Draft California 2026 Integrated Report (303(d) List/305(b) Report)

Supporting Information

Regional Board 1 - North Coast Region

Water Body Name:	Hare Creek Beach
Water Body ID:	CAC1132004120081013222913
Water Body Type:	Coastal & Bay Shoreline


DECISION ID	162989	Region 1
Hare Creek Beach

Pollutant:	Indicator Bacteria
Final Listing Decision:	Do Not Delist from 303(d) list (TMDL required list)
Last Listing Cycle's Final Listing Decision:	Do Not Delist from 303(d) list (TMDL required list)(2018)
Revision Status	Revised
Sources:	A Source Unknown
TMDL Priority:	Low
Impairment from Pollutant or Pollution:	Pollutant

Regional Board Conclusion:	In accordance with section 6.1.5.3 of the Listing Policy, data should be representative of the critical timing that the pollutant is expected to impact the waterbody. Lacking constant inputs, indicator bacteria do not persist in the environment for a long period and effects are of relatively short duration. As a result, the historic levels of bacteria in the waterbody may be a poor indicator of current risks to human health, particularly when more recent data are available to sufficiently assess the water quality standard. Historic lines of evidence for data collected prior to October 21, 2012 were evaluated pursuant to these considerations and were not used to assess water quality standards attainment because they do not meet the temporal representation requirements of section 6.1.5.3 of the Listing Policy. This pollutant is being considered for removal from the CWA section 303(d) List under section 4.2 of the Listing Policy. Under this section a single line of evidence is necessary to assess listing status. Five lines of evidence are available in the administrative record to assess this pollutant. *DO NOT LIST* For Fecal Coliform, 0 of 3 single sample maximum exceeds the objective for the REC-1 beneficial use, and this is insufficient data to the allowable frequency for AB411 beaches in the Listing Policy. DO NOT DELIST REC-1 OR SHELL BENEFICIAL USES* For Enterococcus, 8 of 64 geometric means exceed the objective for the REC-1 beneficial use, and this exceeds the allowable frequency of AB411 beaches in the the Listing Policy. For Total Coliform, 6 of 7 weekly medians exceed the objective for the SHELL beneficial use, and this exceeds the allowable frequency in Table 4.2 of the Listing Policy. *For Total Coliform, 7 of 7 monthly percents exceed the objective for the SHELL beneficial use, and this exceeds the allowable frequency in Table 4.2 of the Listing Policy. Based on the readily available data and information, the weight of evidence indicates that there is sufficient justification against removing this water segment-pollutant combination from the CWA section 303(d) List. This conclusion is based on the staff findings that: 1. The data used satisfies the data quality requirements of section 6.1.4 of the Policy. 2. The data used satisfies the data quantity requirements of section 6.1.5 of the Policy. 3. For the REC-1 beneficial use, 8 of 64 geometric means exceed the Enterococcus objective, and this exceeds the allowable frequency in AB411 in the Listing Policy. For the SHELL beneficial use, 6 of 7 median concentrations exceed the Total Coliform objective; and for the SHELL beneficial use total coliform SSM, 7 of 7 SSMs exceed the objective, and this exceeds the allowable frequency listed in Table 4.2 of the Listing Policy. 4. Pursuant to section 4.11 of the Listing Policy, no additional data and information are available indicating that standards are met. This listing applies to the entire waterbody.

Regional Board Decision Recommendation:	After review of the available data and information, RWQCB staff concludes that the water body-pollutant combination should not be removed from the section 303(d) list because applicable water quality standards for the pollutant are being exceeded.

