Gualala River Sediment Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)
Announcements
Government code section 11123.2 requires a majority of Regional Water Board members to be physically present at Board meetings in order to adopt official decisions of the Board. A quorum of the Board will not be present at the Regional Water Board office in Santa Rosa for the Board Meeting scheduled to take place on December 4, 2025. As a result, no action to adopt the Action Plan for the Gualala River Sediment TMDL will take place. Instead, staff will provide an information update during the December 4, 2025 public meeting, at which time members of the Board and public may ask questions and provide verbal remarks.
A new adoption hearing will be announced for the February 2026 Board Meeting.
The 45-day formal public comment and review period for the draft Action Plan for the Gualala River Sediment TMDL and draft Staff Report Supporting the Gualala River Sediment TMDL Action Plan ended on August 25, 2025. Response to public comments and other documents relevant to this item for the adoption hearing wereill be made available on the December 4-5 Board Meeting agenda webpage. The draft documents also remainare available on the August 14-15 Board Meeting agenda webpage on Agenda Item 3. For convenience, they are also available in the links below:
Public Review Draft Documents
- Notice of Public Comment Opportunity, Board Workshop, and Public Hearing to Consider Adoption of a Basin Plan Amendment Regarding the Action Plan for the Gualala River Sediment Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)
- Draft Action Plan for the Gualala River Sediment TMDL
- Draft Staff Report Supporting the Gualala River Sediment TMDL Action Plan
- Appendix A: Gualala River Total Maximum Daily Load for Sediment
- Appendix B: Gualala River Watershed Technical Support Document for Sediment
- Appendix C: Gualala River Sediment TMDL Action Plan California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Draft Environmental Checklist
- Appendix D: External Peer Review Exemption for Gualala River Sediment TMDL Action Plan
- Appendix E: Gualala River Watershed Monitoring Data Assessment
Quarterly Project Status Updates
- January 2025 Project Status Update
- October 2024 Project Status Update
- July 2024 Project Status Update
- April 2024 Project Status Update
- January 2024 Project Status Update
- October 2023 Project Status Update
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Documentation
The North Coast Water Board hosted two public California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) scoping meetings for the Gualala River TMDL Action Plan. The first meeting was online on Monday June 3, 2024, and the second meeting was in-person on Wednesday June 5, 2024. The public comment period for comments related to CEQA closed on July 8, 2024.
Presentation slides from these meetings can be found at the following link:
CEQA Scoping Public Meeting Presentation
Additional meeting information can be found in the Meeting Notice linked below:
Gualala River Sediment TMDL Action Plan CEQA Scoping Meeting Notice
An initial draft CEQA checklist has been prepared (linked below) which includes project background information, the proposed project description, potential reasonably foreseeable compliance measures, and an initial draft of potential environmental impacts (checklist). This list may be updated considering public comments received during CEQA Scoping:
Gualala River Sediment TMDL CEQA Draft Environmental Checklist
Gualala River TMDL Overview
The Gualala River is included on the Clean Water Act 303(d) list for impairments associated with excessive sediment and high temperatures. A TMDL addressing sediment impairments was established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) in December 2001. The Regional Water Board prepared a Technical Support Document (TSD) that addressed sources of sediment and temperature impairments, loading capacities, and load allocations necessary to restore sediment and temperature conditions supportive of beneficial uses related to the cold water fishery in the Gualala River Watershed. The TSD served as the basis for the USEPA's TMDLs.
The Gualala River Sediment TMDL was included in Resolution R1-2004-0087, Total Maximum Daily Load Implementation Policy for Sediment Impaired Receiving Waters in the North Coast Region, adopted by the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board in November 2004. The text of the resolution may be viewed by clicking here.
Regional Water Board staff are currently developing an action plan to address continuing water quality impairments in the Gualala River watershed. The goal of this action plan is to improve the quality of waters in the Gualala River watershed so that water quality standards are attained and beneficial uses of those waters are fully supported.
- Final TMDL (PDF) (22 pp, 108K)
- Summary of Comments and Responses (11 pg, 26K)
Contact Us
- Lance Le
(707) 576-6727
Lance.Le@waterboards.ca.gov - Lisa Bernard, Planning Unit Supervisor
707-576-2677
lisa.bernard@waterboards.ca.gov
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Resources
TMDL Projects
- Albion River
- Big River
- Coastal Pathogens
- Eel River, North Fork
- Eel River, Upper Main
- Eel River, Middle Main
- Eel River, Middle Fork
- Eel River, Lower Main
- Eel River, South Fork
- Elk River
- Freshwater Creek
- Garcia River
- Gualala River
- Klamath River
- Laguna De Santa Rosa
- Lost River, Upper
- Lost River, Lower
- Mad River
- Mattole River
- Navarro River
- Noyo River
- Redwood Creek
- Russian River
- Salmon River
- Scott River
- Shasta River
- Stemple Creek
- Ten Mile River
- Trinity River
- Trinity River, South Fork
- Van Duzen River
(Page last updated 12/9/25)
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