| Water Body Name: | Eureka Plain HU, Grotzman Creek |
| Water Body ID: | CAR1105000020230524058665 |
| Water Body Type: | River & Stream |
DECISION ID |
161528 |
Region 1 |
Eureka Plain HU, Grotzman Creek |
||
| Pollutant: | Indicator Bacteria |
| 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: | The State Water Board’s Water Quality Control Plan for Inland Surface Waters, Enclosed Bays, and Estuaries of California (the “ISWEBE Plan”) was adopted on August 7, 2018, and contains bacteria water quality objectives applicable to the REC-1 beneficial use. This has resulted in a change from assessing fecal coliform to assessing E. coli in fresh water and Enterococcus in saline water. Fecal coliform lines of evidence used in previous REC-1 beneficial use indicator bacteria decisions in the North Coast Region are not included in the 2026 Integrated Report assessment. 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 E. coli 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 placement on the CWA section 303(d) List under section 3.2 of the Listing Policy. Under section 3.2 a single line of evidence is necessary to assess listing status. One line of evidence is available in the administrative record to assess this pollutant. Geometric means are used for the assessment. If no geometric means are available, statistical threshold values are used. No geometric means are available for Eureka Plain HU, Grotzman Creek, so the STV will be assessed. GROTZMAN CREEK has one LOE (321859) and 2 of 4 samples exceed the STV objective, and this is insufficient data to apply Table 3.2 of the Listing Policy. Based on the readily available data and information, the weight of evidence indicates that there is sufficient justification against placing this water segment-pollutant combination on 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. GROTZMAN CREEK has one LOE (321859) and 2 of 4 samples exceed the STV objective, and this is insufficient data to apply Table 3.2 of the Listing Policy. 4. Pursuant to section 3.11 of the Listing Policy, no additional data and information are available indicating that standards are not met. |
| 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: | After review of the available data and information, SWRCB staff concludes that the water body-pollutant combination should not be placed on the section 303(d) list because it cannot be determined if applicable water quality standards are not being exceeded. |
|
|||||
| LOE ID: | 321859 | ||||
| Pollutant: | Escherichia coli (E. coli) | ||||
| LOE Subgroup: | Pollutant-Water | ||||
| Matrix: | Water | ||||
| Fraction: | STV | ||||
| Beneficial Use: | Water Contact Recreation | ||||
| Number of Samples: | 4 | ||||
| Number of Exceedances: | 2 | ||||
| Data and Information Type: | PATHOGEN MONITORING | ||||
| Data Used to Assess Water Quality: | Water Board staff assessed Coastal Pathogen TMDL data for Eureka Plain HU, Grotzman Creek to determine beneficial use support and the results are as follows: 2 of the 4 samples exceeded the Statistical Threshold Value (STV) water quality threshold for E. coli. The STV is based on a 10% exceedance rate that is calculated monthly. | ||||
| Data Reference: | WQ from the RWQCB1 TMDL 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 where the salinity is less than 1 parts per thousand 95 percent or more of the time applies a statistical threshold value to E. coli of 320 cfu/100 mL, not to be exceeded by more than 10 percent of samples within a calendar month (ISWEBE 2018). | ||||
| Objective/Criterion Reference: | Inland Surface Waters, Enclosed Bays, and Estuaries Plan. Part 1: Trash Provisions; Part 2: Tribal Subsistence Beneficial Uses and Mercury Provisions; Part 3: Bacteria Provisions and Variance Policy | ||||
| Evaluation Guideline: | |||||
| Guideline Reference: | |||||
| Spatial Representation: | The samples were collected at 1 monitoring site(s), station(s): 110GR0500 (Grotzman Creek at Bayside Road). | ||||
| Temporal Representation: | The samples were collected between the days of 2017-07-25 and 2018-01-09 . | ||||
| Environmental Conditions: | |||||
| QAPP Information: | QAPP for RWQCB1_RussianRiver | ||||
| QAPP Information Reference(s): | North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board - QA Doc (2015) - RWQCB1 Russian River TMDL - 402682 | ||||
| QAPP Information Reference(s): | North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board - QA Doc (2015) - RWQCB1 Russian River TMDL - 402683 | ||||