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The California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) is one of six branches of the California Environmental Protection Agency.
This regulatory program has had the status of an official government department since the 1950s. [1] The State Water Pollution Control Board, as well as 9 regional boards, were established by the Dickey Water Pollution Act of 1949. [2] The board was renamed to the State Water Quality Control Board by an Act of 1963. [3] The State Water Resources Control Board was established from the State Water Quality Control Board and the State Water Rights Board by an Act of 1967. [4]
California's pioneering clean water act is the 1969 Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (Porter-Cologne Act). [5] Through the Porter-Cologne Act, the State Water Board and the Regional Water Boards have been entrusted with broad duties and powers to preserve and enhance all beneficial uses of the state's immensely complex waterscape. The Porter-Cologne Act is recognized as one of the nation's strongest pieces of anti-pollution legislation, and was so influential that Congressional authors used sections of the Act as the basis for the Federal Clean Water Act. [6]
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The late SWRCB chairman, Don Maughan, wrote:
The State Water Board has never had the luxury of advocating protection of just one water need, such as the environment or agriculture or that of large cities. Our charge is to balance all water needs of the state. Some call it a superhuman task, but through the years this Board, aided by its excellent staff, has done what I call a superhuman job of accomplishing that mandate despite the intensive historical, political, and economic pressures that always accompany California water issues.
The State Water Board oversees the allocation of the state's water resources to various entities and for diverse uses, from agricultural irrigation to hydro electrical power generation to municipal water supplies, and for safeguarding the cleanliness and purity of Californians' water for everything from bubble baths to trout streams to ocean beaches.
The State Water Board is separate from and has different responsibilities than the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), which manages state-owned water infrastructure, such as dams, reservoirs and aqueducts. DWR, like any other water user, must apply for water rights permits from the State Water Board. [7]
Under the Federal Clean Water Act and the state's pioneering Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act the State Water Board has regulatory authority for protecting the water quality of nearly 1,600,000 acres (6,500 km2) of lakes, 1,300,000 acres (5,300 km2) of bays and estuaries, 211,000 miles (340,000 km) of rivers and streams, and about 1,100 miles (1,800 km) of exquisite California coastline.
The State Water Board also provides financial assistance to local governments and non-profit agencies to help build or rejuvenate wastewater treatment plants, and protect, restore and monitor water quality, wetlands, and estuaries. It also administers a fund to help underground storage tank owners and operators pay for the costs of cleaning up leaking underground storage tanks.
The State Water Board coordinates the state's nine Regional Water Quality Control Boards (Regional Water Boards), which serve as the frontline for state and federal water pollution control efforts. Together, the State Water Board and the nine Regional Water Boards are referred to as the California Water Boards.
The Water Quality Division of the State Water Board develops statewide water protection plans and establishes water quality standards like the California Bays and Estuaries Policy. The Division has two branches: a surface water branch and a groundwater branch. The surface water branch focuses on monitoring and regulating storm water discharges and wastewater (sewage) treatment. It also monitors surface water quality, oversees protection of wetlands and the ocean, is active in environmental education and environmental justice issues, identifies and oversees clean-up of contaminated sites, and promotes low-impact development (LID). [8] The groundwater branch provides statewide guidance and oversight for discharges to land and cleanup of sites with contaminated groundwater.
The Water Rights Division of the State Water Board allocates surface water rights based on the state's extremely complex system of water rights laws, and assists Board members in exercising the Board's judicial power in water rights disputes. The State Water Board is solely responsible for issuing permits for water rights, specifying amounts, conditions, and construction timetables for diversion and storage. Decisions about water rights are based on such factors as water availability, historical water rights, and flows needed to preserve in-stream uses, such as recreation and fish habitat.
California recognizes several different types of rights to take and use surface water. Some water rights can only be held by government. These include pueblo rights, which can only be held by municipalities that were originally Mexican or Spanish pueblos, and federal reserved rights, which can only be held by the federal government.
