Legislative Mandated Reports - Water Code Section 13385(0) Enforcement Report

Introduction

This report addresses violations of Waste Discharge Requirements (WDRs) for discharges to surface water during calendar year.  Discharges to surface water are issued a combined WDR/NPDES permit.

The NPDES Permit Program controls water pollution by regulating point sources that discharge pollutants into waters of the United States.  Point sources are discrete conveyances such as pipes or man-made ditches.  Typical point source discharges include discharges from: municipalities or publicly owned treatment works (POTWs), industrial facilities, and urban areas regulated under the Storm Water Program.   The NPDES program is delegated to the State Water Board in accordance with the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s approval, and is implemented through Chapter 5.5 of the California Water Code.

The State and Regional Water Boards administer the NPDES program. The nine Regional Water Boards lie within different watersheds and are as follows (see back cover for map and details):

• Region 1 – North Coast Regional Water Board
• Region 2 – San Francisco Bay Regional Water Board
• Region 3 – Central Coast Regional Water Board
• Region 4 – Los Angeles Regional Water Board
• Region 5 – Central Valley Regional Water Board (With Offices in Redding [5R], Sacramento [5S] and Fresno [5F])
• Region 6 – Lahontan Regional Water Board (With offices in South Lake Tahoe [6A] and Victorville [6B])
• Region 7 – Colorado River Basin Regional Water Board
• Region 8 – Santa Ana Regional Water Board
• Region 9 – San Diego Regional Water Board

California Water Code, Chapter 5.5 implements provisions of the federal Water Pollution Control Act and establishes a regulatory program for discharges to surface water.  This report summarizes information regarding violations of waste discharge requirements to surface waters pursuant to Water Code, Chapter 5.5, Section 13385(o), and enforcement actions taken by the State and Regional Water Quality Control Boards (Water Boards) in response to those violations.

California Water Code Section 13385(o)

The state board shall continuously report and update information on its Internet Web site, but at a minimum, annually on or before January 1, regarding its enforcement activities. The information shall include all of the following:
(1) A compilation of the number of violations of waste discharge requirements in the previous calendar year, including stormwater enforcement violations.
(2) A record of the formal and informal compliance and enforcement actions taken for each violation, including stormwater enforcement actions.
(3) An analysis of the effectiveness of current enforcement policies, including mandatory minimum penalties.

This report meets the requirements in section 13385(o) of the California Water Code to continuously report and update enforcement information. This report and the supporting data are available at the Water Board’s Internet Web site under “enforcement”.

The Water Boards use the California Integrated Water Quality System (CIWQS) database to track violations and the resulting enforcement actions.  The CIWQS database contains information on violations and enforcement actions that have occurred since July 1, 1999. On September 21, 2009, NPDES Stormwater data was migrated from CIWQS to a new stormwater database named SMARTS II.

Most of the tables in this report are available for continuous public use through the State Water Board’s Internet site.  Use of live, public reports allows the public access to violation and enforcement data from all dischargers regulated by the Water Boards, and gives the user control over how to sort and filter this data to meet specific information needs.  These public reports can be found on the Water Board’s Web site.

For Further information

Please contact:

Rafael Maestu
Economist

Office of Research, Planning and Performance
California State Water Resources Control Board
(916) 341-5894

( Updated 8/9/24 )