DoD and DoE Cleanup Program

The Water Board's Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Energy (DoE) cleanup program addresses active and former DoD facilities and DoE laboratories. Working with other State and federal agencies, Water Board staff oversees cleanups at these sites. Areas of concern include soil and groundwater contamination, storm water and surface water discharges, and contaminated sediments.

Soil and groundwater cleanup activities at Departments of Defense and Energy facilities are regulated under the Water Board's DoD-DoE cleanup program in conjunction with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). Cleanup of DoD and DoE facilities must comply with Water Board policies and directives to protect water quality, beneficial uses, and environmental/ecological health.

Staff in the DoD and DoE programs are responsible for providing regulatory oversight on issues that affect or threaten groundwater and surface water quality, human health, and the environment. Because many DoD facilities (particularly Navy bases) are located adjacent to San Francisco and San Pablo Bay, residual pollution must additionally be cleaned up to protect surface water quality and marshland habitat. Furthermore, because many former military bases are planned for conversion to civilian use, human health protection associated with redevelopment, including residential reuse is an important cleanup driver. To accomplish our regulatory oversight, we work cooperatively with other State and Federal agencies in both lead and support roles.

There are over forty facilities in the DoD cleanup program. Most are former bases that were closed as a result of the congressionally-mandated base realignment and closure (BRAC) program first instituted in 1991. The DoD program also includes Formerly Utilized Defense Sites (FUDS) which are facilities that were owned, operated, or leased by a branch of the DoD for various uses such as missile silos, gun batteries, listening posts, and radar stations. Some former military bases – such as the Presidio of San Francisco and a portion of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard – are considered privatized military facilities because they have already been transferred for civilian reuse but are still undergoing some cleanup. There are four facilities in the DoE program including the Lawrence Livermore, Sandi, and Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.

• A list of DoD and DoE Facilities in the SF Bay Region and their respective Water Board contacts
• A Map showing the location of DoD and DoE Facilities in the SF Bay Region
• For public records, please go to the Water Board's database at https://geotracker.waterboards.ca.gov.

Although agreements between the State and the DoD or DoE designate a state "lead" regulatory agency for each facility, regulatory oversight is a cooperative effort among state agencies - including the Department of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC) and the Water Board - and the DoD or DoE. The status of cleanup activities at DoD and DoE facilities is tracked using the Water Board's GeoTracker database. The DTSC tracks site cleanup information using its Envirostor database.