News In Brief

EPA to issue stricter rules on water quality standards

A top Environmental Protection Agency official confirmed that the government will issue major pollution regulations this week that limit the power of states to weaken water quality standards. A coalition of 10 national environmental groups heaped praise Monday on EPA Administrator William Ruckelshaus for what they called a ''major reversal'' of the Reagan administration's water pollution policy under the term of former EPA chief Anne Burford.

The agency's new policy follows a year of criticism from Congress and environmentalists of a proposed water quality rule issued in October of 1982.