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 Oregon Department of Environmental Quality

Water Quality

Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) Program

TMDLs Home
Getting Started - Guidance
Example Plans
Tools and Programs
Funding
Willamette Basin
Statewide Basin Coordinators

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Implementation Guidelines and Tools

TMDL implementation involves actions to be taken across agricultural, forest, urban, and rural residential land uses to reduce pollutants and improve water quality. This web site is intended to provide information to help Designated Management Agencies (DMAs) implement TMDLs for nonpoint source pollution. Most links provide information applicable to any nonpoint source TMDL. Contact the appropriate basin coordinator for further information regarding TDMLs.

Getting Started - Guidance for Plan Development and Implementation

One of the first steps for improving water quality after a TMDL is completed is to develop a TMDL Implementation Plan.  DEQ has named certain federal, state, and local governments and agencies, including cities, counties, and special districts as DMAs because these agencies and governments have authority to manage and regulate sources of pollutants that are listed in the TMDL. The following are various documents that can assist in the development of an Implementation Plan. Several documents are working drafts that will be updated over time based on feedback from DMAs.

  • Fact Sheet: Willamette Basin TMDL: Next Steps PDF
    This fact sheet contains short answers to questions Designated Management Agencies may have such as how DMAs are determined, responsibilities of DMAs, and resources available to help develop Implementation Plans.
  • TMDL Implementation Plan Guidance PDF
    This document provides guidance to state and local government designated management agencies (DMAs) on developing and implementing sector-specific or source-specific Total Maximum Daily Load implementation plans that are required by OAR 340-042-0080(3) to address nonpoint sources of pollution.
  • TMDL Implementation Tracking Matrix DOC (Appendix D of Implementation Plan Guidance above)
    This is a template for DMAs to describe and report management activities in their annual reports to ODEQ.
  • Management Strategy Checklist PDF
    This document identifies some key management strategies that all plans should consider for various water quality parameters.
  • Existing Plan Checklist PDF
    Many Designated Management Agencies (DMAs) are likely to have management strategies developed and described in other documents. This check list will help you reference what has been developed and evaluate the adequacy of existing programs. If gaps are identified, this check list will help DMAs address the deficiencies.
  • Oregon Administrative Rules (OAR) Chapter 340 Division 042 - Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs)
    Rules that guide TMDL implementation including elements required for every implementation plan.

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Example TMDL Implementation Plans

Cities

Small communities

Counties

For more information, contact your Basin Coordinator.

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Pollution Control Tools and Programs

There are a variety of management measures that can be used in developing Implementation Plans. The following are state or national sources of information which may be helpful in identifying actions to take. They are organized by nonpoint source or pollutant type.

Nonpoint pollution

  • Polluted Runoff -- Nonpoint Source Pollution by Category
    Federal and local management measures and other information available for 8 categories of Nonpoint Source Pollution-Agriculture, Forestry, Hydro/Habitat Modification, Marinas, Mining, Roads, Urban and Wetland/Riparian Management.

Bacteria

Sources of bacteria include discharges of untreated or poorly treated sewage resulting from malfunctions or overflows, and runoff that carries feces from pets or wildlife.

Mercury

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that can cause damage to the brain and nervous system. Primary sources of mercury in the Willamette Basin are associated with nonpoint sources, namely the erosion of soils containing mercury and runoff from atmospherically-deposited mercury.

Nutrients

The primary sources of nutrients are fertilizers (nitrogen) and soil erosion (phosphorous).

Riparian management (Temperature)

In both urban and rural areas, increased solar radiation can result from removal of riparian (streamside) vegetation which reduces the amount of shade over the water and increases stream temperature.

    Riparian Monitoring and Restoration

    Riparian Model Ordinances

Roads

Frequent sources of sediment are construction sites and roads.

    Roads and Construction

Stormwater

Stormwater management is meant to reduce many pollutants from point sources and nonpoint sources.

Land use planning

  • Model Development Code and User's Guide for Small Cities
    Developed by Oregon's Transportation and Growth Management Program at the request of Oregon's small cities. It is intended to assist small cities in updating their ordinances to be consistent with state planning policies, statutes, and administrative rules, while providing options for implementing "smart development" practices.
  • The Water Quality Model Code and Guidebook Model
    A companion to the Model Development Code and User's Guide for Small Cities. Developed by the Department of Land Conservation and Development and the Department of Transportation under the Transportation and Growth Management Program (TGM). This guidebook integrates many of the "smart development" inspired code recommendations of the TGM project with recommended code language to achieve water quality objectives. Where the two objectives do not overlap, the author has tried to assure that there would be no conflicts.

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Funding

This is a short list of funding sources. More information about each of these sources is available on the Boise State University Plan2Fund link below.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants

Boise State University

  • Plan2Fund™
    Watershed Planning Tool developed by the Environmental Finance Center at Boise State University that helps organizations determine their funding needs to meet the goals and objectives of their Watershed Program Plan, and provides a vast database of private and public funding sources. The database is easy to search and useful to small jurisdictions or grass roots organizations.

Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)

  • Nonpoint Source Water Quality Control (319) Grants
    Grant funds available through Section 319 of the Water Quality Act of 1987 are a critical element in turning Oregon's NPS control program into water quality protection realities in watersheds throughout the state. ODEQ solicits proposals each year in October.
  • Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF)
    Nonpoint projects are eligible, as long as they have a water quality benefit, are sponsored by public entities, and demonstrate ability to pay back the loan. Amounts and terms vary but interest rates are well below levels of inflation. A portion of the SRF program may be considered match to 319 grants. Example programs include: conversion of open agriculture irrigations ditch to a piped system; City of Portland riparian restoration/land purchase.

Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB)

U.S. Department of Agricultural Natural Resources Conservation Services (USDA-NRCS)

Forestry Incentives Program

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW)

U.S. Fish and Wildlife - Oregon State Office

Department of Land Conservation and Development Grants (DLCD)

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

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Willamette Basin

The links below provide information about TMDL implementation issues identified in the Willamette Basin TMDL.

  • Cost Estimate to Restore Riparian Forest Buffers and Improve Stream Habitat in the Willamette
    This report describes cost estimates to reduce nonpoint source pollution in the Willamette Basin from restoring riparian vegetation. It was submitted to the EPA for the 2008 Clean Watershed Needs Survey.
  • OWEB Restoration Priorities - Willamette Basin
    Watershed restoration summaries were developed using work plans and restoration priorities that were developed by local watershed councils. They were compiled for each subbasin in the Willamette Basin.
  • Willamette Priorities - DEQ (under development)
    This 4-page document provides background information on the water quality issues in the Willamette Basin, the perceived solutions, and restoration projects needed to improve water quality. This will be used to help direct 319 grant proposals.

Fact sheets on TMDL implementation in the Willamette

Southern Willamette Valley (SWV) Groundwater Management Area

Implementing the TMDL requires consideration of groundwater management because of the close link between groundwater and surface water, especially regarding bacteria and nutrients.

  • SWV Groundwater Management Contact: Audrey Eldridge 541-776-6010 x223, e-mail

Willamette Basin Contact Information

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For more information about DEQ's Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) Progam contact Gene Foster by phone at (503) 229-5325 or by e-mail, or contact the appropriate Basin Coordinator.

Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
Headquarters: 811 SW Sixth Ave., Portland, OR 97204-1390
Phone: 503-229-5696 or toll free in Oregon 1-800-452-4011
Oregon Telecommunications Relay Service: 1-800-735-2900  FAX: 503-229-6124

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is a regulatory agency authorized to protect Oregon's environment by
the State of Oregon and the Environmental Protection Agency.

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