PCS Regulation with Appendices and Technical Document with Appendices
file:  IB_PCS_final_and_appendices.pdf — 13.2 MB

In response to the federal Clean Water Act, the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) prepares and submits a Watershed Assessment Report (305(b) Report) and a list of impaired waters (303(d) List) to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) every other year. 

Macroalgae decaying along the shores of the Inland Bays Watershed in southern Delaware

DNREC has determined that the water quality of the Indian River, Indian River Bay, Rehoboth Bay, Little Assawoman Bay and their tributaries is impaired by elevated nutrient levels and low dissolved oxygen concentrations.  These impairments cause macroalgae and phytoplankton blooms, large daily swings in dissolved oxygen, habitat loss, reduced populations of aquatic life, and fish kills.  These symptoms threaten the future of the Inland Bays and their significant natural, ecological, and recreational resources. 

Fish kill in a dead-end canal on Rehoboth Bay

The environmental degradation and habitat loss may result in adverse impacts to our local and state economies through reduced tourism, a decline in property values, lost revenues and a diminished quality of life.  Excessive nutrient levels pose a significant threat to the health and well being of people, animals, and plants living within the watershed.

A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), or the maximum amount of a pollutant that can enter surface waters from point and nonpoint sources and still meet water quality standards, must be determined for each impaired water body.  Point sources include any facility with a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.  Nonpoint sources are spread across the landscape and are most often associated with agriculture and the wastewater and stormwater from developed lands.  DNREC established TMDLs for nitrogen and phosphorus in the Indian River, Indian River Bay, and Rehoboth Bay in 1998, and in the Little Assawoman Bay and the tributaries of these waterways in 2005.  The TMDLs call for the systematic elimination of all point sources of nutrient loading, a 40-65% reduction in nonpoint phosphorus loading, and a 40-85% reduction of nonpoint nitrogen loading.  The nonpoint source reductions required in the Inland Bays Watershed, a dynamic home to agriculture, development, and tourism, are the highest in the State.  The TMDLs also call for implementation through a Pollution Control Strategy.

To identify nutrient reducing actions that could be implemented in the Inland Bays Watershed, DNREC worked with a diverse group of stakeholders, called a Tributary Action Team, for several years.  Beginning in 1998, the Team developed a set of recommendations, including voluntary and regulatory actions, to reduce nutrients entering the streams, ponds, and bays of the watershed.  The resulting Pollution Control Strategy (PCS) focuses on pollution caused by the activities of people and is based on the premise that since we all contribute to the sources of pollution, we all need to act to improve water quality.  The PCS actions focus on four main areas of pollution: agriculture, urban land use, stormwater, and wastewater.

The draft of the Inland Bays PCS, including draft regulations, was initially presented at a public workshop in February 2005, and then again at several other public feedback events over a three year period.  Although changes have been made to address public comments received between 2005 and 2008, the PCS is based upon the recommendations offered by the Inland Bays Tributary Action Team.  During the summer of 2008, DNREC formally proposed a regulation that includes provisions requiring riparian buffers, improved stormwater management, and additional standards and measures for onsite wastewater treatment and disposal systems (septics) in the Inland Bays Watershed.  These regulations, which are designed to reduce nonpoint source pollution with certainty, are the first of their kind!

The regulations were proposed in the June 1, 2008 Delaware Register of Regulations, opening a month-long public comment period.  A public hearing, attended by more than 400 interested individuals, was held on June 23, 2008 at the CHEER Center in Georgetown.  A wide range of comments were received, with some in opposition to the proposed regulations, some in support of the regulations as written, and some requesting additional regulatory actions.  The majority of comments focused on the proposed buffer and onsite wastewater treatment and disposal system provisions.  The hearing officer reviewed all comments received on the proposed regulation, and the Department's response to comments and reported to the Secretary, who then signed an order to adopt ( 50 kb file) the regulation.

The adopted regulation was published in the Delaware Register of Regulations on November 1, 2008.

Effective Dates to remember:

• November 11, 2008 — Sections 4 and 5 — establishment of buffer zones and sediment and stormwater controls for lands within the County
• December 1, 2008 — Section 6 — general provisions for onsite wastewater treatment and disposal systems
• December 31, 2008 — Section 8 — performance standards for onsite wastewater treatment and disposal systems; except systems less than 2,500 gallons per day on sites more than 1,000 feet from tidal waters and wetlands
• April 30, 2009 — Section 7 — onsite wastewater treatment and disposal system operation, maintenance, and inspection program
• November 1, 2009 — Sections 4 and 5 — establishment of buffer zones and sediment and stormwater controls for lands within municipalities
• January 1, 2015 — Section 8.4 — performance standards for onsite wastewater treatment and disposal systems less than 2,500 gallons per day on sites more than 1,000 feet from tidal waters and wetlands

Please feel free to download the following files for detailed information on the voluntary and regulatory actions proposed in the PCS. 

Document	Adobe PDF
PCS Fact Sheet	381 kb file FactSheet_IBPCS_101408.pdf
PCS Regulations with Appendices and Technical Document with Appendices	13.2 MB file IB_PCS_final_and_appendices.pdf
PCS Regulations	91 kb file IBPCS_Effective_111108.pdf
PCS Regulations Appendix A: Map of Water Features to be Buffered in the Inland Bays Watershed | Click Here for the Interactive Buffer Map	10.9 MB file IBAYSBufferMap_0508.pdf
PCS Regulations Appendix B: Areas Requiring Early Implementation of PSN3 | Click Here for the Interactive PSN3 Map	763 kb file IBPCS_RegAppB_0508.pdf
PCS Technical Document	782 kb file IBPCStechdoc_051608.pdf
Appendix A — TMDLs for Indian River, Indian River Bay, and Rehoboth Bay	22 kb file AppA_TMDL_0508.pdf
Appendix B — TMDLs for Little Assawoman Bay	13 kb file AppB_TMDL_LAB_0508.pdf
Appendix C — Inland Bays Tributary Action Team PCS Recommendations	19 kb file AppC_TAT_0508.pdf
Appendix D — Public Talk - Real Choices: A Model for Public Engagement in Creating Pollution Control Strategies	35 kb file AppD_PTRC_0508.pdf
Appendix E — BMP Nutrient Reduction Calculations	172 kb file AppE_IB_CALCS_0508.pdf
Appendix F — BMP Cost Calculations	31 kb file AppF_IB_BMP_CostCalcs_0508.pdf
Appendix G — Effectiveness of Riparian Buffers on Water Quality:  A Brief Summary of Literature	27 kb file AppG_Buffers_0508.pdf
Appendix H — Procedures for Challenging the Map of Water Features to be Buffered in the Inland Bays Watershed	59 kb file AppH_MapChallengeProcedure.pdf
Appendix I — Buffer Evaluation Form	16 kb file AppI_BufferEvaluationForm_0508.pdf
Appendix J — Recommended Plant Species for the Establishment, Expansion, or Enhancement of Buffers within the Inland Bays Watershed of Sussex Co., Delaware	84 kb file AppJ_Inland_Bays_Buffer_Plants_0508.pdf
Appendix K — Delaware Invasive Species Council: Official Invasive Plant List	174 kb file AppK_DISC_0508.pdf
Appendix L — Forestry Guidance for Inland Bays Pollution Control Strategies	14 kb file AppL_ForestryGuidance_0508.pdf
Appendix M —Achieving Stormwater Pollution Control Strategy Reductions for Water Quality: Stormwater	40 kb file AppM_Stormwater_Guidance_05-14-08.pdf