Under the 1972 Clean Water Act, each State is required to develop TMDLs (Total Maximum Daily Loads) for water bodies (streams, rivers, and lakes) that it has determined to be impaired or not meeting their designated beneficial uses within its boundaries. TMDLs refer to the amount of pollutant that a water body may receive from all sources without exceeding water quality standards. The State of Montana, through the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), is going beyond the basic requirements of the Clean Water Act by working with local watershed groups and stakeholders to develop not only TMDLs, but comprehensive plans for the maintenance, improvement, and restoration of water quality.

In the Blackfoot watershed, which includes the Blackfoot River and its tributaries from its headwaters on the Continental Divide to its confluence with the Clark Fork River, there are 56 water bodies that have been identified as impaired since 1996. Most of the water bodies included on the impaired list (also referred to as the 303(d) list) are tributary streams. The sources of impairment vary from stream to stream but commonly include excess sediment, nutrients, or metals; high water temperatures, and degraded riparian or in-stream habitat. Impairments are also most frequently linked to the predominant near stream land use.

Montana DEQ has been working with the Blackfoot Challenge and other stakeholders since 2000 to develop TMDLs and water quality restoration plans in the Blackfoot watershed. TMDLs and restoration plans for sediment, habitat and metals have been completed in the Blackfoot Headwaters and plans for all impairments in the Middle Blackfoot and Nevada Creek planning areas have recently gone through the public review process and are being prepared for submittal to EPA. TMDLs and a restoration plan for the Lower Blackfoot are expected to be complete by the end of 2008.

As the Blackfoot Challenge and DEQ were preparing for a public meeting on the draft Middle Blackfoot and Nevada Creek TMDL and restoration plan, we began to think of questions that might be asked by landowners and stakeholders in attendance. In our minds, the number one issue for landowners and stakeholders would be what do these TMDLs and plans mean for folks on the ground that work the land and water as part of their livelihood? It is the most important question to be asking about this process and one that can be answered in many ways.

Montana DEQ is primarily a regulatory government agency, and water quality is something that it regulates, so the thought that these TMDLS will add more regulations or controls on landowners and land managers is probably common. While the intent of these plans is to maintain, improve, or restore water quality the means of achieving this goal are through the voluntary implementation of best management practices, not through mandates or regulations. Through a voluntary approach to water quality restoration, Montana DEQ hopes that landowners and stakeholders in a particular watershed will take ownership of water quality issues and work to address them. This is a big reason why the Blackfoot Challenge has been involved in this process.

Essentially, what these plans attempt to do is describe the probable causes and sources of water quality degradation, the goals or targets for restoring water quality, and possible actions for achieving those goals. Think of it as a "status report" for water quality in the Blackfoot watershed. It describes what we know, or at least what we think we know, about water quality in the Blackfoot; what we don’t know about water quality in the Blackfoot, and how we think it can be improved.

As such, these plans are far from the final word on water quality in the Blackfoot. More than anything, the plans are a starting point. The process for developing these plans is not perfect and it would be impossible to state that we know everything there is to know about water quality in the Blackfoot. Quite often, these plans call for more monitoring and further study to better understand water quality issues and possible solutions. Moreover, they are "living" plans which can be modified based on experience, success, failure, and new knowledge. The truth is landowners and stakeholder could start implementing the recommendations of these plans tomorrow, work for several decades, and still fall short of water quality restoration goals put forth in the current plans. Putting it this way makes the task at hand seem insurmountable. But considering the time and money involved in restoration and recovery, the ever changing landscape, and the continuous influx of new information, this timeline is not far from reality. These plans acknowledge that conditions will change and that restoring water quality is a long-term process.

Where these plans go from here is entirely up to landowners and stakeholders in the Blackfoot watershed. Although it is a great place to start, restoring water quality will take more than one landowner making management changes on their stretch of stream. The water quality restoration goals contained in these plans are often stated collectively and as such neighbors will need to work with neighbors, private landowners will need to work with agencies, and stakeholders will need to work together to restore water quality in the Blackfoot.

Ultimately, the TMDLs and water quality restoration plans in the Blackfoot watershed provide opportunities. These plans present opportunities for projects and management intended to benefit water quality as well as landowners and managers. They are an opportunity for greater collaboration between watershed stakeholders. But most important of all they are an opportunity to show that we can have clean water while maintaining the uses of water that are so important to Montana’s heritage and economic stability.