TMDLs and Watershed Management
Omni has always stressed the importance of comprehensive watershed assessment. Our data collection programs are designed to capture the collective impact of all sources of pollutants in a given study area. Our modeling efforts consider both point and nonpoint sources. While we understand and emphasize that point sources and nonpoint sources operate differently and over different time frames in watersheds, we simultaneously believe and emphasize that point source allocations should not be made without regard to their interaction with nonpoint sources, and that stringent point source limitations should not be enacted without corresponding controls on interacting nonpoint sources. Omni is strategically positioned and qualified to conduct watershed studies, and assist both permittees and regulatory agencies in implementing a watershed permitting and management program. Our unique combination of experience and qualifications in both the regulatory and scientific aspects of the permitting process is unequaled. We have the necessary expertise in the hydraulic and hydrologic aspects of watershed management, which is essential to issues of water supply and pollutant transport. Our staff is experienced in both the basic science of these disciplines and the use of mathematical models applicable to analyzing such issues. Our experience in addressing watershed-wide water quality issues is widely recognized. In this regard, Omni has developed and implemented monitoring programs which ascertain the water quality and quantity data essential to completing a watershed assessment, and we have developed unique models that better account for nutrient impacts. We are also regularly involved in the development and application of water quality models of both point and nonpoint sources. In New Jersey, Omni is a leader in the completion of "nutrient studies" which were truly the first watershed management studies used to determine wasteload allocations. This leadership has resulted in Omni's selection by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to complete New Jersey's first comprehensive watershed total maximum daily load (TMDL) studies, in the Passaic and Raritan watersheds. Related Services: |
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In recent years, greater attention at both the state and federal levels has been given to comprehensive management of point and nonpoint sources of pollutants. Such an approach recognizes that the examination of discharges individually has a number of scientific and administrative shortcomings, and that these shortcomings can be overcome by collectively considering all discharges within the total watershed. While the concept is not new, and has in fact been embraced and implemented in a variety of forms over the years (e.g., 208 Water Quality Management Plans, 303 Basin Plans, etc.) and in studies already performed by Omni, the renewed interest in watershed management has contributed to reform in a variety of state regulatory programs.