State Board Review of Regional Board Conclusion and Recommendation:

State Board Decision Recommendation:

Line of Evidence (LOE) for Decision ID 162989, Indicator Bacteria	Region 1
Hare Creek Beach

LOE ID:

353467

Pollutant:

Total Coliform

LOE Subgroup:

Pollutant-Water

Matrix:

Water

Fraction:

Median

Beneficial Use:

Shellfish Harvesting

Number of Samples:

Number of Exceedances:

Data and Information Type:

PATHOGEN MONITORING

Data Used to Assess Water Quality:

Water Board staff assessed Beachwatch_Mendocino County data to determine beneficial use support and the results are as follows: 6 of the 7 samples exceeded the water quality standard for Total Coliform. The water quality standard for shellfish is based on the median concentration of Total Coliform at each station, and is calculated on a monthly basis.

Data Reference:

Mendocino County Beachwatch data reformatted and renamed to match CEDEN fields.

SWAMP Data:

Non-SWAMP

Water Quality Objective/Criterion:

California Ocean Plan (SWRCB 2018) states that the median concentration of total coliform samples shall not exceed 70 per 100 ml.

Objective/Criterion Reference:

California Ocean Plan Water Quality Control Plan Ocean Waters of California 2009

Evaluation Guideline:

Guideline Reference:

Spatial Representation:

The samples were collected at 1 monitoring site(s), station(s): Hare Creek

Temporal Representation:

The samples were assessed for the ten years before the close of data solicitation (2012-10-21 to 2022-10-21).

Environmental Conditions:

QAPP Information:

Data exempt from QAPP requirement. Draft QAPP for Mendocino County Beachwatch data used instead. Represents data collection procedure prior to development of a formal QAPP.

QAPP Information Reference(s):

Draft QAPP for Mendocino County Beachwatch. Represents data collection procedure prior to development of a formal QAPP.

Line of Evidence (LOE) for Decision ID 162989, Indicator Bacteria	Region 1
Hare Creek Beach

LOE ID:

353468

Pollutant:

Total Coliform

LOE Subgroup:

Pollutant-Water

Matrix:

Water

Fraction:

Percent

Beneficial Use:

Shellfish Harvesting

Number of Samples:

Number of Exceedances:

Data and Information Type:

PATHOGEN MONITORING

Data Used to Assess Water Quality:

Water Board staff assessed Beachwatch_Mendocino County data to determine beneficial use support and the results are as follows: 7 of the 7 samples exceeded the water quality standard for Total Coliform. The water quality standard for shellfish is based on the percent of Total Coliform at each station that exceed 230 per 100 mL, and is calculated on a monthly basis.

Data Reference:

Mendocino County Beachwatch data reformatted and renamed to match CEDEN fields.

SWAMP Data:

Non-SWAMP

Water Quality Objective/Criterion:

California Ocean Plan (SWRCB 2018) states that not more than 10 percent of the samples shall exceed 230 per 100 mL.

Objective/Criterion Reference:

California Ocean Plan Water Quality Control Plan Ocean Waters of California 2009

Evaluation Guideline:

Guideline Reference:

Spatial Representation:

The samples were collected at 1 monitoring site(s), station(s): Hare Creek

Temporal Representation:

The samples were assessed for the ten years before the close of data solicitation (2012-10-21 to 2022-10-21).

Environmental Conditions:

QAPP Information:

Data exempt from QAPP requirement. Draft QAPP for Mendocino County Beachwatch data used instead. Represents data collection procedure prior to development of a formal QAPP.

QAPP Information Reference(s):

Draft QAPP for Mendocino County Beachwatch. Represents data collection procedure prior to development of a formal QAPP.

Line of Evidence (LOE) for Decision ID 162989, Indicator Bacteria	Region 1
Hare Creek Beach

LOE ID:

353493

Pollutant:

Enterococcus

LOE Subgroup:

Pollutant-Water

Matrix:

Water

Fraction:

GeoMean

Beneficial Use:

Water Contact Recreation

Number of Samples:

Number of Exceedances:

Data and Information Type:

PATHOGEN MONITORING

Data Used to Assess Water Quality:

Water Board staff assessed Beachwatch_Mendocino County data to determine beneficial use support and the results are as follows: 1 of the 28 samples exceeded the geomean water quality standard for Enterococcus. This is a six week rolling geomean that is calculated weekly.

