§131.11. Criteria. — Inbound Citations

(2) Where a State adopts a WQS variance, the State must retain, in its standards, the underlying designated use and criterion addressed by the WQS variance, unless the State adopts and EPA approves a revision to the underlying designated use and criterion consistent with §§ 131.10 and 131.11. All other applicable standards not specifically addressed by the WQS variance remain applicable.

(a) The State shall from time to time, but at least once every 3 years, hold public hearings for the purpose of reviewing applicable water quality standards adopted pursuant to §§ 131.9 through 131.15 and Federally promulgated water quality standards and, as appropriate, modifying and adopting standards. This review shall include evaluating whether there is any new information available about Tribal reserved rights applicable to State waters that needs to be considered to establish water quality standards consistent with § 131.9. The State shall also re-examine any waterbody segment with water quality standards that do not include the uses specified in section 101(a)(2) of the Act every 3 years to determine if any new information has become available. If such new information indicates that the uses specified in section 101(a)(2) of the Act are attainable, the State shall revise its standards accordingly. Procedures States establish for identifying and reviewing water bodies for review should be incorporated into their Continuing Planning Process. In addition, if a State does not adopt new or revised criteria for parameters for which EPA has published new or updated CWA section 304(a) criteria recommendations, then the State shall provide an explanation when it submits the results of its triennial review to the Regional Administrator consistent with CWA section 303(c)(1) and the requirements of paragraph (c) of this section.

(i) The Regional Administrator may, in his discretion, determine that the temperature criteria in paragraph (a)(1) of this section shall not apply to a specific waterbody or portion thereof listed in paragraph (a)(2) of this section. Any such determination shall be made consistent with § 131.11 and shall be based on a finding that bull trout spawning and rearing is not an existing use in such waterbody or portion thereof.

(5) All other applicable provisions of this part 131 shall apply on the Colville Confederated Tribes Reservation. Special attention should be paid to §§ 131.6, 131.10, 131.11 and 131.20 for any amendment to these standards to be initiated by the Tribe.

(2) Whether the State has adopted criteria that protect the designated water uses based on sound scientific rationale consistent with § 131.11;

(3) Establish water quality criteria, consistent with § 131.11, to protect the Tribal reserved right where the State has adopted designated uses that either expressly incorporate protection of or encompass the right. This requirement includes developing criteria to protect right holders using at least the same risk level (e.g., cancer risk level, hazard quotient, or illness rate) as the State would otherwise use to develop criteria to protect the State's general population, paired with exposure inputs (e.g., fish consumption rate) representative of right holders exercising their reserved right.