National Water Quality Inventory Report Now Available On-line

Note: Only 16% of US streams have been assessed and 44% of them are considered impaired.

National Water Quality Inventory Report Now Available On-line

This report, available at http://www.epa.gov/owow/305b/2004report/, summarizes water quality assessments submitted by the states to EPA under section 305(b) of the Clean Water Act. The report finds that the states assessed 16 percent of the nation?s 3.5 million river and stream miles, 39 percent of its 41.7 million acres of lakes, ponds and reservoirs, and 29 percent of its 87,791 estuary square miles. Forty-four percent of assessed river and stream miles, 64 percent of assessed lake acres, and 30 percent of assessed estuary square miles were found to be impaired for one or more of the uses designated for them by the states. Leading causes of impairment included pathogens, mercury, nutrients, and organic enrichment/low dissolved oxygen. Top sources of impairment included atmospheric deposition, agriculture, hydrologic modifications, and unknown or unspecified sources. This report is a companion to electronically-submitted state water quality information available on EPA?s Web site, known as ATTAINS, at
http://www.epa.gov/waters/ir. In addition to viewing the national summary and information by state at this Web site, users can click down to the individual waterbody level to find out more about water quality conditions.

Free Used Tire Disposal at Solid Waste Sites

ADEQ awards more than $1 million in waste tire grants

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality awarded grants of more than $1 million this month to support tire disposal and recycling operations throughout the state.

The grants are given quarterly to the state's regional solid waste management districts to fund waste tire collection, transportation, recycling or disposal.

For the first quarter of 2009, ADEQ awarded $1,011,850.

ADEQ's grant awards are calculated based on population of each district and by the number of tires a district received the previous year.

Arkansas residents may dispose of up to four tires per month free of charge at waste tire collection sites within their region. The 125 sites in Arkansas are operated by regional solid waste management districts.

The ADEQ grants are funded by a $2-per-tire fee on automobile and light truck tires sold in the state. An additional $3-per-tire fee is assessed for large truck tires.

In addition to the tire management grants, ADEQ often awards money from its waste tire grant fund to pay for clean up of illegal tire disposal sites or support capital improvement projects.