Data Reference:

WQ from the BeachWatch for the 2026 Integrated Report in Region 1

SWAMP Data:

Non-SWAMP

Water Quality Objective/Criterion:

The bacteria water quality objective to protect the REC-1 beneficial in ocean waters applies a six-week rolling geomean to enterococcus, not to exceed 30 cfu/100mL. (Ocean Plan 2019)

Objective/Criterion Reference:

SWRCB. 2005. Water Quality Control Plan, Ocean Waters of California (Ocean Plan). California Environmental Protection Agency, State Water Resources Control Board. February 2, 2019

Evaluation Guideline:

Guideline Reference:

Spatial Representation:

The samples were collected at 1 monitoring site(s), station(s): Hare Creek (Hare Creek-Hare Creek, Mendocino).

Temporal Representation:

Data was assessed for samples collected within 10 years of the close of data solicitation for the 2026 Integrated Report (October 21, 2012 to October 21, 2022).

Environmental Conditions:

QAPP Information:

QAPP for BeachWatch

QAPP Information Reference(s):

QAPP Reference for Beach Watch Program

Line of Evidence (LOE) for Decision ID 162989, Indicator Bacteria	Region 1
Hare Creek Beach

LOE ID:

353492

Pollutant:

Enterococcus

LOE Subgroup:

Pollutant-Water

Matrix:

Water

Fraction:

GeoMean

Beneficial Use:

Water Contact Recreation

Number of Samples:

Number of Exceedances:

Data and Information Type:

PATHOGEN MONITORING

Data Used to Assess Water Quality:

Water Board staff assessed Beachwatch_Mendocino County data to determine beneficial use support and the results are as follows: 7 of the 36 samples exceeded the geomean water quality standard for Enterococcus. This is a six week rolling geomean that is calculated weekly.

Data Reference:

Mendocino County Beachwatch data reformatted and renamed to match CEDEN fields.

SWAMP Data:

Non-SWAMP

Water Quality Objective/Criterion:

The bacteria water quality objective to protect the REC-1 beneficial in ocean waters applies a six-week rolling geomean to enterococcus, not to exceed 30 cfu/100mL. (Ocean Plan 2019)

Objective/Criterion Reference:

SWRCB. 2005. Water Quality Control Plan, Ocean Waters of California (Ocean Plan). California Environmental Protection Agency, State Water Resources Control Board. February 2, 2019

Evaluation Guideline:

Guideline Reference:

Spatial Representation:

The samples were collected at 1 monitoring site(s), station(s): Hare Creek (Hare Creek-Hare Creek, Mendocino).

Temporal Representation:

Data was assessed for samples collected within 10 years of the close of data solicitation for the 2026 Integrated Report (October 21, 2012 to October 21, 2022).

Environmental Conditions:

QAPP Information:

Data exempt from QAPP requirement. Draft QAPP for Mendocino County Beachwatch data used instead. Represents data collection procedure prior to development of a formal QAPP.

QAPP Information Reference(s):

Draft QAPP for Mendocino County Beachwatch. Represents data collection procedure prior to development of a formal QAPP.

Line of Evidence (LOE) for Decision ID 162989, Indicator Bacteria	Region 1
Hare Creek Beach

LOE ID:

321974

Pollutant:

Fecal Coliform

LOE Subgroup:

Pollutant-Water

Matrix:

Water

Fraction:

SSM

Beneficial Use:

Water Contact Recreation

Number of Samples:

Number of Exceedances:

Data and Information Type:

PATHOGEN MONITORING

Data Used to Assess Water Quality:

Water Board staff assessed BeachWatch_Mendocino County data for Hare Creek Beach to determine beneficial use support and the results are as follows: 0 of the 3 samples exceeded the water quality threshold for Coliform, Fecal. The water quality threshold is based on a Single Sample Maximum (SSM) value that is calculated daily. This data is for an AB411 beach. This LOE specifically corresponds with dry weather samples and only includes samples collected between April 1 and October 31 of each year.

