Clean Water Act Methods Update Rule for the Analysis of Effluent

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing changes to its test procedures required to be used by industries and municipalities when analyzing the chemical, physical, and biological properties of wastewater and other samples for reporting under EPA's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program. The Clean Water Act (CWA) requires EPA to promulgate these test procedures (analytical methods) for analysis of pollutants. EPA anticipates that these proposed changes would provide increased flexibility for the regulated community in meeting monitoring requirements while improving data quality. In addition, this proposed update to the CWA methods would incorporate technological advances in analytical technology and make a series of minor changes and corrections to existing approved methods. As such, EPA expects that there would be no negative economic impacts resulting from these proposed changes.