Enforcement

Overview:

The Enforcement Program's primary responsibilities are:

• Evaluating and prioritizing violations of water quality protection laws, regulations, and permits.
• Effectively initiating and following through on enforcement actions/strategies intended to reestablish compliance, to address environmental damage, and to deter future violations.
• To coordinate with other Regional Water Boards and the State Water Board in pursuing multi-region or state-wide enforcement actions; and to improve enforcement consistency and effectiveness.

These actions are conducted under federal and state law, and the State Water Board's Water Quality Enforcement Policy, with one allocated position and with resources from other programs.

The Enforcement Fact Sheet provides more information on the Goals, Types of Enforcement Actions, Accomplishments, Performance Targets for the current year and following year.

Current Enforcement Cases

• Notice of Opportunity to Comment on Amended Cleanup and Abatement Order No. 6-00-71A1 for Janesville Payless Gas Station – Comments due by December 9, 2024.
• Administrative Civil Liability Agreement with the Town of Truckee and Teichert Construction for the Coldstream Roundabout Construction Project, Nevada County
• Proposed Settlement Agreement, Sugar Pine Housing Partners LP and Deacon Construction LLC, Sugar Pine Village Construction Project. – Comments due by July 17, 2024.
• Tentative Cleanup and Abatement Order, 11357 Deerfield Drive (previously known as Crossroads Cleaners), Nevada County – Comments due by May 27, 2024.
• Proposed Settlement Agreement, Town of Truckee and Teichert Construction, Coldstream Roundabout Construction Project - Comments due by April 5, 2024.
• Administrative Civil Liability Complaint R6T-2023-0027 for Park Livestock Co. and David Park.
• Proposed Cleanup and Abatement Order, Big O Tires, El Dorado County – Comments due by September 19, 2022
• Proposed Cleanup and Abatement Order, Former Norma’s Cleaners, El Dorado County – Comments due by September 19, 2022
• Proposed Cleanup and Abatement Order, Lake Tahoe Laundry Works – Comments due by September 19, 2022
• Cleanup and Abatement Order No. R6V-2020-00035 for William Goldberg, Los Angeles County APN 3334-004-011
• Proposed Cleanup and Abatement Order, Ramiro Avila, Los Angeles County – Comments request by July 24, 2020 - 5:00 p.m.
• Proposed Rescission of Cleanup and Abatement Order, Pat and Ollies Gateway Gasoline Station, Truckee, Nevada County – Comment period ends on February 7, 2019 - 5:00 p.m.
• Proposed Rescission Order for Cleanup and Abatement Order No. 85-1, as amended, issued for Petroleum Discharges from Former Terrible Herbst No. 68 to Groundwater in the Lake Tahoe Hydrologic Unit – Comment period ends on December 31, 2018.
• Proposed Rescission of Cleanup and Abatement Order, Tahoe Donner Association Equestrian Center, Truckee, Nevada County
• Amended CAO for Desert View Dairy, Hinkley, San Bernardino County
• Administrative Civil Liability Complaint for the City of Victorville for Multiple Sewer Overflows and for Violations of its Sanitary Sewer Overflow Permit

Recent Enforcement Cases

• Palisades Development, LLC for the Palisades at Olympic Valley Construction Project, Administrative Civil Liability Settlement
• Tahoe Keys Marina, Order No. R6T-2023-0003, settling MMPs.
• CDFW Hot Creek Hatchery, Order No. R6V-2022-0048, settling MMPs and allowing a SEP.
• Bijou Marketplace, LLC Order No. R6T-2021-0033, Administrative Civil Liability.
• Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority, Order No. R6V-2021-0004, settling MMPs and allowing a SEP.
• California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Mojave River Fish Hatchery, Order R6V-2020-0056, settling MMPs.
• Susanville Sanitary District, Order No. R6T-2020-0055, settling MMPs and allowing a compliance project.
• City of Victorville, Order No. R6V-2020-0001, Settlement Agreement including a compliance project.
• Aramark-Tahoe Queen, South Lake Tahoe, El Dorado County, Revised Administrative Civil Liability Complaint No. R6T-2016-0008
• California Department of Fish and Wildlife Fish Springs Fish Hatchery MMP
• Green Valley Foods Products Inc. Stipulated Agreement for Replacement Water
• Meeks Bay Proposed Stipulated Agreement
• Lakeside Marina MMP
• Meeks Bay Marina Proposed Settlement
• Sierra Boat Company MMP
• California Department of Fish and Wildlife Mojave River Fish Hatchery MMP
• California Department of Fish and Wildlife Hot Creek Hatchery MMP
• Current Enforcement Cases for Crystal Geyser Olancha
• CALTRANS Sheep Creek CAO-San Bernardino County
• Sheila M. Miner, Spalding Tract Subdivision, Eagle Lake, Lassen County – Administrative Civil Liability Complaint No. R6T-2015-0058
• City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Lee Vining Creek Diversion Structure - Proposed Settlement Agreement and Stipulation for Entry of Order

Water Code Sections 13225(k) and 13323(e) Enforcement Activity Summary Reports

As of January 1, 2007, the Regional Water Boards are publishing quarterly reports related to all enforcement activities from information collected in our data system. We are also providing information for administrative civil liability actions related to the initial assessment of the civil liability, the final assessment of civil liability, and whether a hearing was waived.