Data Reference:

WQ from the BeachWatch for the 2026 Integrated Report in Region 1

SWAMP Data:

Non-SWAMP

Water Quality Objective/Criterion:

The bacteria water quality objective to protect the REC-1 beneficial use in ocean waters applies a single sample maximum of fecal coliform, not to exceed 400 per 100 mL. (Ocean Plan 2019)

Objective/Criterion Reference:

SWRCB. 2005. Water Quality Control Plan, Ocean Waters of California (Ocean Plan). California Environmental Protection Agency, State Water Resources Control Board. February 2, 2019

Evaluation Guideline:

Guideline Reference:

Spatial Representation:

The samples were collected at 1 monitoring site(s), station(s): Hare Creek (Hare Creek-Hare Creek, Mendocino).

Temporal Representation:

The samples were collected between the days of 2019-06-13 and 2022-07-26 .

Environmental Conditions:

QAPP Information:

QAPP for BeachWatch

QAPP Information Reference(s):

QAPP Reference for Beach Watch Program


DECISION ID	157709	Region 1
Hare Creek Beach

Pollutant:	Oxygen, Dissolved
Final Listing Decision:	Do Not List on 303(d) list (TMDL required list)
Last Listing Cycle's Final Listing Decision:	New Decision
Revision Status	Revised
Impairment from Pollutant or Pollution:	Pollutant

Regional Board Conclusion:	Insufficient information is available to determine beneficial use support for this waterbody-pollutant combination with the statistical power and confidence required by the Listing Policy. Beneficial use support will be reassessed in a future cycle, if more data are available.

Regional Board Decision Recommendation:	After review of the available data and information, RWQCB staff concludes that the water body-pollutant combination should not be placed on the section 303(d) list. The readily available data and information is insufficient to determine, with the power and confidence of the Listing Policy, the applicable beneficial use support rating.

State Board Review of Regional Board Conclusion and Recommendation:

State Board Decision Recommendation:

Line of Evidence (LOE) for Decision ID 157709, Oxygen, Dissolved	Region 1
Hare Creek Beach

LOE ID:

326194

Pollutant:

Oxygen, Dissolved

LOE Subgroup:

Pollutant-Water

Matrix:

Water

Fraction:

None

Beneficial Use:

Fish Spawning

Number of Samples:

Number of Exceedances:

Data and Information Type:

PHYSICAL/CHEMICAL MONITORING

Data Used to Assess Water Quality:

Water Board staff assessed SWAMP RWB1 Monitoring data for Hare Creek Beach to determine beneficial use support and results are as follows: 0 of 4 samples exceeded the water quality threshold for Oxygen, Dissolved.

Data Reference:

Benthic, Field, Habitat, Tissue, Toxicity, WQ from the Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program for the 2026 Integrated Report in Region 1

SWAMP Data:

SWAMP

Water Quality Objective/Criterion:

Water Quality Control Plan, North Coast Basin, Chapter III, General Objectives for all Inland Surface Waters, Enclosed Bays and Estuaries states: Dissolved oxygen concentrations shall conform to those limits listed in Section 3.3.5. Section 3.3.5 lists dissolved oxygen concentration limits for SPAWN beneficial use waters to be a daily minimum of 9.0 mg/L and a 7-day moving average of 11.0 mg/L.

Objective/Criterion Reference:

Water Quality Control Plan (Basin Plan) for the North Coast Region

Evaluation Guideline:

Guideline Reference:

Spatial Representation:

The samples were collected at 1 monitoring site: 113HC0071 (Hare Creek Mouth at Pacific Ocean).

Temporal Representation:

The samples were collected between the dates of 2012-05-29 and 2012-09-12

Environmental Conditions:

QAPP Information:

QAPP for Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program (SWAMP)

QAPP Information Reference(s):

Generic SWAMP QAPrP