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Amendments to the Basin Plan

A list of amendments to the Basin Plan, with links to recent projects, can be found here.
Here is a link to the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Program webpage
The Water Quality Control Plan for the North Coast Region (Basin Plan) contains the regulations adopted by the Regional Water Board to control the discharge of waste and other controllable factors affecting the quality of waters of the state within the boundaries of the North Coast Region. The Basin Plan is amended from time to time to incorporate new beneficial uses (CWC § 13050(f)), water quality objectives (CWC § 13241), and programs of implementation including monitoring programs (CWC § 13242)) and to conduct substantive and non-substantive revisions of existing language. Nonsubstantive amendments include editorial revisions.  Substantive amendments include new and updated water quality standards and programs of implementation, such as TMDL Action Plans. The Regional Water Board is the lead agency for evaluating the environmental impacts of substantive Basin Plan amendments pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Basin Plan amendments, which rely on science as the basis for the amendment, may also require review by a panel of scientific peer reviewers.

For basin plan amendments, which are new or revised water quality standards, requirements of the Clean Water Act also apply.  In conformance with 40 CFR Part 131, USEPA must determine if State-adopted water quality standards are:

• Consistent with the requirements of the Clean Water Act;
• Protective of beneficial uses;
• Legally adopted;
• Based on appropriate technical and scientific data and analyses; and
• In conformance with the definition of Water Quality Standards.

As a State regulation, any amendment to basin plan language must also meet the standard of review for regulations as described in Government Code Section 11349 including standards of: necessity, authority, clarity, consistency, reference, and nonduplication. The Office of Administrative Law (OAL) conducts this review following approval of an amendment by the State Water Board.  Amendments to the Basin Plan are in effect upon approval by OAL.