For the purpose of administering water rights, California categorizes groundwater as either a subterranean stream flowing through a known and definite channel or percolating groundwater. Groundwater that is a subterranean stream is subject to the same water right permitting requirements as surface water. California has no statewide water right permit process for regulating the use of percolating groundwater. A subterranean stream meets the following four characteristics: (1) A subsurface channel must be present; (2) The channel must have relatively impermeable bed and banks; (3) The course of the channel must be known or capable of being determined by reasonable inference; and (4) Groundwater must be flowing in the channel.
In most areas of the state, landowners whose property overlies percolating groundwater may pump it for beneficial use without approval from the State Water Board or a court. In several basins, however, groundwater use is regulated in accordance with court decrees. Further, in Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties, groundwater pumpers are required to report their groundwater extraction amounts to either the State Water Board or a local groundwater management agency. [9]
The State Water Board and the Regional Water Boards are responsible for swift and fair enforcement when the laws and regulations protecting California's waterways are violated. The State Water Board's Office of Enforcement assists and coordinates enforcement activities statewide.
Enforcement serves many purposes. First and foremost, it assists in protecting the beneficial uses of waters of the State. Swift and firm enforcement can prevent pollution from occurring and can promote prompt cleanup and correction of existing pollution problems. Enforcement ensures compliance with requirements in State Water Board and Regional Water Board regulations, plans, policies, and orders. Enforcement not only protects the public health and the environment, but also creates an "even playing field," ensuring that dischargers who comply with the law are not placed at a competitive disadvantage by those who do not. It also deters potential violators and, thus, further protects the environment. Monetary remedies provide a measure of compensation for the damage that pollution causes to the environment and ensure that polluters do not gain an economic advantage from violations of water quality laws.
In 2017, The State Water Board revised its water quality enforcement policy with the goal of creating an enforcement system that addresses water quality problems in the most efficient, effective, and consistent manner. [10]
The State Water Board's Division of Financial Assistance (DFA) has a number of programs designed to help local agencies and individuals prevent or clean up water pollution. The DFA provides loans and grants for constructing municipal sewage and water recycling facilities, remediation for underground storage tank releases, watershed protection projects, and for nonpoint source pollution control projects. (Nonpoint source pollution usually involves contaminants flowing into a body of water from diffuse sources such as runoff from storm water, which may contain road dirt or fertilizers and pesticides from lawns, as well as water that collects debris from construction sites and fecal matter from barnyards and flows into nearby rivers, streams and lakes.)
The DFA has allocated about 4 billion dollars for the construction of sewage treatment plants in communities throughout the state through the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) program. Also, a billion and a half dollars in bond funds have gone to communities for water quality protection, including water quality planning, treatment of storm water and clean beaches since 2000.
DFA also administers the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRI) funds through the State Revolving Fund. The money awarded is in the form of grants and ultra-low interest zero and one-percent loans for projects that include wastewater treatment plant construction, upgrade and infrastructure improvements as well as "green" projects such as wastewater recycling. Under the 2009 stimulus program, the State Water Board handled $270.5 million in addition to more than $300 million normally loaned by the SRF each year. [11]
State Water Board members are appointed to four-year terms by the governor and are confirmed by the State Senate. Each salaried member fills a different specialty position. These represent engineering expertise, water quality expertise, public interest, and water supply. [12]
As of June 30, 2021 the members are E. Joaquin Esquivel (chair), Dorene D'Adamo (Vice Chair), Sean Maguire, Laurel Firestone, and Nichole Morgan. [13]
As of June 30, 2021 E. Joaquin Esquivel is the Board Chair. Esquivel was born and raised in California's Coachella Valley, the son of educators and grandson of farm workers. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from U.C. Santa Barbara. He worked for eight and a half years in the Washington D. C. office of California's U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer. He started as an intern, leaving as Senator Boxer's Legislative Assistant. His portfolios for Senator Boxer covered agriculture, Native Americans, water, oceans, and nutrition. He was also Director of Information and Technology. In July 2015 he was appointed to the California Natural Resources Agency where he also served in the Washington D. C. office of Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. as Assistant Secretary for Federal Water Policy. There, he co-ordinated the interests of that agency and its departments with those of the Governor's Office, the California Congressional delegation and federal stakeholder agencies. Governor Brown appointed him to the State Water Resources Control Board in March 2017. [13]
