Delaware Administrative Code
Title 7 - Natural Resources and Environmental Control
5000 - Division of Watershed Stewardship
7400 - Watershed Assessment Section
7423 - TMDLs for the Mispillion River Watershed, Delaware
Section 7423-1.0 - Introduction and Background
Water quality monitoring performed by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) has shown that the waters of Mispillion River and several of its tributaries and ponds are impaired by high levels of bacteria and elevated levels of the nutrients nitrogen and phosphorous, and that the designated uses are not fully supported due to levels of these pollutants in these waterways.
Section 303(d) of the Federal Clean Water Act (CWA) requires States to develop a list (303(d) List) of waterbodies for which existing pollution control activities are not sufficient to attain applicable water quality criteria and to develop Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for pollutants or stressors causing the impairment. A TMDL sets a limit on the amount of a pollutant that can be discharged into a waterbody and still protect water quality. TMDLs are composed of three components, including Waste Load Allocations (WLAs) for point source discharges, Load Allocations (LAs) for nonpoint sources, and a Margin of Safety (MOS).
DNREC listed Mispillion River on several of the State's 303(d) Lists and proposes the following Total Maximum Daily Loads regulation for nitrogen, phosphorous, and enterococcus bacteria.