Water Quality Certification Public Notices
Water Quality Certification Actions - Applicants for federal permits that involve dredge or fill activities in surface waters (including wetlands) are required to obtain certification from the state verifying that the activity will comply with state water quality standards. Most of these federal permits are referred to as 404 permits (in reference to Section 404 of the federal Clean Water Act). Applicants for some other types of federal license or permits (ex. FERC licenses) that authorize activities that may result in discharges to waters of the United States are also required to obtain state certification. This state certification is called 401 Certification (in reference to Section 401 of the Clean Water Act). In California, 401 certification actions are the responsibility of the State and Regional Water Quality Control Boards. It is the policy of this Regional Board to provide public notice of pending 401 Certification actions in order to gather comments from concerned agencies and the public. The following list contains notification of pending 401 Certification actions.
| Project Name | WDID | County | Location | Description | Comment period | Contact Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woody Glen Lane Bank Repair Project | 1B24148WNME | Mendocino | Latitude 39.095666 N, Longitude 123.208367 W |
On November 23, 2023, applicants placed Rock along the bank of Robinson creek during stroms to protect the bridge that is the only access to residences. The applicant notified CDFW but not the Regional Water Board or the US Army Corps of the emergency work. The Regional Water Board issued a Notive of Violation for the unpermitted work. The purpose of this project is to permit the fill within waters of the US and required mitigation. The applicant proposes additional mitigation plantings and has submitted a permit application to bring the project site into compliance. The project will require an after-the-fact Nationwide bank stabilization permit from the Army Corps of Engineers and a Water Quality Certificaiton from the Regional Water Board. The project includes permanent impacts of approximately 94 linear feet of creek channel (0.027 acres). The applicant will interplant the rock bank stabilization with native willows to offset the permanent impacts. The applicant will monitor and report success of mitigation plantings for at least 3 years. | January 31, 2025 to Februaruy 20, 2025 | Gil Falcone gil.falcone@waterboards.ca.gov |
| California Department of Transportation CDOT Highway 101 PM 1.1 & 2.2 Richardson Grove Operational Improvement Project (01-46480) |
1B24172WNHU | Humboldt | PM 1.1 PM 2.2 |
The Project will minimally realign and widen the roadway so Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA) vehicles may negotiate curves through Richardson Grove State Park. The roadway will consist of two 12-foot lanes with 2-foot shoulders where possible. Existing large diameter redwoods in the roadway shoulders will remain. Four existing 24-inch culverts will be extended and have new inlet structures (PMs 1.18, 1.28, 1.34, and 1.35). The existing culvert at PM 2.10 will be removed and replaced and a rock lined ditch will be added along the southbound shoulder. Approximately 17 linear feet (0.004 acres) of temporary impacts and 24 linear feet (0.0008 acres) of permanent impacts to streams will result due to construction access to install the culvert extensions and for extending culverts to accommodate road widening. Temporary impacts will be restored at project completion, and replacing a box culvert with an arched bridge at Hartsook Creek will serve as mitigation for the permanent impacts. Construction will occur over approximately 2 years, from fall 2025 to winter 2026, and the fish passage mitigation project at Hartsook Creek would begin fall of 2026 and continue for 2-3 work seasons. | January 24, 2025 through February 13, 2025 | Susan Stewart Susan.Stewart@waterboards.ca.gov 707-576-2657 |
| Simpson/Glendale Bar Extraction Project | 1B190009WNHU | Humboldt | 40.899351°, -124.026887° | This project would continue ongoing annual extraction and stockpiling of river run material from the 27-acre Simpson-Glendale gravel bar within the channel of the Mad River. Extraction design may include bar skimming, trenching, alcoves, and/or other extraction techniques. Processing and stockpiling of aggregate would occur at an existing upland yard area located two miles from the extraction site. Depending on the channel configuration, a temporary bridge crossing may be constructed to allow access to the extraction sites. The placement and design of the temporary crossings would be determined through agency consultation. Annual extraction plans would be reviewed and approved through the County of Humboldt Extraction Review Team (CHERT) process. The proposed extraction project would have approximately 2 acres and 2,500 linear feet of temporary impact. Annual extraction would not exceed 6,300 cubic yards. Suitable best management practices would be utilized to minimize sediment delievery from roads and other project activities. All extraction operations would be completed prior to October 15th. Annual surveys and monitoring would occur. |
January 22, 2025 to February 12, 2025 | Amanda Piscitelli, amanda.piscitelli@waterboards.ca.gov (707) 445-6126 |
| United States Army Corps of Engineers, Ms. Ellie Covington | 1B24176WNHU | Humboldt | 40.81357°N, -124.20382°W | The primary purpose of the pilot Project is to beneficially reuse Humboldt Bay dredged material to determine the feasibility of a nearshore placement at the Humboldt Nearshore Placement Study Area (HNPSA) to address shoreline retreat and to provide data for regulatory decisions for future beneficial reuse projects. The proposed Project includes transporting and placing up to 300,000 cubic yards (cy) of dredged material from the Humboldt Bar & Entrance Channel by the USACE (via hopper dredge Essayons) at the HNPSA, approximately 0.5 miles west of the North Spit, Eureka, California. Placement of dredged material is planned between water depths of -45 feet to -65 feet MLLW to ensure adequate depth for safe vessel operation and will result in an approximate 1,700-foot long by 6,000-foot wide by 2-foot high (maximum) broad, low-relief berm and consisting of 20 cells. One pass over a cell will result in approximately 0.29 ft of mean mound height. Each cell will receive three passes. Total mound height will not exceed two feet. |
January 16 to February 5, 2025 | Maggie Teicher Margarete.Teicher@waterboards.ca.gov 707-576-2501 |