As of June, 30 2021 Dorene D'Adamo is the board Vice Chair. D'Adamo was appointed to the board by Governor Brown in 2013. She previously served on the California Air Resources Board from 1999 to 2013 under the Brown, Schwarzenegger and Davis Administrations, where she was instrumental in the board's air quality and climate change programs and regulations. [13]
Sean Maguire previously worked as manager in the Division of Water Rights, overseeing administration of water right change petitions, licensing, and cannabis cultivation permitting. From 2003 to 2015, Maguire worked for an engineering consulting firm. He was appointed in 2018. [13]
Laurel Firestone is a co-founder of the Community Water Center, a statewide nonprofit. She served on the Tulare County Water Commission from 2007 to 2012, and was appointed to the board in February 2019. [13]
Nichole Morgan served as an Assistant Deputy Director in the State Water Resources Control Board’s Division of Financial Assistance. She worked in various capacities on the staff of the board, starting in 2009, and was appointed as the board's Civil Engineer in June, 2021. [13]
In July 2014, the California Department of Public Health passed down administration of the state’s Drinking Water Program to the State Water Board. [14] The California State Water Resources Control Board oversees approximately 7,400 water systems. [14] Each year, the SWRCB documents harmful health-based violations in approximately 7% of their community water systems. [15] In their 2024 Drinking Water Needs Assessment, the State Water Board’s failing criteria identified 385 failing public water systems. [15] Under their criteria, these water systems failed to meet safe standards either on groundwater contamination, outdated regulatory compliance, technical capacity, financial magnitude, or managerial scope. [15] These public water systems provide drinking water to more than 900,000 California residents. [16] A 2019 report found cancer-causing contaminants such as 1,2,3-TCP in roughly 495 public water systems in California. [17] A 2023 public health journal found that groundwater and small water systems contain the commonly found contaminants uranium, arsenic, and nitrate; which if consumed in larger quantities than outlined in the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) criteria, pose health detriments. [18]
Water system failures, health-based violations, and increased non-compliance are most commonly found in low-income, communities of color. [19] A state auditor's report identified over two thirds of California's defected water systems in economically challenged districts. [20] Research finds that marginalized groups such as Hispanics, Asian Americans, African-Americans and individuals residing in California Tribal Nations have increased chance of being exposed to unsafe and unregulated drinking water. [19] The San Joaquin Valley for example hosts one third of California's failing water systems, [21] and supplies water to one third of the state's residents with high poverty rates. [22] Federally recognized Tribal water systems included in the SWRCB' SAFER Drinking Program face data insufficiency for at-risk water system assessment. [23] In September 2022, the California State Water Resources Control Board added Assembly Bill 2108 to their Water Code to help eliminate these disparities. [24] The bill's goals are equitable and reinforced measures for Tribal nations and low-resourced communities affected by disproportionate water quality violations. [24] However, Tribal nations, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans have filed racial discrimination complaints and expressed public dissent over the SWRCB's alleged failure to protect these communities against pollutants in water systems. [25] Tribal nations and minority groups have also accused the California State Water Resources Control Board of exclusion from public participation and policy-making. [25] In March, Latino community members from the Central Coast filed a racial discrimination complaint over disparate levels of nitrate being found in groundwater serving Latino residencies. [26]
The nine semi-autonomous Regional Water Boards were created in 1949 by the Dickey Water Pollution Act and have been responsible for protecting the surface, ground and coastal waters of their regions since then.
In adopting the Dickey Act the Legislature was acknowledging that California's water pollution problems are regional, and are affected by rain and snowfall, the configuration of the land, and population density, as well as recreational, agricultural, urban and industrial development, all of which vary from region to region.
The Regional Water Boards develop basin plans for their natural geographic characteristics that affect the overland flow of water in their area, govern requirements for and issue waste discharge permits, take enforcement action against dischargers who violate permits or otherwise harm water quality in surface waters, and monitor water quality.
The Regional Water Boards are unusual in this state because their boundaries follow natural mountain chains and ridges that define watersheds rather than political boundaries.
