Delaware Administrative Code
Title 7 - Natural Resources and Environmental Control
5000 - Division of Watershed Stewardship
7400 - Watershed Assessment Section
7429 - TMDLs for Bacteria for the Inland Bays Drainage Basin, Delaware
Section 7429-1.0 - Introduction and Background

Water quality monitoring performed by the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) has shown that the waters of the Inland Bays Drainage Basin (Buntings Branch, Little Assawoman Bay, Assawoman Bay, Indian River Bay, Iron Branch, Indian River, Rehoboth Bay, and Lewes-Rehoboth Canal Watersheds) are impaired by high levels of bacteria and that the designated uses are not fully supported due to levels of this pollutant in these waters.

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. A TMDL is composed of three components, including a Waste Load Allocation (WLA) for point source discharges, Load Allocation (LA) for nonpoint sources, and a Margin of Safety (MOS).

DNREC listed the Inland Bays Drainage Basin on several of the State's 303(d) Lists and proposes the following Total Maximum Daily Loads regulation for enterococcus bacteria.