Temperature Management Plan

The Revised Temperature Management Plan was approved by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality in 2004.

Recognizing that many areas of the nation have reached the limit of what can be accomplished under the traditional approach, the Environmental Protection Agency recently took steps to encourage a holistic, watershed-level approach to water quality regulation and stewardship. The watershed approach looks at potentially all of the activities that impact water quality within a watershed.  In furtherance of this policy, the EPA issued grants to selected water quality agencies for developing watershed-based NPDES permits. Clean Water Services received one of these grants, and was recently issued a watershed-based permit by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. 

The EPA also recently took steps to encourage “water quality trading,” a means of regulatory compliance that reflects the watershed approach.

To encourage water quality trading, the EPA issued grants to state regulatory agencies for developing water quality trading programs. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality received one of the grants and used a portion of the funds to make water quality trading a part of Clean Water Services’ watershed-based NPDES permit (referred to here as “the Watershed Permit”). The Watershed Permit allows temperature credit to be traded, provided that Clean Water Services develops a Revised Clean Water Services Temperature Management Plan (Revised TMP), subject to public review and DEQ approval, which describes the measures that will be used to reduce river temperatures and explains how temperature trading will be conducted.

The permit also contains a list of required contents for the Revised TMP, including a Thermal Load Credit Trading Plan (TLCTP).

Access the Temperature Management Plan (PDF, 7.6MB).

Access the 2005 Annual Report for the Temperature Management Plan (PDF, 808KB).