Management of Non-Point Source Pollution CE 296B

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Management of Non-Point Source PollutionCE 296B

• Department of Civil Engineering
• California State University, Sacramento

Lecture 4, February 10, 1998 Clean Water Act -
Part III
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Recall from the last two lectures, the starting
place for the protection of water bodies is

• Beneficial Uses and
• Water Quality Objectives
• Beneficial uses are what we are trying to
  protect the water body for and
• Water quality objectives are standards for the
  water body. The water quality in the water body
  should, in theory at least, conform to the water
  quality objectives.

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I. In California, the document that spells out
beneficial uses and associated water quality
objectives is the basin plan.
A. Recall the nine regional water quality control
boards
1. North Coast 2. Bay Area 3. Central
Coast 4. Los Angeles 5. Central
Valley 6. Lahontan 7. Colorado River 8. Santa
Ana 9. San Diego
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I. In California, the document that spells out
beneficial uses and associated water quality
objectives is the basin plan. (cont.)

• B. Each region has an entity in the
  administrative branch of government that
  regulates that region. There are two sections to
  that entity
• 1. A board appointed by the governor.
• 2. A staff of civil servants that
• Makes recommendations for the board to vote on.
• Carries out day-to-day regulatory actions

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I. In California, the document that spells out
beneficial uses and associated water quality
objectives is the basin plan. (cont.)

• C. The staff prepare a basin plan for board
  approval. The basin plan is supposed to conform
  to the CWA and Porter-Cologne Act.
• The Porter-Cologne Act requires that each basin
  plan be formally reviewed and revised every three
  years. The board must then vote on that reviewed
  and updated plan. If approved, it becomes the
  governing document for defining and meeting
  beneficial uses.

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I. In California, the document that spells out
beneficial uses and associated water quality
objectives is the basin plan. (cont.)

• D. Each basin plan has the following sections
• 1. A forward that describes the authority under
  which the basin plan is prepared.
• 2. An introduction that gives a general
  description of the region.
• 3. The chapter describing existing and potential
  beneficial uses in the region.
• 4. The chapter describing the water quality
  objectives required to meet the beneficial uses
  in the region.

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I. In California, the document that spells out
beneficial uses and associated water quality
objectives is the basin plan. (cont.) D. Each
basin plan has the following sections

• 5. A chapter on the implementation of the basin
  plan. It describes the policies and plans
  designed to meet the beneficial uses.
• 6. A chapter on surveillance and monitoring. It
  describes in very general terms the process of
  collecting data on the assessment of beneficial
  uses and water quality objectives.

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I. In California, the document that spells out
beneficial uses and associated water quality
objectives is the basin plan. (cont.) D. Each
basin plan has the following sections

• 7. An appendix that contains
• Copies of relevant State Water Board Resolutions.
• Copies of relevant State Water Board Memorandums
  of Agreement and Understanding between the Water
  Boards and other agencies.
• Copies of Regional Water Quality Control Board
  guidelines and policies.

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I. In California, the document that spells out
beneficial uses and associated water quality
objectives is the basin plan. (cont.)

• E. It is important to remember that the chapters
  that really matter are the two that describe the
  beneficial uses and water quality objectives.
  All the rest is designed to support the goal of
  meeting those beneficial uses and water quality
  objectives.

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Discussion Break

• Despite the fact that a basin plan is centered
  on the chapters on beneficial uses and water
  quality objectives, the appendix contains a
  relentless sometimes contradicting sequence of
  fine print.
• Could this cloud the goal of staying focused on
  beneficial uses and water quality objectives?

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II. How is the chapters on beneficial uses and
water quality objectives devised?

• A. Rather than start with a water body and detail
  out the beneficial uses, basin plans start by
  describing a set of generic beneficial uses. An
  example would be
• Water Contact Recreation (REC -1) - Uses of
  water for recreational activities involving body
  contact with water where ingestion of water is
  reasonably possible. These uses include, but are
  not limited to, swimming, wading, water-skiing,
  skin and scuba diving, surfing, white water
  activities, fishing or use of natural hot
  springs.

