughout
the
PRWQSR,
which
are
approved
as
being
consistent
with
the
requirements
under
40
C.
F.
R.
§
131.3.

By
this
letter,
I
am
pleased
to
approve
the
above
revisions
to
the
PRWQSR
pursuant
to
Section
303(
c)
of
the
CWA.
Based
upon
EPA's
review,
it
has
been
determined
that
all
of
the
new
and
revised
human
health
and
aquatic
life
criteria
adopted
by
PREQB
in
Article
3.1.9
(
a)
­
(
e)
meet
the
requirements
of
the
National
Toxics
Rule
(
NTR).
Therefore,
these
water
quality
criteria
are
approved
as
consistent
with
40
C.
F.
R.
§
131.11.
EPA
will
begin
the
process
of
withdrawing
Puerto
Rico
from
the
NTR
for
all
such
water
quality
criteria.

EPA
initiated
consultation
with
the
U.
S.
Fish
and
Wildlife
Service
and
the
National
Marine
Fisheries
Service
(
Services)
on
July
17,
2002,
under
Section
7(
a)(
2)
of
the
Endangered
Species
Act.
Section
7(
a)(
2)
requires
that
federal
agencies,
in
consultation
with
the
Services,
insure
that
their
actions
are
not
likely
to
jeopardize
the
existence
of
federally
listed
species
or
result
in
the
adverse
modification
of
designated
critical
habitat
of
such
species.
In
a
letters
dated
May
27,
2003
and
December
5,
2002,
respectively,
the
U.
S.
Fish
and
Wildlife
Service
and
the
National
Marine
Fisheries
Service
provided
written
concurrence
that
the
revisions
to
the
PRWQSR
are
not
likely
to
adversely
affect
threatened/
endangered
species
(
Enclosures
1
and
2).
4
EPA
Region
II
looks
forward
to
continuing
to
work
with
PREQB
to
further
improve
the
PRWQSR.
If
you
have
any
questions,
please
call
me
at
(
212)
637­
3725
or
have
your
staff
contact
Mr.
Mario
Del
Vicario,
Chief,
Community
and
Ecosystem
Protection
Branch
at
(
212)
637­
3779.

Sincerely,

Walter
Mugdan,
Director
Division
of
Environmental
Planning
and
Protection
Enclosures
cc:
Ruben
Gonzalez,
PREQB
bcc:
Carl­
Axel
Soderberg,
CEPD
Jim
Keating,
OST
Cara
Lalley,
OST
M.
E.
Levine,
OGC
Kevin
Bricke,
DEPP
Warren
Llewellyn,
ORC
Richard
Weisberg,
ORC
Mario
Del
Vicario,
CEPB
Felix
Locicero,
CEPB
Wayne
Jackson,
CEPB
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