The 9 Regional Water Quality Control Boards are the: [27]
The Water Boards released a first-of-its-kind Performance Report in 2009 describing the performance of the State and Regional Water Boards in protecting California's waters through implementation of existing water quality and water rights laws. [30]
Along with the Performance Report, the Water Boards led the State's Water Quality Monitoring Council's effort to launch a coordinated, statewide web portal named "My water quality" that communicates the actual quality of California's waters. These tools are being continuously improved and will soon describe actual targets for environmental improvement over the coming years. [31]
In 2014, during the drought, 28 small California communities cycled onto and off of a list of "critical water systems" that the Board had determined could run dry within 60 days. [32]
Clear Lake is a natural freshwater lake in Lake County in the U.S. state of California, north of Napa County and San Francisco. It is the largest natural freshwater lake wholly within the state, with 68 square miles (180 km2) of surface area. It has an age of nearly 500,000 years. It is the latest lake to occupy a site with a history of lakes stretching back at least 2,500,000 years.
Water right in water law is the right of a user to use water from a water source, e.g., a river, stream, pond or source of groundwater. In areas with plentiful water and few users, such systems are generally not complicated or contentious. In other areas, especially arid areas where irrigation is practiced, such systems are often the source of conflict, both legal and physical. Some systems treat surface water and ground water in the same manner, while others use different principles for each.
The water resources of China are affected by both severe water shortages and severe growing population and rapid economic development as well as lax environmental oversight have increased in a large scale the water demand and pollution. China has responded by measures such as rapidly building out the water infrastructure and increasing regulation as well as exploring a number of further technological solutions.
A water board is a regional or national organisation that has very different functions from one country to another. The functions range from flood control and water resources management at the regional or local level, water charging and financing at the river basin level (France), bulk water supply, regulation of pricing and service quality of drinking water supply at the national level (Kenya) or the coordination of water resources policies between various Ministries and agencies at the national level together with the regulation of drinking water supply.
Water politics, sometimes called hydropolitics, is politics affected by the availability of water and water resources, a necessity for all life forms and human development.
Water trading is the process of buying and selling water access entitlements, also often called water rights. The terms of the trade can be either permanent or temporary, depending on the legal status of the water rights. Some of the western states of the United States, Chile, South Africa, Australia, Iran and Spain's Canary Islands have water trading schemes. Some consider Australia's to be the most sophisticated and effective in the world. Some other countries, especially in South Asia, also have informal water trading schemes. Water markets tend to be local and informal, as opposed to more formal schemes.
Water supply and sanitation in the United States involves a number of issues including water scarcity, pollution, a backlog of investment, concerns about the affordability of water for the poorest, and a rapidly retiring workforce. Increased variability and intensity of rainfall as a result of climate change is expected to produce both more severe droughts and flooding, with potentially serious consequences for water supply and for pollution from combined sewer overflows. Droughts are likely to particularly affect the 66 percent of Americans whose communities depend on surface water. As for drinking water quality, there are concerns about disinfection by-products, lead, perchlorates, PFAS and pharmaceutical substances, but generally drinking water quality in the U.S. is good.
The California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) is a state cabinet-level agency within the government of California. The mission of CalEPA is to restore, protect and enhance the environment, to ensure public health, environmental quality and economic vitality.
California's interconnected water system serves almost 40 million people and irrigates over 5,680,000 acres (2,300,000 ha) of farmland. As the world's largest, most productive, and potentially most controversial water system, it manages over 40 million acre-feet (49 km3) of water per year. Use of available water averages 50% environmental, 40% agricultural and 10% urban, though this varies considerably by region and between wet and dry years. In wet years, "environmental" water averages 61%, while in dry years it averages 41%, and can be even lower in critically dry years.
Water pollution in the United States is a growing problem that became critical in the 19th century with the development of mechanized agriculture, mining, and industry, although laws and regulations introduced in the late 20th century have improved water quality in many water bodies. Extensive industrialization and rapid urban growth exacerbated water pollution as a lack of regulation allowed for discharges of sewage, toxic chemicals, nutrients and other pollutants into surface water.