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II. How is the chapters on beneficial uses and
water quality objectives devised? (cont.)

• B. Then, the water body in question is assigned
  the appropriate generic beneficial uses. Each
  beneficial use is a one size fits all
  designation.
• C. Generic water quality objectives are then
  assigned for the achievement of each generic
  beneficial use.

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Discussion Break

• What are the advantages of assigning beneficial
  uses and water quality objectives in this way?
• What are the disadvantages of assigning
  beneficial uses and water quality objectives in
  this way?

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III. What happens when water quality objectives
are not met (i.e., receiving water limitations
exceeded)?

• A. In California, two different things happen
• 1. With State Board and USEPA oversight, the
  regional boards may designate that water body as
  impaired. It then goes on the 303,d impaired
  water body list. This assessment is done every
  other year and requires a vote of the Board.
• 2. The State Board staff may designate the water
  body as impaired.

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III. What happens when water quality objectives
are not met (i.e., receiving water limitations
exceeded)? (cont.)
B. What does the 303,d designation mean? Within
a reasonable amount of time, a set of Total
Maximum Daily Loads (TMDL) for each pollutant
contributing to the impairment of the water body
must be set. After assessing who contributes how
much of each pollutant load in the watershed, the
necessary reductions in those loads are
partitioned among the dischargers.
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Discussion Break

• What are some of the difficulties in assessing
  how much of each pollutant the water body can
  take?
• What are some of the difficulties in assessing
  how much of each pollutant each discharger is
  contributing?
• What about the case where some dischargers are
  regulated and some are not?
• With respect to adding a water body to the 303,d
  list and with respect to keeping a water body off
  the list, the process is often criticized as
  being political. Why?

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Discussion Break

• The 303,d impaired water body and associated
  TMDL law is in a different section of the CWA
  from NPDES permits. This has created much
  uncertainty as to how this will be enforced. The
  most powerful enforcement mechanism are citizen
  enforcement lawsuits, particularly those directed
  against new development. Why would counties be
  so worried about TMDLs?

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III. What happens when water quality objectives
are not met (i.e., receiving water limitations
exceeded)? (cont.)

• C. What about the State Board impaired list?
• The list is compiled without a board vote. It
  is designed to be a strictly scientific
  designation. It also contains a listing of water
  bodies in good condition and those in an
  intermediate state.

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Discussion Break

• Given finite resources, is money better spent
  preventing water bodies that are in good shape
  from becoming impaired or better spent fixing
  impaired water bodies?
• The CWA directs society to first fix the
  impaired water bodies and then has an
  anti-degradation clause directing dischargers to
  not allow water bodies to deteriorate more.
  Could better direction be given?

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IV. What has been the general direction of the
USEPA is setting non-point source regulations?

• A. After the 1986 Amendments to the Clean Water
  Act (CWA)were passed the first action was to
  ignore the problem.
• B. After being sued, USEPA agreed to establish
  non-point source regulations in phases under the
  NPDES section of the CWA.
• 1. Phase I regulations were implemented in 1990
  and were directed to communities with more than
  100,000 people.
• 2. Phase II regulations will bring in communities
  with more than 50,000 people.

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IV. What has been the general direction of the
USEPA is setting non-point source regulations?
(cont.)

• C. Additionally, with each phase, the standards
  of pollutant reduction will be increased.
• D. State and local regulatory agencies have until
  now, been reluctant participants in the process.
  They often have to be goaded into issuing NPDES
  permits.

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Discussion Break

• A pattern of regulatory agencies being reluctant
  parties to the regulation of non-point source
  pollution is evident.
• Why?

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Homework 2Water Bodies to Assess

• American River Placerville to Folsom Lake
• Bear River
• Butte Creek Sources to Chico
• Cache Creek Clear Lake to Yolo Bypass
• Consumnes River
• Feather River Fish Barrier Dam to Sacramento
  River
• Mokelumne River Camanche Reservoir to Delta
• Putah Creek Lake Berryessa to Yolo Bypass
• Stanislaus River Goodwin Dam to San Joaquin
  River
• Yuba River Englebright Dam to Feather River