EPA’s Nationwide Urban Runoff Program Designed to Produce Useful Results

EPA’s Nationwide Urban Runoff Program (NURP) is composed of 28 projects which are obtaining data on the significance and control of urban runoff to aid federal, state, and local decision making. In a past article in \ICivil Engineering\N (Sept. 1981, p. 86), the usefulness of the results expected to come from NURP was challenged. Specifically, the lack of bioassays in the program was criticized . In this rebuttal, EPA engineers assert that the program was designed to produce definable, quantitative information about the kinds of problems which exist, their magnitude, prevalence, and geographical distribution. The article summarizes EPA’s method of studying urban runoff, finding, among other conclusions, that bioassays are more appropriate after potential problem pollutants and areas are identified.