South Carolina General Assembly
115th Session, 2003-2004

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Bill 1218

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

INTRODUCED

April 29, 2004

S. 1218

Introduced by Medical Affairs Committee

S. Printed 4/29/04--S.

Read the first time April 29, 2004.

            

A JOINT RESOLUTION

TO APPROVE REGULATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL, RELATING TO CLASSIFIED WATERS, DESIGNATED AS REGULATION DOCUMENT NUMBER 2854, PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF ARTICLE 1, CHAPTER 23, TITLE 1 OF THE 1976 CODE.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION    1.    The regulations of the Department of Health and Environmental Control, relating to Classified Waters, designated as Regulation Document Number 2854, and submitted to the General Assembly pursuant to the provisions of Article 1, Chapter 23, Title 1 of the 1976 Code, are approved.

SECTION    2.    This joint resolution takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

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SUMMARY AS SUBMITTED

BY PROMULGATING AGENCY.

Section 303(c) of the Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) requires that South Carolina establish water quality standards that are sufficiently protective to maintain the existing and classified uses of all waters of the State. The Department recently was asked to reevaluate a site-specific standard for dissolved oxygen (DO) currently established for the lower Saluda River (Main Stem) from the Lake Murray Dam to the confluence with the Broad River, which is classified as Trout Put, Grow, and Take (TPGT). In accordance with both State and Federal statutory and regulatory requirements, State water quality standards must be established using scientifically-defensible data and information and must provide for the protection and maintenance of the established beneficial uses of the waters of the State. Based upon the results of a site-specific study, as well as existing data and information, the Department is proposing a new site-specific DO standard for the lower Saluda River that will provide for the protection and maintenance of the classified uses of TPGT and the existing balanced indigenous aquatic community.

There are also tributaries associated with this waterbody that are unnamed in R.61-69 and, by default, may have assumed the TPGT classification (excluding the site-specific standard). These waters do not support trout species and the Department proposes to retain the appropriate classification of Freshwaters for these tributaries and to list them separately in R.61-69.

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