Water resource policy, sometimes called water resource management or water management, encompasses the policy-making processes and legislation that affect the collection, preparation, use, disposal, and protection of water resources. The long-term viability of water supply systems poses a significant challenge as a result of water resource depletion, climate change, and population expansion.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India is a statutory organization under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Mo.E.F.C.C.). It was established in 1974 under the Water Act, 1974. The CPCB is also entrusted with the powers and functions under the Air Act, 1981. It serves as a field formation and also provides technical services to the Ministry of Environment and Forests under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. It coordinates the activities of the State Pollution Control Boards by providing technical assistance and guidance and also resolves disputes among them. It is the apex organization in country in the field of pollution control, as a technical wing of MoEFCC. The board is led by its chairperson appointed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet of the Government of India. The current acting chairman is Shri Tanmay Kumar IAS and the Member Secretary is Bharat Kumar Sharma.
Water in Arkansas is an important issue encompassing the conservation, protection, management, distribution and use of the water resource in the state. Arkansas contains a mixture of groundwater and surface water, with a variety of state and federal agencies responsible for the regulation of the water resource. In accordance with agency rules, state, and federal law, the state's water treatment facilities utilize engineering, chemistry, science and technology to treat raw water from the environment to potable water standards and distribute it through water mains to homes, farms, business and industrial customers. Following use, wastewater is collected in collection and conveyance systems, decentralized sewer systems or septic tanks and treated in accordance with regulations at publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) before being discharged to the environment.
The Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act is clean water act of California that expanded the enforcement authority of the State Water Resources Control Board and the 9 Regional Water Quality Control Boards. The act provided for the California Environmental Protection Agency to create the local boards and better protect water rights and water quality.
The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) is a three-bill package that passed the California state legislature and was signed into California state law by Governor Jerry Brown in September 2014. Its purpose is to ensure better local and regional management of groundwater use and it seeks to have a sustainable groundwater management in California by 2042. It emphasizes local management and formed groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) from local and regional authorities who submitted groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs) to the state between 2020 and 2022.
The Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment Program (GAMA) is an all-inclusive monitoring program for groundwater that was implemented in 2000 in California, United States. It was created by the California State Water Resources Control Board as an improvement from groundwater programs that were already in place.
Groundwater pollution, also referred to as groundwater contamination, is not as easily classified as surface water pollution. Groundwater aquifers are susceptible to contamination from sources that may not directly affect surface water bodies.
Calleguas Creek is the terminus of a river system in Ventura County, California. It drains the Calleguas Creek Watershed, an area 30 miles long and 14 miles wide, which includes Simi Valley, Moorpark, Camarillo and a large portion of Thousand Oaks. Tributaries include Arroyo Simi, Arroyo Santa Rosa, Revolon Slough and Arroyo Conejo. It discharges into the Pacific Ocean, the Santa Barbara Channel, at Mugu Lagoon on Naval Base Ventura County, just north of Point Mugu, where the Santa Monica Mountains meet the ocean, marking the southern/eastern boundary of the Oxnard Plain.
The Byron-Bethany Irrigation District (BBID) is a special district serving the water needs of regions of Alameda, Contra Costa, and San Joaquin Counties in California. This area is about 30,000 acres (12,000 ha) and serves 160 agricultural customers, as well as residents of the all-inclusive Mountain House village community are served as well. Notable recipients of BBID's services in the area are The Patterson Pass Business Park, Prologis International Park of Commerce, and Cordes Ranch. The water comes from the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and the Delta–Mendota Canal.
Groundwater recharge is the process of water being absorbed into the ground from precipitation, snowmelt, or artificial processes. Intentional groundwater recharge uses large, open basins that allow water to slowly seep into the ground. This water is filtered by sediment while traveling underground and is pumped back to the surface as a source of freshwater. In California, groundwater accounts for around 41% of the state's total water supply, although this number varies between wet and dry years. During years of greater than average rainfall, less groundwater is used to allow for reserves to be available during dry years. Up to 60% of all water can be sourced from groundwater during dry years. The amount of water in underground aquifers is carefully monitored by the State Water Resources Control Board and other regional water resource boards.
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