Today over 25 organizations – including NRDC, Storm Water Infrastructure Matters (S.W.I.M.) Coalition, NY/NJ Baykeeper, and Riverkeeper – sent a letter to EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck, calling on the agency to ensure that the total maximum daily load (TMDL) under development for discharges of pathogens to the harbor protects public health and the environment. A TMDL (total maximum daily load) defines the maximum amount of a pollutant that can be discharged while achieving compliance with health-based and ecologically-based water quality standards.
The groups call for reductions in sewage pollution that will allow for safe recreational use of region’s rivers and bays – to finally fulfill the vision of the Clean Water Act, passed by Congress in 1972, that all our nation’s waters be “fishable and swimmable”.
NRDC blogged all about it! Read their full post and check out the letter here.
