NR 102.04(6)(a)1.1. ‘Criteria.’ All of the Escherichia coli (E. coli) criteria in Table A apply unless bacteria site-specific criteria have been adopted pursuant to subd. 2. NR 102.04 NoteNote: The department developed the E. coli criteria in this section based on criteria developed by U.S. EPA. U.S. EPA developed the E. coli criteria using membrane filtration methods to count E. coli colony forming units. Entities wishing to use quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and a conversion factor to compare resulting E. coli counts to the criteria in Table A may seek U.S. EPA and department approval for using alternative indicators and methods as outlined in U.S. EPA technical support document EPA-820-R-14-011.
NR 102.04 NoteNote: Under the department’s beach advisory program, a beach advisory is issued when a beach reaches the “Beach Action Value” of 235 counts per 100 mL and a beach closure is issued at 1000 counts per 100 mL, unless site-specific conditions indicate use of an alternate metric. More information on the beach advisory program is available at http://wibeaches.us. NR 102.04(6)(a)2.a.a. The department may establish bacteria site-specific criteria by rule to protect a waterbody’s recreational use when it is determined that the statewide E. coli criteria under subd. 1. are inappropriate due to site-specific conditions. Once bacteria site-specific criteria are adopted in a rule and approved by U.S. EPA, those criteria supersede the statewide E. coli criteria under subd. 1. for that waterbody. NR 102.04(6)(a)2.b.b. Any interested party may submit proposed bacteria site-specific criteria for a waterbody to the department for review and consideration. Any request for bacteria site-specific criteria must include a demonstration that the proposed site-specific criteria were developed using a U.S. EPA approved method, procedure, or test, are based on sound scientific rationale, and are as protective of the recreational use as the statewide E. coli criteria in subd. 1. A request for a less-stringent site-specific criteria must also demonstrate that the predominant source of the bacteria is non-human or non-fecal. NR 102.04(7)(a)(a) General. All surface waters shall be suitable for supporting public health and welfare. NR 102.04(7)(b)(b) Exceptions. Whenever the department determines a discharge of heated effluent is not exposed or situated in a manner that may pose a realistic potential for scalding of humans, the criterion specified in sub. (8) (c) does not apply. NR 102.04(8)(a)(a) General. The criteria developed pursuant to ss. NR 105.08 and 105.09 shall be met regardless of whether the surface water is used for public drinking water supply or the applicable fish and aquatic life subcategory. NR 102.04(8)(b)(b) Taste and odor criteria. All surface waters providing public drinking water supplies or classified as cold water or warm water sport fish communities as described in sub. (3) shall meet the taste and odor criteria specified or developed pursuant to s. NR 102.14. NR 102.04(8)(c)(c) Temperature criteria. To protect humans from being scalded, the water temperature of a discharge may not exceed 120oF unless specifically authorized under provisions in subchs. V or VI of ch. NR 106. NR 102.04(8)(d)1.1. Surface waters shall meet all of the following criteria for PFOS and PFOA at all times and under all flow and water level conditions: NR 102.04(8)(d)1.a.a. In order to protect against adverse public health impacts from consumption of fish taken from surface waters, concentrations of PFOS shall not be present in amounts found to be of public health significance, which is 8 parts per trillion, except in waters that cannot naturally support fish and do not have downstream waters that support fish. NR 102.04(8)(d)1.b.b. In order to protect against adverse public health impacts from the incidental consumption of surface waters associated with recreational activities in the water, concentrations of PFOA shall not be present in amounts found to be of public health significance, which is 95 parts per trillion for surface waters not classified as public water supplies under ch. NR 104. NR 102.04(8)(d)1.c.c. In order to protect against adverse public health impacts from consumption of drinking water supplied by surface waters, concentrations of PFOA shall not be present in amounts found to be of public health significance, which is 20 parts per trillion for surface waters classified as public water supplies under ch. NR 104. NR 102.04(8)(d)2.2. The PFOS and PFOA criteria in subd. 1. shall be met in surface waters, and a surface water shall be considered an impaired water as defined in s. NR 151.002 (16m) if any of the criteria are exceeded more than once every 3 years. Permit requirements shall be implemented following the procedures under subch. VIII of ch. NR 106. NR 102.04(9)(a)(a) Use. All surface waters shall be suitable for supporting wildlife. NR 102.04 HistoryHistory: Cr. Register, September, 1973, No. 213, eff. 10-1-73; am. (3), Register, December, 1977, No. 264, eff. 1-1-78; renum. from NR 102.02, r. (3) (d) 1. to 3., and (5), renum. (3) (intro.) to (d) (intro.) and (e) and (4) to be (4) (intro.) to (e) and (5) and am. (4) (a), (d), (e) (intro.) and (5), cr. (6) and (7), Register, February, 1989, No. 398, eff. 3-1-89; am. (3) (intro.), (6), (7), r. (3) (a), renum. (3) (b) to (f) to be (3) (a) to (e) and am. (3) (a), Register, August, 1997, No. 500, eff. 9-1-97; CR 07-111: am. (title), (1) (intro.), (2), (3) (intro.), (4) (title) and (a), r. (4) (b), (e) 1. and (5) to (7), renum. (4) (e) (intro.), 2. and 3. to be (4) (b) and am. (4) (b) (intro.), cr. (4) (e) and (5) to (9) Register September 2010 No. 657, eff. 10-1-10; correction in (8) (c) made under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 7., Stats., Register September 2010 No. 657; CR 19-014: am. (5) (a), r. and recr. (6) Register April 2020 No. 772, eff. 5-1-20; CR 21-083: cr. (8) (d) Register July 2022 No. 799, eff. 8-1-22; CR 19-094: r. and recr. (4) (a), cr. (4) (am), r. (4) (b), am. (4) (d), cr. (4) (f), am. (5) (b) Register September 2022 No. 801, eff. 10-1-22. NR 102.05(1)(a)(a) No waters of the state shall be lowered in quality unless it has been affirmatively demonstrated to the department that such a change is justified as a result of necessary economic and social development, provided that no new or increased effluent interferes with or becomes injurious to any assigned uses made of or presently possible in such waters. NR 102.05(1)(b)(b) Classification system. For the purposes of this subsection, all surface waters of the state, or portions thereof, shall be classified as one of the following: