Water Quality Management
Water Quality Management Program oversees the development of strategies to restore waters that do not support uses, reverses identified declining water quality trends, and provides adequate protection of all waters of the state. These activities include establishing water quality based permit limits, participation in watershed-specific management groups and activities, and coordination of Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) development and other appropriate strategies to address impaired waters.
Looking Downstream to Oswego Harbor
Program activities include:
Watershed Management/Upstate
Contact: Ron Entringer, Chief, Water Quality Management Section
Watershed-specific management programs in the upstate region include Lake Champlain Basin Program, Great Lakes Programs, Delaware River Basin Commission, Susquehanna River Basin Commission/Chesapeake Bay Program.
Watershed Management/Downstate
Contact: Phillip O'Brien, Program Manager
Watershed-specific management programs in the downstate region include New York/New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program, Hudson River Estuary Program, Long Island Sound Study, Peconic Estuary Program.
Water Quality Based Effluent Limits
Contact: Ron Entringer, Chief, Water Quality Management Section
This program evaluates proposed effluent discharge permit limits to determine if technology-based limits are adequate to meet water quality standards, or if more stringent water quality-based limits are necessary.
Water Quality Restoration Strategies/TMDLs
Contact: Ron Entringer, Chief, Water Quality Management Section
For waters that do not meet water quality standards and do not support uses, Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) or other appropriate strategies are necessary to bring the water back into compliance with standards and restore uses.
Dredge Materials Management
Contact: Jeff Myers, Sediment Assessment and Management Section
River and lake bottoms are often the final sink for historically discharged contaminants. The dredging of these sediments (for navigation, habitat restoration, etc.) needs careful management to ensure they are collected and disposed of properly.
More about Water Quality Management:
- Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) - Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Analyses to restore waters in specific waterbodies/watersheds have been developed.
