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
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
Westhaven Community Services District, Paul Rosenblatt 1B23029WNHU Humboldt 41.034444°N, -124.101389°W

The primary purpose of the Project is to replace aging and undersized infrastructure to improve system efficiency and to ensure a safe and reliable water supply in the Westhaven Community Services District’s service area.
The Project includes the following:
Filling 188 feet of drainage ditch and installing a new 174-foot, 18-inch corrugated metal culvert (beneath the treatment building and parking lot) with a 48-inch drop inlet.
Installing rock slope protection at the new culvert outlet and inlet, and at the water treatment pond culvert outlet to address erosion.
Constructing a rock infiltration trench to collect and treat runoff from the new WTP building and parking area.
Removing an existing crossing over Two Creek and restore that section of creek..

 January 10 to January 31, 2025 Maggie Teicher
Margarete.Teicher@waterboards.ca.gov
707-576-2501