The Hydrology Protocol is a technical document that was developed to distinguish between ephemeral, intermittent and perennial streams and rivers in New Mexico USA.
It also generates documentation of the uses supported by those waters as a result of the flow regime.
The ability to make such determinations is often key to assuring that the appropriate water quality standards are applied to a waterbody. Recently approved triennial review amendments to the Water Quality Standards allow the use of the Hydrology Protocol to expedite the approval of standards for ephemeral waters (see Section 20.6.4.15.C NMAC).
The Hydrology Protocol was approved as an appendix to the WQMP/CPP by the Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) on May 10, 2011. It has been submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) for review and approval. The Hydrology Protocol went through one round of public comment in 2009. SWQB made appropriate revisions, wrote a response to comments, and proposed the revised protocol as an appendix to the WQMP/CPP, which was released for public comment in January 2011. SWQB made additional revisions in response to the comments received during the WQMP/CPP public comment period.
Section II.C in the approved WQMP/CPP explains how the protocol can be used to provide technical support for a use attainability analysis,
to determine the hydrology of unclassified waters, or to identify unclassified waters within an otherwise classified segment. The Hydrology Protocol is designed solely to aid in water quality standards determination and the resulting determinations have no bearing on water rights or other non-SWQB programs. |
Shelly Lemon
MAS Team Leader
(505) 827-2814
DRAFT DEVELOPMENT ARCHIVE
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