39-3615. CREATION OF WATERSHED ADVISORY GROUPS. Basin advisory groups shall identify representatives of the industries and other interests affected by the management of water quality within a watershed who are prospective members of an advisory group for the watershed and shall advise the director of their findings. The director, upon the advice of the appropriate basin advisory group, shall name watershed advisory groups which will generally advise the department on the appropriateness, attainability and status of existing and designated beneficial uses and water quality criteria within the watershed, and on the development and implementation of TMDLs and other state water quality plans, including those specific actions needed to control point and nonpoint sources of pollution within the watersheds of those water bodies where designated beneficial uses are not fully supported. Each watershed advisory group shall be formed early enough to complete consultation, as provided in section 39-3611(8), Idaho Code, prior to the date the TMDL and any supporting subbasin assessment is scheduled to be submitted to the United States environmental protection agency for approval.

If the members of the watershed advisory group, with the concurrence of the basin advisory group, advise the director that applicable water quality standards within the watershed are not attainable or are inappropriate based upon supporting data, the director shall initiate the process or processes to assess such standards and to change or remove the standards that are shown by the assessment to be unattainable or inappropriate, consistent with this chapter.

Members of each watershed advisory group shall be representative of the industries and interests affected by the management of that watershed and shall, where appropriate, include a representative from each of the following: agriculture, mining, point source dischargers, forest products, local government, livestock, Indian tribes (for areas within reservation boundaries), water-based recreation, environmental interests and the land managing or regulatory agencies with an interest in the management of that watershed and the quality of the water bodies within it.

Members of each watershed advisory group shall serve and shall not be reimbursed for their expenses during their term of service.

History:

[39-3615, added 1995, ch. 352, sec. 1, p. 1175; am. 1997, ch. 279, sec. 7, p. 835; am. 2005, ch. 334, sec. 3, p. 1051.]