On February 16, 2004, the United States Environmental Protection Agency  (U.S. EPA) established location, design, construction and capacity standards for cooling water intake structures at large power plants. The Clean Water Act calls for EPA to establish the Best Technology Available (BTA) to protect fish, shellfish and other forms of aquatic life from being killed or injured by impingement (being pinned against screens, or water intake structure parts etc.), or entrainment (being drawn into water systems and subjected to varied harmful stresses). The final rule sets standards but provides flexibility by offering several alternatives for power plants to comply.  

Phase 1 -- for new facilities

Phase II – for existing electric generating plants that use large amounts of cooling water (more than 50 million gallons per day with 25 percent of withdrawn water being used for cooling purposes only.

Phase III – The EPA is requesting comment on 3 regulatory options for the proposed Phase III regulation published in November 2004. The final version will be determined in June 2006 based on which option is chosen. Options relate to different flow thresholds and water body types as follows.

• Facilities with a design intake flow of 50 MGD or more and withdraw water from any water body type.
• Facility has a design intake flow of 250 MGD or more and withdraws water from any water body type.
• Facility has a design intake flow of 100 MGD or more and withdraws from an ocean, estuary, tidal river, or one of the Great Lakes. 

All other facilities would be subject to cooling water intake structure requirements set by the permitting authority on a case-by-case, best professional judgment basis. In general, facilities subject to proposed uniform national requirements must meet the following:

1. The facility is a point source (i.e., has, or is required to have a discharge permit (NPDES))
2. The facility is an ”existing facility” other than those covered under the Phase II regulations
3. The facility uses, or proposes to use cooling water intake structures that withdraw water at a certain threshold
4. The facility uses, or proposes to use, at least 25 percent of the water it withdraws for cooling purposes

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