Alabama
continues to make progress towards addressing listed stream
impairments through the development of TMDLs. With this progress
comes increasing complexity of TMDL development and increasing
challenges in implementation of the necessary load reductions
to achieve water quality improvements. Some of the TMDLs
recently approved and those currently under development include
targets which may exceed current technology levels and, thus,
may require significant investment of resources by both point
and non-point sources to achieve the load reductions. Alabama’s
approach towards TMDL implementation in these cases may involve
a phased-approach. In addition to a possible phased implementation
schedule, Alabama intends to utilize an adaptive management
approach to validate or adjust targets. The adaptive management
approach involves evaluation of instream conditions to assess
the impact of pollutant reductions during TMDL implementation.
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