Enforcement Activity Summary Reports

All quarterly violations reports and subsequent enforcement actions can be found in the Executive Officer's Report and will no longer be updated separately on this page

2019

• 2019 January to March
• 2019 April to May

Prior Years

In addition to the summary information provided by these quarterly reports, access to enforcement information on a real-time basis is available. This information can be accessed from the State Water Resources Control Board’s Website and links below.

• State Water Board Enforcement Website
• Enforcement Orders
• CIWQS Database Public Reports

Supplemental Environmental Projects – Information, Current SEP List, Form to Submit New SEP Proposal

Proposed settlements of Administrative Civil Liability (ACL) Complaints may include a supplemental environmental project (SEP) to offset a portion of the total liability. When a proposed settlement includes a SEP, the SEP is included in an ACL Order that is presented to the Water Board at a public hearing. The Water Board can either accept or reject the ACL Order as proposed with the SEP.

Below are links that provide: (1) general information about SEPs, (2) specific information about SEPs that have been accepted by the Lahontan Water Board and are in progress or have been completed, and (3) instructions about how to submit a project proposal for inclusion on the Lahontan Water Board's SEP List.

Additional SEP Information

• State Board's Policy on SEPs – Adopted December 5, 2017
• SEP Fact Sheet – Provides basic information about SEPs in a Q&A format.
• List of Potential SEPs for the Lahontan Water Board – Provides a list of potential SEP Projects. This list is updated on an as needed basis as new SEP proposals are submitted to the Lahontan Water Board.
• SEP Catalog for the Lahontan Water Board – Provides a list of on-going or completed SEP Projects for the Lahontan Region. Additional Information (Fact Sheet, Site Map and Final Report, etc.) is provided if available within the project details.
• SEP Form – A form that provides the required fields that must be filled out by public or private parties interested in submitting a SEP proposal to the Lahontan Water Board.
• Additional SEP Criteria – Provides a list of additional criteria that shall be evaluated by the Lahontan Water Board during final SEP approval.
• Lahontan Water Board Supplemental Environmental Policy – The Lahontan Water Board approved adoption of this policy at its February 12-13, 2014 meeting in South Lake Tahoe.
• Proposed Resolution Authorizing the Lahontan Water Board Supplemental Environmental Project Endowment Fund Pilot Project Agreement with the Truckee River Watershed Council
• Partner Organizations
  • Mojave IRWMP MOU
  • Transition Habitat Conservancy MOU
  • Tahoe Sierra IRWM Group
  • Truckee River Watershed Council SEP Partnership

Lahontan Water Board Enforcement Priorities

• Continue tracking and obtaining regulatory compliance within the various programs in the Region. Regulatory and permitting staff guide dischargers to compliance through reviewing monitoring reports, conducting inspections, cataloguing compliance violations, and issuing enforcement actions. Each of these activities form the basis for tracking and obtaining compliance with existing permits and ensuring water quality protection.
• Emphasize enforcement in areas that impact public drinking water supply in disadvantaged or severely disadvantaged communities, and in areas that directly impact Tribes or where there are long-standing environmental justice issues.
• Enforcement against alleged violations that are adversely affecting groundwater or surface water quality and beneficial uses. Examples may include unauthorized discharges of sewage, site cleanup and groundwater contamination sites, hazardous waste, and dredge/fill materials to creeks, springs, rivers, lakes, and wetlands.
• Improve Communication and Coordination with internal and external parties. Such external parties may include, but not limited to, municipal jurisdictions, state, and federal agencies. Continue coordination with existing external partners to identify Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) opportunities as well as focus efforts on identifying new external partners to expand the available SEPs throughout the region. Additionally, provide meaningful public participation opportunities to disadvantaged communities and tribes in enforcement matters, improve data collection and availability of violation and enforcement information to minority and low-income communities, and ensure that effective cross-media coordination and accountability in addressing environmental justice issues.

Enforcement Coordinator Contact Information

Shelby Barker, PG, CHG
Senior Engineering Geologist
Phone: (760) 241-7307
Shelby.Barker@waterboards.ca.gov