CHAPTER
3.5. State Waters Impairment
13150.
All California surface waters shall be fishable, swimmable, and drinkable by January 1, 2050. To bring all water segments into attainment with this requirement, the state board and regional boards shall comply with the requirements of this chapter.13151.
(a) The state board and regional boards shall not do either of the following: (1) Authorize an NPDES discharge that causes or contributes to an exceedance of a water quality standard.
(2) Authorize an NPDES permit that uses an alternative compliance determination, safe harbor “deemed in compliance” term, or any other best management practice permit term to authorize a discharge that causes or contributes to an exceedance of a water quality standard in receiving waters.
(b) The state board and regional boards shall not do either of the following:
(1) Authorize a permit that does not include monitoring sufficient to demonstrate compliance with water quality standards and, unless infeasible, that does not include end-of-discharge pipe monitoring.
(2) Authorize a permit unless it establishes criteria for, and requires, monitoring to evaluate compliance with water quality standards.
(c) The state board and regional boards shall not do either of the following:
(1) Authorize a waste discharge requirement or waiver of a waste discharge requirement for a discharge that causes or contributes to an exceedance of a water quality standard.
(2) Authorize a waste discharge requirement or waiver of a waste discharge requirement that uses an alternative compliance determination, safe harbor “deemed
in compliance” term, or any other best management practice permit term to authorize a discharge that causes or contributes to an exceedance of a water quality standard in receiving waters.
(d) The state board and regional boards shall not issue an enforcement order pursuant to Chapter 12 (commencing with Section 1825) of Part 2 of Division 2 or Article 1 (commencing with Section 13300) of Chapter 5 that includes a compliance schedule deadline that extends beyond January 1, 2030, to a discharger for a discharge that is causing or contributing to an exceedance of a water quality standard.
13152.
(a) Notwithstanding Section 13242, on and after January 1, 2030, a regional water quality control plan, including the program of implementation, shall not include a schedule for implementation for achieving a water quality standard that was adopted in an approved regional water quality control plan as of January 1, 2021. It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this requirement to ensure that all water quality standards in effect as of January 1, 2021, are fully implemented and achieved by January 1, 2030.(b) The state board and regional boards shall only include in a regional water quality control plan a schedule for implementation of a water quality standard that is adopted after January 1, 2021, if all of the following conditions are
met:
(1) The schedule for implementation of the water quality standard is the shortest time necessary, and in no instance exceeds five years.
(2) The schedule for implementation is necessary for the permittee to undertake physical construction that is necessary to achieve compliance with the water quality standard.
(3) The water quality standard is not substantially similar to a water quality standard that was in effect as of January 1, 2021.
(c) An NPDES permit, waste discharge requirement, or waiver of a waste discharge requirement shall not be renewed, reissued, or modified to contain effluent limitations or conditions that are less stringent than the comparable effluent limitations or conditions in the previous permit, requirement, or waiver.
(d) The state board and regional boards shall not authorize an NPDES permit, waste discharge requirement, or waiver of a waste discharge requirement that does not include a complete antidegradation analysis as set out in State Water Resources Control Board Resolution No. 68-16 and Administrative Procedures Update 90-004.
13153.
(a) (1) By January 1, 2030, the state board and regional boards shall develop an Impaired Waterways Enforcement Program to enforce all remaining water quality standard violations pursuant to Chapter 12 (commencing with Section 1825) of Part 2 of Division 2 and Article 1 (commencing with Section 13300) of Chapter 5 that are causing or contributing to an exceedance of a water quality standard.(2) An enforcement action taken pursuant to the program shall result in sufficient penalties, conditions, and orders to ensure the person subject to the enforcement action is no longer causing or contributing to an exceedance of a water quality standard.
(3) A discharger
shall remain liable for a violation of a water quality standard until sampling at the point of discharge demonstrates that the discharge is no longer causing or contributing to the exceedance.
(4) Penalties obtained pursuant to the program shall be deposited into the Waterway Attainment Penalty Subaccount, which is hereby created in the Waterway Attainment Account. Moneys in the subaccount shall be available for the state board to expend, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of the program.
(b) (1) By January 1, 2040, to ensure any water segments impaired by ongoing legacy pollutants and nonpoint source pollution are brought into attainment with water quality standards, the state board and regional boards shall evaluate the state’s remaining impaired waters using the most current integrated report.
(2) The state board and regional boards shall, by January 1, 2040, report to the Legislature in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code a plan to bring the final impaired water segments into attainment by January 1, 2050.
(3) The requirement for submitting a report imposed under paragraph (2) is inoperative on January 1, 2044, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
(c) (1) The Waterway Attainment Account is hereby created in the Waste Discharge Permit Fund. Moneys in the Waterway Attainment Account shall be available for the state board to expend, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to bring remaining impaired water segments into attainment in accordance with the plan submitted pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b), subject to subdivision (d).
(2) (A) By January 1, 2040, subject to a future legislative act, 50 percent of the annual proceeds of the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account shall be annually transferred to the Waterway Attainment Account.
(B) This paragraph shall become inoperative January 1, 2051, or when all water segments are in attainment with water quality standards, whichever comes first.
(d) Moneys in the Waterway Attainment Account shall be expended by the state board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to bring impaired waterways into attainment with water quality standards to the maximum extent possible. Moneys in the account shall only be expended on the following:
(1) Restoration projects, including supplemental environmental
projects, that improve water quality.
(2) Best management practice research innovation and incentives to encourage innovative best management practice implementation.
(3) Source control programs.
(4) Identifying nonfilers.
(5) Source identification of unknown sources of impairment.
(6) Enforcement actions that recover at least the amount of funding originally expended, which shall be deposited into the Waterway Attainment Account.
(e) The state board shall, upon appropriation by the Legislature, expend 5 percent of the annual proceeds of the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account to fund the state board’s SWAMP -
Clean Water Team Citizen Monitoring Program in order to inform the integrated report.
13154.
This chapter does not affect the process by which voluntary agreements are entered into to assist in the implementation of new water quality standards lawfully adopted by the state board.13155.
For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply:(a) “Best management practice” means a practice or set of practices determined by the state board or a regional board for a designated area to be the most effective feasible means of preventing or reducing the generation of a specific type of nonpoint source pollution, given technological, institutional, environmental, and economic constraints.
(b) “Drinkable” applies to waters subject to a regional water quality control plan and means that the waters are drinkable to the extent required by the regional water quality control plan.
(c) “Integrated report” means the state report
that includes the list of impaired waters required pursuant to Section 303(d) of the federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1313(d)) and the water quality assessment required pursuant to Section 305(b) of the federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1315(b)).
(d) “NPDES” means the national pollutant discharge elimination system established in the federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1251 et seq.).
(e) “Regional board” means a California regional water quality control board.
(f) “Regional water quality control plan” means a water quality control plan developed pursuant to Section 13240.
(g) “State board” means the State Water Resources Control Board.
(h) “State Water Pollution Cleanup and
Abatement Account” means the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account created pursuant to Section 13440.
(i) “Supplemental environmental project” means an environmentally beneficial project that a person subject to an enforcement action voluntarily agrees to undertake in settlement of the action and to offset a portion of a civil penalty.
(j) “Waste Discharge Permit Fund” means the Waste Discharge Permit Fund created pursuant to Section 13260.
(k) “Waterway Attainment Account” means the Waterway Attainment Account created pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of Section 13153.
(l) “Waterway Attainment Penalty Subaccount” means the Waterway Attainment Penalty Subaccount created pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) of
Section 13153.