USEPA-APPROVED FINAL TMDL
(Total Maximum Daily Load) for
The Jemez River Watershed
(from San Ysidro to Headwaters excluding waters
in the Valles Caldera National Preserve*)

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IN THE NEWS Santa Fe New Mexican - June 9, 2009

PDF DOWNLOADS USEPA-APPROVED TMDL 1.5MB USEPA APPROVAL LETTER 120 KB   Other SWQB sites on the Jemez: *  2006 Valles Caldera National Preserve TMDLs 2005 Survey Summary 2005 Watershed Restoration Action Strategy 2002 US EPA - Approved TMDLs

The Jemez River watershed, a tributary of the Rio Grande, is located in north-central New Mexico. The Surface Water Quality Bureau (SWQB) conducted an intensive surface water quality survey of the Jemez River watershed in 2005. Water quality monitoring stations were located throughout the watershed during the survey to evaluate the impact of tributary streams and ambient water quality conditions. As a result of assessing data generated during this monitoring effort, SWQB staff documented 34 impairments of the New Mexico water quality standards (WQS). New impairment listings include:

	East Fork Jemez (San Antonio Creek to Valles Caldera National Preserve bnd)	arsenic and temperature
	Jemez River (Zia Pueblo boundary to Jemez Pueblo boundary)	arsenic and boron
	Jemez River (Jemez Pueblo boundary to Rio Guadalupe)	arsenic and boron
	Jemez River (Rio Guadalupe to Soda Dam near Jemez Springs)	arsenic, boron, nutrients, and temperature
	Jemez River (Soda Dam near Jemez Springs to East Fork Jemez)	arsenic
	Rio de las Vacas (Rio Cebolla to Clear Creek)	nutrients
	Rio Guadalupe (Jemez River to confluence with Rio Cebolla)	temperature
	Rito de las Palomas (Rio de las Vacas to headwaters)	sedimentation/siltation and temperature
	Rito Peñas Negras (Rio de las Vacas to headwaters)	nutrients
	San Antontio Creek (East Fork Jemez to VCNP boundary)	arsenic

The TMDL document addresses the above noted impairments as summarized in the tables found in the Executive Summary. The data used to develop this TMDL were collected during the 2005 survey with follow-up collections in 2006 and 2008. In 2006, SWQB prepared a separate TMDL bundle for surface waters in the Valles Caldera National Preserve (VCNP) based on earlier separate studies of waters in the preserve.

A TMDL is a planning document that establishes specific goals to meet water quality standards in waterbodies where pollutant limits are exceeded. It includes current pollution loadings, reduction estimates for pollutants, information on probable sources of pollution, and suggestions to restore or protect the health of the waterbody.

A 30-day comment period on the initial draft of this document opened June 8, 2009 and closed July 10, 2009. A public meeting was held to summarize the information and to provide a forum for interested parties to ask questions and provide comments. Formal comments for inclusion in the public record were submitted to SWQB staff, were responded to and were included as an additional appendix to the Final Draft submitted to the Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) for their approval.  The SWQB requested and was granted approval after deliberations of the Final Draft TMDL at the WQCC’s regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, August 11, 2009. The WQCC-Approved Draft TMDL was submitted to the US EPA Region 6 Offices in Dallas, Texas where final approval was granted on September 15, 2009.

For more information, please contact Shelly Drinkard at the address or phone number provided above.

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