Understanding TMDL Compliance

To help builders comply with the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) program established under the Clean Water Act, the NAHB has posted a 32-page TMDL Tool Kit on its Web site. The tool kit — available as a free PDF download — is a useful tool to help builders analyze maximum allowable pollutant loads as well as helping document how they will manage those loads, both of which are requirements of the law.

The TMDL Tool Kit outlines the basic concepts and requirements of the program, while supplemental links provide details to suit the needs of technical personnel builders and their environmental consultants. For example, the Tool Kit provides an overview of a Model Sediment TMDL Protocol, while a supplemental link provides the model in its 59-page entirety. This fuller discussion, in turn, discusses additional models used in the discipline and how/when to use which tool — such as the Storm Water Management Model that analyzed urban runoff-related problems in Cedar Creek, Ill.; or the Hydrologic Simulation Program-Fortran that modeled continuous rainfall in Duck Creek, Ohio.

Many builders will benefit from the shorter Tool Kit and can refer their experts to the supplemental links. For either, click to NAHB's Website, http://www.nahb.org/publication_details.aspx?sectionID=478&publicationID=1502