State of Texas Coastal Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Program

Section 6217 of the Coastal Zone Act Reauthorization Amendments (CZARA) requires each state with an approved coastal zone management program to develop a federally approvable program to control coastal nonpoint source pollution. Texas is required to submit its program within 30 months of approval of the Texas Coastal Management Program (CMP), which was approved on January 10, 1997. In 1993, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published Program Development and Approval Guidance and Guidance Specifying Management Measures for Sources of Nonpoint Pollution in Coastal Waters to assist states in developing their Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Programs. These guidance documents, together with the statutory requirements found in Section 6217 and subsequent program clarification and guidance, including the Final Administrative Changes to the Coastal Nonpoint Pollution Control Program Guidance (1998), were used to develop this Coastal Nonpoint Source Pollution Control Program for the State of Texas.