Idaho’s surface waters provide great natural beauty and supply the water necessary for drinking, recreation, industry, agriculture, and aquatic life.

DEQ’s Surface Water Program ensures Idaho’s streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and wetlands meet standards set by the Clean Water Act.

The Surface Water Program achieves this by adopting and enforcing water quality standards, monitoring and assessing water quality, developing water quality improvement plans known as total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), eliminating water pollution from nonpoint sources, and implementing improvement projects prescribed in TMDLs.