How Does PA Classify a Clean Water?

Bill Wall

Letort Spring (Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureau, n.d.)

Have you ever thought “man [enter blank creek/river here] is so clean and healthy”? Well why do you think that? Is it because it is crystal clear?... Streams suffering from acid mine drainage might be some of the clearest streams in PA. Is it because it has tons of fish?... Well, are those fish catfish, which can survive some pretty gross conditions? Or are there some of the biggest bass (warm water fish) you’ve ever seen in there?…You may have a point there…Unless the stream originally was considered to be trout (a cold water fish) habitat.

I bring up all these scenarios as it relates to how the state of Pennsylvania, in conjunction with the Federal Government, classifies the cleanliness of its waterways. The Clean Water Act, initially passed in 1972, has a component known as the 303 (d) List. This list is created by each state (you can find more on that here) to identify waterways which do not meet each state's Designated Uses. What is a waterways Designated Use you ask? Good question! Well that is determined by each individual state. In Pennsylvania, we have Chapter 93 Water Quality Standards within our PA state law, which identifies designation uses for PA waterways.

So the conversation sort of goes like this…

Federal Government (aka the Environmental Protection Agency [EPA]): Hey PA, to make sure the country's waters are in line with the Clean Water Act we first need you to determine what a waterways purpose is.

PA State Government (Department of Environmental Protection [DEP]): Ok sweet. Yea, we can do that!

EPA: Great! Once that's done, we need another list of waterways that do not meet your designated uses. We are going to call that our 303(d) List of Impaired Waterways.

DEP: Yea, that makes sense…

EPA: Ok now once you have that list of waterways that do not meet your Designated Uses, we need you to find out why (what pollutants) the waterway is not making the cut.

DEP: Seems reasonable.

EPA: We also need you to calculate the maximum amount of pollutant each waterway on that 303(d) list can handle while making it within your Designated Uses. We are going to call this the Total Maximum Daily Load…TMDL for short…Yea that sounds nice don’t ya think?...O yeah, we’ll have to sign off on this just so we are on the same page…

DEP: Sheesh…Ok we got it. That's it then?

EPA: One last thing, we need you to create a plan as to how you plan to meet these TMDLs and get those waterways off that 303(d) list.

DEP: Um…Ok any idea as to how to do that?

EPA: Naw…Do it your way. Here’s some money and one verrry last thing... If you don't figure it out, we'll have to step in. We really don’t want to, but the big boss (Supreme Court) says that's the deal. Later!

DEP: ….Sighs…

Yellow Breeches Creek (Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureau, n.d.)

Brown Trout Caught in Letort Springs Run (PA Fish and Boat Commission)...Sweet mustache!

Yes, it does sound daunting, and quite frankly from both the federal and the state government's point of view, it is. So PA has five (5) categories of Designated Uses. Although for our purposes we will only focus on two (2); Aquatic Life and Special Protection. I chose these as aquatic life can serve as an indicator of a waterway’s overall health. For instance, Brook Trout (FYI, only native Trout in PA not including Lake Erie), is susceptible to pollution, and therefore needs really clean (and cold) water to survive. Unlike catfish which can survive almost anywhere…Below are the Designated Uses within these 2 categories. To save you the heartache of more legal mumbo jumbo, I have paraphrased their definitions.

Aquatic Life

Cold Water Fishes (CWF) — Can support natural populations of coldwater fishes like trout.

Warm Water Fishes (WWF) —Can support warm water fish such as bass.

Migratory Fishes (MF) — Routes of migratory fishes, not really water quality related, but an important designation nonetheless.

Trout Stocking (TS) —Can support stocked trout from February 15 to July 31 and warm water fish. FYI, 99% of stocked trout die after the first season.

Special Protection - You will often see these as prefixes to the Aquatic Life Designations above. For example; HQ - WWF means the waterway is a High Quality Warm Water Fish habitat, but the title can just stand alone such as an Exceptional Value waterway.

High Quality (HQ) Waters - Super clean waters.

Exceptional Value (EV) Waters - Super clean waters in an important space such as State Park, State Game Lands, Public Water Supply, etc.…

I am going to rank these from cleanest to not so cleanest, not including Migratory Fishes (MF).

Exceptional Value (EV)

High Quality (HQ) - Basically just as clean as EV, but not in a special location.

Cold Water Fishes (CWF)

Trout Stocked Fishery (TSF)

Warm Water Fishes (WWF)

I have attached an interactive map below that shows all the Chapter 93 Designations (HQ, EV, CWF, TSF, WWF, and TSF) throughout the state. Go ahead and zoom throughout the state and click on the stream to bring up the dialogue box. For Chapter 93 Classification you are looking for the “USE_DESCRI”.

The ride associated with this article is the “Central PA HQ and EV Waterway” ride which explores some of the best trout fisheries (and therefore super clean waterways), in Pennsylvania and possibly the country. Explore both the Yellow Breeches, a High Quality (HQ) Cold Water Fishery (CWF) and Letort Springs which is both an Exceptional Value (EV) and HQ-CWF waterway in different segments (this ride covers both). Located in Carlisle and Boiling Springs, this route will cover nature preserves, clean water, rural areas, and urban areas. It is a combo of dedicated paths and on the road riding. There is a ton of history here too, perhaps that will be another article!

Citations

Cumberland Valley, Pennsylvania: Things to do, towns, events. Cumberland Valley Visitors Bureau. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2022, from https://www.visitcumberlandvalley.com/

Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission - Homepage. Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2022, from https://www.fishandboat.com/Pages/default.aspx

Water quality. Department of Environmental Protection. (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2022, from https://www.dep.pa.gov/Business/Water/CleanWater/WaterQuality/Pages/default.aspx

Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, April 11). Clean Water Act. Wikipedia. Retrieved April 14, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Water_Act