New York State’s Water Quality Report
The Clean Water Act requires states to report to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the quality of their waters, every two years. This reporting under Section 305(b) and 303(d) of the CWA is referred to by EPA as Integrated Reporting (IR). With its submission, New York State also provides its consolidated assessment and listing methodology (CALM) which documents the decision-making process for assessing and reporting on the quality of water in the Integrated Report.
Under Section 305(b), states are required to describe the quality of all waterbody segments in the state and report on whether their waters are supporting applicable best uses as sources of water supply, for primary and secondary contact recreation, and for the protection and support of fishing.
Section 303(d) requires states to identify waters where water quality standards are not met and where uses are not supported. The Section 303(d) List is a list of impaired surface waters that do not meet water quality standards, do not support best use(s), and required the development of a total maximum daily load (TMDL).
2020/2022 Integrated Report on Water Quality
- Final 2020/2022 NYS Section 303(d) List (.xlsx)
- 2020/2022 Response to Public Comment on the Draft 2020/2022 NYS Section 303(d) List (PDF)
- 2020/2022 Section 305(b) Report on Water Quality
- Final 2020/2022 NYS Section 303(d) List ENB Notice
- 2021 Consolidated Assessment and Listing Methodology
Consolidated Assessment and Listing Methodology
For more information about how water quality assessments are conducted, read the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's Consolidated Assessment and Listing Methodology (CALM, updated May 2023) (PDF).
Previous versions of the CALM have been archived and are available upon request to [email protected].
