California Code of Regulations › Title 23 - Waters › Division 4 - Regional Water Quality Control Boards › Chapter 1 - Water Quality Control Plans, Policies, and Guidelines › Article 4 - Los Angeles Region › Section 3939.58 - Basin Plan Amendment to Revise the Implementation Schedules for Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (Ms4) Dischargers for Certain TMDLs in the los Angeles Region

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
On March 11, 2021, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality
					 Control Board adopted Resolution No. R21-001, amending the Water Quality
					 Control Plan for the Los Angeles Region (Basin Plan) to revise the final
					 near-term wet-weather TMDL implementation schedules for MS4 dischargers,
					 including Caltrans, in the Santa Monica Bay Beaches Bacteria TMDL; the Marina
					 del Rey Harbor Mothers' Beach and Back Basins Bacteria TMDL; the Malibu Creek
					 and Lagoon Bacteria TMDL; the Malibu Creek Nutrients TMDL; the Malibu Creek and
					 Lagoon Sedimentation and Nutrients TMDL to Address Benthic Community
					 Impairments; the Ballona Creek Estuary Toxic Pollutants TMDL; the Marina del
					 Rey Harbor Toxic Pollutants TMDL; the Ballona Creek, Ballona Estuary, and
					 Sepulveda Channel Bacteria TMDL; and the Ballona Creek Metals TMDL. On
					 September 21, 2021, the State Water Resources Control Board approved the Basin
					 Plan amendment, Resolution No. 2021-0037, adopted under Los Angeles Water Board
					 Resolution No. R21-001.
The amendments extend wet-weather implementation deadlines
					 for the nine TMDLs listed above and do not change any other elements of the
					 TMDLs. Dry-weather implementation deadlines were not considered for extension
					 because there has been a prohibition on non-stormwater discharges in MS4
					 permits since the 1990s, and because MS4 permittees have had success complying
					 with, or are approaching compliance with, most dry-weather deadlines. The
					 recommended extensions seek to balance the two aims of (1) restoring water
					 quality and protecting public health and the environment in a reasonable
					 timeframe and (2) recognizing the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
					 on cities and counties. Recommendations for deadline extensions considered the
					 fiscal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic recovery forecasts, the
					 original length of the TMDL schedule, the status of water quality, the water
					 quality improvement projects that have been completed, and the projects that
					 have been planned in Enhanced Watershed Management Programs (EWMPs) under the
					 MS4 permits, TMDL Implementation Plans, and Stormwater Resource Plans, along
					 with federal guidance that TMDLs be achieved in a reasonable period of time.
					 The resulting MS4 wet-weather deadline extensions require the Santa Monica Bay
					 Bacteria TMDL Jurisdictional Group 2&3, the Ballona Creek Watershed TMDL
					 MS4 dischargers and the Malibu Creek Watershed TMDL dischargers to comply by
					 July 15, 2026, and the Santa Monica Bay Bacteria TMDL North Santa Monica Bay
					 Coastal Watershed Group, the Santa Monica Bay Bacteria TMDL Beach Cities Group,
					 and the Marina del Rey TMDL dischargers to comply by July 15, 2024.
1. New
					 section summarizing amendment of basin plan filed 5-2-2022; amendment approved
					 by State Water Resources Control Board Resolution No. 2021-0037 on 9-21-2021;
					 amendment approved by OAL pursuant to Government Code section
					 11353 on
					 5-2-2022 (Register 2022, No. 18).