Basin Plan Documents

The Basin Plan was updated in 2025 to improve clarity and accessibility. The 2025 Basin Plan can be viewed at this link. Use the “Contents” pane to navigate to specific chapters or sections, or click the links below for specific chapters.

Chapter 1: Introduction provides general information about the Water Boards, the North Coast Basin Plan, and the North Coast Region.

Chapter 2: Beneficial Uses provides a description of the statewide and regional beneficial uses applicable to waters in the North Coast Region. Table 2-1 of the Basin Plan illustrates the designations of beneficial uses on a waterbody-by-waterbody basis.  Of note, the North Coast Water Board adopts orders and permits to protect, existing beneficial uses of water, whether or not they are listed in Table 2-1.

Chapter 3: Water Quality Objectives describes the purpose and use of water quality objectives (objectives) and the antidegradation policy, in establishing requirements in permits and orders to control the discharge of waste and other controllable factors associated with the discharge of waste. Chapter 3 incorporates statewide objectives and establishes both numeric and narrative objectives specific to the North Coast Region for both surface waters and groundwaters.

Chapter 4: Statewide Implementation, Prohibitions, Plans, and Policies provides brief descriptions of plans and policies for statewide water quality management that have been adopted by the State Water Board. A link to the full text of each is provided.

Chapter 5: Regionwide Implementation, Prohibitions, Plans, and Policies describes the  programs of implementation that apply regionwide, under which the North Coast Water Board implements water quality objectives and other beneficial use protections.

Chapter 6: Total Maximum Daily Loads and Watershed Specific Action Plans describes the watershed-specific programs of implementation in the North Coast Region, including TMDLs and waterbody-specific action plans.

Chapter 7: Surveillance and Monitoring describes statewide and regional monitoring and assessment programs designed to provide scientific information on water quality in the North Coast Region.

Appendix 1: Summary of Basin Plan Amendments contains a list of all Basin Plan amendments that have been incorporated into the current Basin Plan.

Appendix 2: 2025 Basin Plan Remediation Crosswalk presents a table of previous Basin Plan section locations aligned with the 2025 Basin Plan sections.

The Basin Plan Map (Figure 1-1) is a pdf map of the entire North Coast Region.