EPA proposed baseline water quality standards for over 250 federally recognized Tribes for the first time. These standards would cover water bodies on Indian reservations that do not have Clean Water Act standards, affecting over half a million people living on those reservations. Read EPA’s fact sheet on the proposed standards. Comments were due Aug. 3, 2023.
The Biden Administration withdrew its proposal to establish Federal water quality standards for tribal waters under the Clean Water Act on Dec. 20, 2024. Instead, the Administration intends on “engaging with Tribes to support Tribes’ efforts to seek authority to administer their own water quality standards (WQS) program under the Clean Water Act’s provision for an eligible Tribe to be treated in a similar manner as a state (TAS).”