HARRY HUGHES, Governor                             2843

waters of the State or portions of it. The standards shall
protect public health, safety, and welfare and the present
and future use of the waters for public water supply, the
propagation of fish and other aquatic life and wildlife,
recreational purposes, and agricultural, industrial, and
other legitimate uses. All standards may be amended from
time to time by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
and shall include but not be limited to:

(1)  Water quality standards, specifying, among
other things, the maximum short-term and long-term
concentrations of pollutants in the water, minimum
permissible concentrations of dissolved oxygen and other
desirable matter in the water and the temperature range for
the water;

(2)  Effluent standards specifying the maximum
loading or concentrations and the physical, thermal,
chemical, biological, and radioactive properties of wastes
which may be discharged into the waters; standards shall be
at least as stringent as those specified by the National
Pollutant Discharge Elimination System;

(3)  Rules and regulations defining technique for
filling and sealing of abandoned water wells and holes, for
disposal wells, for mines both deep and surface, and for
landfills to prevent groundwater contamination, seepage, and
drainage into the waters of the State;

(4)  Rules and regulations regarding the sale,
offer, use or storage of pesticides, and other articles
which constitute a water pollution hazard in the
determination of the Department of Health and Mental
Hygiene;

(5)  Rules and regulations outlining the
procedures for water pollution episodes or emergencies which
constitute an acute danger to health or the environment;

[(6) Rules and regulations prescribing method,
facilities, standards, and devices for transfer, storage,
separation, removal, treatment, and disposal of oil and
other unctuous substances;

(7)] (6) Rules and regulations specifying
standards for equipment and procedures for monitoring
pollutants, collection of samples, logging and reporting of
the monitoring.

(c) (1) EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN SUBSECTION (D) OF THIS
SECTION, THE [The] Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
may adopt, amend, or repeal procedural rules necessary to
accomplish the purposes of this subtitle. Notice of public
hearing shall specify the general subject matter of the
regulation and, if appropriate, shall specify the waters for
which the standards or criteria are sought to be adopted,
amended or repealed and shall publicly circulate notice of