Water Quality Flashcards
Water quality:
Key difference between Federal Clean Water Act and the California Water Code
Water quality:
CWA mostly focuses on SURFACE water quality and POINT Source Pollution.
California Clean Water Act focuses on the quality of SURFACE water and UNDERGROUND WATER… and focuses on both POINT source and NON-POINT source pollution
Water quality:
What does the California Water Code protect
Water quality:
Surface and ground water
Water quality:
Who are the big state authorities for water stuff?
What are their parent agency(s) and what other major “sibiling” agencies are under their parent(s)?
What do these authorities primarily do and how are they different?
Water quality:
- Department of Water resources, part of the CA Natural Resource agency along with the CDFW, Park and Rec
- State Water Resource Control Board, part of the Cal EPA along with CARB (air) and DTSC (toxic substances)
Dpt of Water Resources manages state owned water resources like dams and reservoirs while the SWRCB control almost everything else and is mostly concerned with pollution and presercation (its part of the Cal EPA)
Dpt of water resources manages the CA Water Plan and the CA Water project.
Water quality:
- What is the CA Water Plan?
- What requires this?
- Who managers this?
- how is it enforced?
5, How often is is updated?
Water quality:
- Plan for maintaining water resources
- CA Water Code
- Dpt of Water resources under the CA Naturual Resource Agency
- Its not really enforced. it does not approval or disapprove projects. its more of a guideline to direct new policy and guide funding.
- Every 5 years
Water quality:
What two major programs does the Department of Water Resources manage
Water quality:
- California Water Plan. Plan for maintaining water resources in the state. advisory based kind of deal to drive policy and funding
- California Water Project. water storage and deliver program… one of the largest public water and utility projects in the world.
Water quality:
- What is SWP?
- What does it do?
- Who manages this?
Water quality:
common name for the CA Water project (State Water Project).
provides water to CA….70% of its water is for southern CA…pumped over mountains. Produces lots of power but is also that largest single consumer of power in the state (still makes more than it uses via hydropower)
Department of Water resources (part of CA Natural Resources Agency)
Water quality:
Does the Department of Water Resources need permits from the State Water Resource Control Board?
Water quality:
Yes
Water quality:
How many Regional Water Quality Control Boards are there?
Why are they different
Water quality:
9
- North Coast
- SF Bay
- Central Coast
- LA
- Central Valley
- Lahontan
- Colorado River Basin
- Santa Ana
- San Diego
Each area has a different climate/ issues
What is Porter-Cologne?
Porter-Cologne Water Quality Act. CA act that created the 9 Regional Water Quality Control Boards under the State Water Resources Control Board (all under the Cal EPA)
Surface & Ground, Point and Non Point sources
Who implements the Porter-Cologen Water Quality Act?
RWQCB
Who is responsible for allocating funds and overseeing the RQQCB?
State Water Resource Control Board….but the RWQCB does most of the heavy lifting.
What is a basin plan?
Who approves a Basin Plan? 3
Who adopts the Basin Plan and enforces
another word for a Water Quality Control Plan
- State Water Resource Control Board
- Office of Administrative Law
- US EPA (req’d by clean water act)
RWQCB adopts and enforces
What state authority can authorize discharge into waters?
RWQCB
What agency does the water quality monitoring after a project is complete
RWQCB
What is a 401 permit?
Who typically issues and when does someone else?
regulate discharge of fill or dredged material (always required if USACE 404 permit is needed to make sure USACE work complies)
RWQCB typically give this permit. SWRCB does when the project is multi-regional
