Session of 1999
HOUSE BILL No. 2291
By Committee on Environment
2-5
9 AN ACT concerning water quality; concerning processes for establish-
10 ment of water quality standards.
11
12 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
13 Section 1. As used in this act:
14 (a) "Kansas continuing planning process document" means the doc-
15 ument developed by the department of health and environment pursuant
16 to section 303(e) of the federal clean water act (33 U.S.C. 1313(e)) and
17 40 CFR 130.5.
18 (b) "Report of the special commission" means the final report of the
19 Kansas special commission on water quality standards, filed June 30,
20 1998, in the office of the governor, the office of the clerk of the house of
21 representatives and office of the clerk of the senate.
22 Sec. 2. The Kansas water office, in cooperation with the department
23 of health and environment, the department of wildlife and parks, basin
24 advisory committees and any other entities that the water office deems
25 appropriate, shall establish a process for citizen participation in the es-
26 tablishment of surface water quality standards. The process shall be de-
27 veloped in accordance with the recommendations of the report of the
28 special commission and shall:
29 (1) Include programs to create public awareness of the value of the
30 state's water resources and to educate the public regarding water quality
31 issues; and
32 (2) provide for citizen involvement in determinations of designated
33 uses of surface waters, surface water quality criteria and total maximum
34 daily loads (TMDL's), including participation in review of fiscal impacts
35 and risk assessment analysis.
36 Sec. 3. (a) The department of health and environment, in determin-
37 ing designated uses of surface waters, shall:
38 (1) Provide for citizen participation and education in designation of
39 uses in accordance with the process established pursuant to section 2 and
40 amendments thereto;
41 (2) develop and adopt, after review and recommendations by the
42 commission on water quality standards, use attainability protocols;
43 (3) conduct formal use attainability analyses, developed in accordance
44 with protocols established under (2) and establish a schedule of devel-
45 oping TMDL's consistent with the most recent Kansas continuing plan-
46 ning process document;
47 (4) conduct an economic impact assessment of both costs and ben-
48 efits of a designated use and report the results to citizens involved in the
49 process of determining designated uses;
50 (5) conduct a consequence analysis of any water quality standard pro-
51 posed to achieve a designated use if the standard is more restrictive than
52 federal requirements;
53 (6) determine designated uses on a stream segment-by-segment ba-
54 sis; and
55 (7) if a dispute over the appropriateness of a designated use arises,
56 submit the matter to the commission on water quality standards for the
57 commission's review and recommendations.
58 (b) The department of health and environment shall review all cur-
59 rent designated uses of surface waters in a systematic manner based on
60 priorities established by the most recent Kansas continuing planning pro-
61 cess document.
62 (c) On or before February 1, 2000, and February 1, 2001, the Kansas
63 water office and the department of health and environment shall submit
64 to the house standing committee on environment and the senate standing
65 committee on energy and natural resources a report on the implemen-
66 tation of the provisions of the report of the special committee and the
67 provisions of this act.
68 Sec. 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
69 publication in the statute book.