Georgia Environmental Protection Division

This document outlines the Georgia Surface Water and Groundwater Quality Monitoring and Assessment Strategy, developed by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GAEPD) to serve as a roadmap for the state's ambient water quality monitoring program. The strategy focuses on key elements identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's guidance. Its vision is to gather information for developing indicators and standards to protect human health, aquatic life, and Georgia's environment. The mission includes assessing water quality, developing standards, taking corrective actions for identified impacts, and communicating this information to stakeholders. Key goals involve measuring physical, chemical, and biological water conditions, assessing human impact on ecosystems, recommending corrective actions, and reporting water quality assessments. The strategy addresses challenges such as controlling toxic substances, ensuring sustainable water supply, managing nutrient discharges, reducing nonpoint source pollution, and increasing public involvement.

The fourth edition of Georgia's Land: Its Use and Condition presents a comprehensive analysis of 30 years of National Resources Inventory data, from 1982 to 2012, to inform decision-making and guide future conservation efforts. It details significant trends in land use, including the doubling of developed land and a net reduction in cropland, alongside changes in forest cover and water resources. The report also addresses agricultural soil erosion and the role of conservation programs, emphasizing the importance of wise stewardship for future generations.

The meeting served as the third in a series regarding the triennial review of human health criteria that Georgia plans to adopt. Key discussion points included updating the 2022 triennial review items, such as adopting EPA's recommended criteria for diazinon and nonenal, and adopting EPA's 2016 Aquatic Life criteria for selenium, while deferring adoption for EPA's 2018 criteria for aluminum. A significant portion of the discussion focused on EPA's 2015 human health criteria recommendations, contrasting the deterministic risk assessment method used by EPA with Georgia's planned probabilistic risk assessment (Monte Carlo simulation) method. Georgia expressed concerns regarding compounded conservatism and the use of single input values in the EPA's approach. The presentation detailed Georgia's probabilistic analysis, which evaluates risk distributions across various population percentiles (50th, 90th, 99th) to determine criteria, aiming to protect the entire population while also addressing higher-risk subgroups like subsistence fishers. The agency plans to adopt organism-only criteria for most water bodies and water-plus-organism criteria only for designated drinking water sources.

This Voluntary Remediation Plan (VRP) outlines the actions for the Georgia Department of Transportation - Jesup District Office to transition from the Hazardous Site Response Act to the Georgia Voluntary Remediation Program. The plan addresses groundwater contamination by chlorinated volatile organic compounds, specifically 1,1,1-trichloroethane (1,1,1-TCA) and its degradation products. Key components include comprehensive groundwater monitoring, installation of an additional monitoring well, implementation of institutional controls such as a groundwater use restriction covenant, and subsequent delisting from the Hazardous Site Inventory, with the overall goal of ensuring long-term protection of human health and the environment.

This document outlines the budget and schedule for an education and outreach program designed to identify and promote the implementation of cost-effective erosion prevention and sediment control systems in the Chattahoochee River Basin. The program encompasses several core elements: computer modeling for system design, comprehensive literature reviews, identification of overall costs and benefits, production of printed materials and video for public involvement, execution of outreach and training sessions, and the preparation of a final Technical Panel Completion Report. The strategic aim is to enhance water quality by fostering the adoption of efficient erosion prevention and sediment control measures among various stakeholders including developers, regulators, design professionals, and the public.