Dissolved Oxygen Amendment

Approved Amendment

The revised water quality objectives for dissolved oxygen have been approved by OAL and are now in effect under state law. To comply with the Federal Clean Water Act (CWA), and before the surface water objectives become fully effective under the CWA, they must first be approved by the Unites State Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA).  

• July 18, 2016 - Approved by the Office of Administrative Law (OAL).
• Notice of Approval OAL Matter Number: 2016-0603-06
• February 16, 2016 – Approved by the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board)
• Resolution No. 2016-0009
• June 18, 2015 – Approved by the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Water Board)
• Resolution No. R1-2015-0018
• Attachment 1 - Revised Chapter 3 (Water Quality Objectives)

Introduction

The Regional Water Board directed staff in its 2007 Triennial Review of the Basin Plan to develop a proposal for the revision of the water quality objectives (objective) for dissolved oxygen (DO). The DO objectives as contained in the Basin Plan at that time were divided into two categories: waterbody specific DO objectives defining daily minimums and annual means (Table 3-1) and aquatic life objectives defining daily minimum requirements for those waterbodies without waterbody specific objectives. Revisions to these objectives were developed and have been adopted by the Regional Water Board. Revisions include:

• Revisions to the aquatic life objectives to update the daily minimum requirements to protect against acute DO impairment.
• Revisions to the aquatic life objectives to include weekly and/or monthly average requirements to protect against chronic DO impairment.
• Deletion of waterbody specific DO objectives, based on day time grab samples and inappropriate as 24-hour daily minimums.
• Description of a process for calculating natural background DO conditions as daily minimum requirements in those waterbodies that cannot meet aquatic life objectives, due to natural conditions.

Project History

Two California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) scoping meetings were held in the fall of 2008, one in Santa Rosa and one in Weaverville. A scoping document was presented and public comments solicited.
In the March 2009, a Peer Review Draft Staff Report was written, based in part on scoping comments received. It was submitted to 2 peer reviewers for their scientific review and comment. The Regional Water Board received peer review comments later in the spring of 2009 and began revision of the document for public review.
In the meantime, the schedule for the Klamath River Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for DO (and other parameters) required the immediate review of the waterbody specific objectives for DO in the Klamath mainstem. Staff turned its attention to revision of the Klamath DO objectives, based on the scientific peer reviewed proposed revisions and the waterbody-specific analyses conducted as part of TMDL development. A Public Review Draft Staff Report was released for public review in 2009. The Klamath River-specific DO objectives was adopted by the Regional Water Board in March 2010, adopted by the State Water Resources Control Board in September 2010, and approved by USEPA Region 9 in December 2010.
A basin planning project to make revisions to other water quality objectives (Water Quality Objective Update Amendment) was altered to include regionwide revisions of DO objectives, as well. This combined planning project was brought before the Regional Water Board in June 2015 and adopted. It was approved by the State Water Board in February 2016.  

Available Documents

June 18, 2015 Materials as Adopted

The following documents were adopted by the Regional Water Board during the June 18, 2015 hearing. Minor changes to the documents were made during the hearing and have been incorporated in the versions present below.

• Resolution No. R1-2015-0018 Amending the Water Quality Control Plan for the North Coast Region to Update Section 3 Water Quality Objectives
• Clean copy version of proposed Section 3 Water Quality Objectives of the Basin Plan
• Strikeout and underline version of proposed Section 3 Water Quality Objectives of the Basin Plan
• California Environmental Quality Act Findings for Potentially Significant Impacts Prepared for the proposed Water Quality Objective Update Amendment
• Responses to comments on the draft Water Quality Objective Update Amendment
• Comment letters
• Notice of Public Comment Period, Workshop, Hearing and Notice of Filing

Final Staff Report

Staff Report for the proposed Water Quality Objectives Update Amendment, June 18, 2015. Individual Sections of the Staff Report are available for ease of downloading:

• 0.0 Executive Summary – Table of Contents
• 1.0 Introduction
• 2.0 Existing Conditions
• 3.0 Proposed Revisions to Water Quality Objectives
• 4.0   California Environmental Quality Act
• 5.0   Economic Considerations
• 6.0   Antidegradation
• 7.0   Public Participation Plan
• 8.0   References
• Appendix A - Basin Plan Section 3 Update Language (strikethrough/underline)
• Appendix B - Basin Plan Section 3 Update Language (Clean version)
• Appendix C - Dissolved Oxygen Staff Report
• Appendix D - Peer Review Comments and Responses to the Dissolved Oxygen Staff Report

DO Objectives for the Klamath River (March 2010)

• Staff Report for the Proposed Site Specific DO Objectives for the Klamath River in California (Appendix 1 of the Final Staff Report for the Klamath River TMDL)
• Klamath River TMDLs

Scientific Peer Reviews (March 2009)

• Peer Review Draft Staff Report for Regionwide DO Amendment
• Peer Review Comments submitted by Michael Brett, University of Washington
• Peer Review Comments submitted by Dr. Daniel Schindler, University of Washington
• Staff Response to Peer Review Comments

CEQA Scoping (2008)

• CEQA Scoping Document for Regionwide DO Amendment