2026 State Water Board Nationwide Permits General Order
Project
2026 State Water Board Nationwide Permits General Order for Waste Discharge Requirements for Discharges of Dredged or Fill Material to Waters of the State and Partial Water Quality Certification and Partial Denial of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ 2026 Nationwide Permits
Milestone
Comments on the draft General Order are requested from October 17, 2025 until December 2, 2025 at 5 p.m.
Comment Submission
To submit comments, or if you have questions, please contact Samantha Parker at the information provided below. Electronic submittals are strongly encouraged.
Proposed Action
The State Water Board proposes to adopt waste discharge requirements and water quality certification (General Order) authorizing discharges of waste from dredged or fill activities to waters of the state. The draft General Order proposes to conditionally certify 19 and deny 38 of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) Nationwide Permits (NWPs). The General Order would apply to all counties across the state of California. A map of the Water Boards’ nine regions can be found online at waterboards.ca.gov/waterboards_map.html.
Certification would be partially granted to NWPs 1, 3(a), 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 20, 22, 28, 32, 36, 54, 57, and 58 subject to the General Order’s terms and conditions. All other NWPs are proposed for denial.
This General Order would also serve as waste discharge requirements for projects that would qualify for enrollment in an NWP but are not required to obtain a federal permit or license because the affected waters are not waters of the United States.
2026 Draft Nationwide Permit General Order and Attachments
- Public Notice
- Certification Action and General Order
- Attachment A – Notice of Intent
- Attachment B - Reporting and Notification Requirements
- Attachment C - Signatory Requirements
- Attachment D - List of Certified Nationwide Permits
State Water Board Contact
Samantha Parker, Environmental Scientist
Wetlands Permitting and Enforcement Unit II, Division of Water Quality
1001 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 327-8653
Email: swbnwp@waterboards.ca.gov
(Page last updated 10/17/2025)
Water is a precious resource in California, and maintaining its quality is of utmost importance to safeguard the health of the public and the environment.
