California Water Boards' Annual Performance Report - Fiscal Year 2022-23 

TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS

• Data Source: CIWQS. Period: July 1,  2022 to June 30,  2023.
• Unit of Measure: Number of penalties assessed during FY[an error occurred while processing this directive].
• Data Definitions: Penalties Assessed: Amounts assessed in an ACL order. Projects include Compliance Projects (CPs), Enhanced Compliance Actions (ECAs), and Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs).
• References:
  • Administrative Civil Liability Report
  • Office of Enforcement
  • The Water Boards' Enforcement Policy
  • State Water Board SEP Policy

GLOSSARY

Administrative Civil Liability (ACL)

Administrative Civil Liabilities means monetary assessments imposed by a RWQCB or the SWRCB. The California Water Code and the Health and Safety Code authorize ACLs in several circumstances. California Water Code sections 13323-13327 describe the process to be used to assess ACLs. Assessments of administrative civil liability can be either negotiated pursuant to a settlement agreement or imposed after an administrative adjudication.

Compliance Project (CP)

A Compliance Project (CP) is a project designed to address problems related to the violation and bring the discharger back into compliance in a timely manner. CPs can only be considered where they are authorized by statute. At this time, CPs are authorized by statute only in connection with MMPs if the POTW serves a small community with a financial hardship.

Enhanced Compliance Action (ECA)

Enhanced Compliance Actions are projects that enable a discharger to make capital or operational improvements beyond those required by law, and are separate from projects designed to merely bring a discharger into compliance. The Water Boards may approve a settlement with a discharger that includes suspension of a portion of the monetary liability of a discretionary ACL for completion of an ECA.

Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP)

Supplemental environmental projects are defined as environmentally beneficial projects which a defendant/respondent agrees to undertake in settlement of an enforcement action, but which the defendant respondent is not otherwise legally required to perform.