Dragon Tails

Or, how we learned to stop worrying about permit compliance and love

SUSMPs [a fairy tale?]

Greg Gearheart, PE

Stormwater Program / SWRCB

The Tail End

• Our mission is to preserve and enhance the quality of CA’s water resources, and ensure their proper allocation and efficient use for the benefit of present and future generations.

• Who are the present and future generations?

Millions of Californians

• 1980 – 23.7 million

• 2005 – 37 million

• 2030 – 48 million (projected)

• where?

What are some examples of water resources we

should protect?

• Wetlands and streams, including:

– Riparian areas

– Intermittent, ephemeral and headwater streams

– Isolated “wetlands” (e.g., vernal pools)

• Watershed functions and values

• Protect from what?

Paradise Lost – why are they special?

• California has lost 95% of our inland wetlands and streams since 1850's due to “development”

• They are a critical part of the watershed:– support BUs onsite

– maintain the "quality of the water" of watershed

– provide critical watershed functions like generating/moving/storing sediment, removing pollutants, retaining flood flows, and supporting habitat connectivity

Why do they need special protection?

• Highly sensitive ecosystems

• Most threatened by landscape activities (urbanitis, development, industry, etc.)

• It is much more difficult to regulate landscape activities than it is to control point discharges

• It is very difficult to restore them once they are gone

What human activities impact wetlands and streams?

• Bank hardening (rip rap, concrete, refrigerators, cars, etc.)

• Dams and diversions

• Development (stream/swale burial, realignment, concrete-lining, etc.)

• “Agricultural” activities (vineyard development, dairy waste, cattle, stream crossings, clear-cut erosion, etc.)

Could this happentoday?

(Chicken Ranch Slough, Sacramento County – Channelized in 1950's)

CWA 401 regulatory actions at Water Boards for 2003

• 1094 401-related Projects Statewide– 26 projects denied certification– 12 project-related enforcement actions

• 1880 acres of fill to State waters (includes 1280 acres temp. fill)

• 600 acres of permanently filled wetlands/streams/etc.

• 1082 acres of compensatory mitigation

Water Boards nuts and bolts

• Our regulatory actions (e.g., CWA401 Certs, WDRs, enforcement, etc.) require discharges to be protective of our water quality (WQ) standards:– Water quality standard = beneficial uses +

objectives

– Water Boards may “choose to prevent any degradation”

– Statewide General WDRs• for dredge/fill and linear projects

CWA - Water Quality Standards

• Water Quality Standards are made up of:– Beneficial Uses (designated to

specific waterbodies), plus– water quality criteria; and– an antidegradation policy.

• Beneficial Uses (BUs) are:• often not directly related to some key

water resource uses valued by communities (it might take a suite of them to protect wetlands and streams, for example)

Beneficial Uses Used to Protect California Wetlands &

Streams• AGR – Agricultural Supply• FLD – Flood Peak

Attenuation/Flood Water Storage

• FRSH – Freshwater Replenishment

• GWR – Groundwater Recharge

• MAR – Marine Habitat• MUN – Municipal and

Domestic Supply• RARE – Preservation of Rare

and Endangered Species

• REC-1 – Water Contact Recreation

• REC-2 – Non-Water Contact Recreation

• SHELL – Shellfish Harvesting

• SPAWN – Fish Spawning

• WARM – Warm Freshwater Habitat

• WILD – Wildlife Habitat

• WQE – Water Quality Enhancement

Beneficial uses (BUs) and wetlands / streams

• BUs are:– designated in the Basin Plans to a specific

waterbody at a specific location

– are not easily translated to some key wetland/stream functions and values

– frequently it takes a suite of BUs to cover “wetland functions and values” (often includes gaps and overlaps)

Functional Framework:Regulatory Tools

• Landscape / watershed tool(s):– Storm water permits– CEQA ?

• Waterbody tool(s):– CWA 401 Certifications– Waste Discharge Requirements– Waivers

• Laparoscopic techniques

CWA – Permits

• Section 402 – Point Sources– The National Pollutant Discharge

Elimination System (NPDES) – applies to all point sources of pollutants

– Stormwater outfalls are considered “point sources” and these regulations apply to:

• Industrial Sources (including Construction Activities)

• Municipal Sources (large and small communities)

CWS - NPDES Permits (cont.)

• Traditional “Point Sources” still need attention in sustainable growth context:– Wastewater Treatment Plants– Collection Systems– Factories and mills– E.g., the City of Petaluma building a

new sustainable system to handle both domestic wastewater and stormwater

•CWA – Dredge and Fill Discharges

• Section 404/401 – regulate the direct discharges of dredge and fill material to US Waters

• US Army Corps issues 404 permit, which triggers the State's “401 Certification” (that the project complies with our standards)

• “401 Certifications” are one-time compliance tools that apply to many new developments in California, due in part to our abundance of ephemeral and intermittent streams

• CWC jurisdiction covers isolated waters of the State

401 Certification - One-time compliance measurement

• CWA 401 certification process give the Water Boards one shot at evaluating compliance with our “standards”

• If we get our permitting wrong, the waterbodies and their designated beneficial uses could be lost forever

• Could be a de-facto Basin Plan amendment

• Interesting question: does this process adequately comply with our Basin Plan amendment requirements?

CWA – Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs)

• If the beneficial uses are impaired, the State must adopt a TMDL

• Result in pollutant Waste Loads Allocations – WLAs – applied to “all” sources in watershed

• TMDLs take decades to implement

CWA – TMDLs

• They are watershed-based, but they are also pollutant (or impairment cause) specific, so they may or may not lead communities towards more sustainable approaches to Water Resource planning

• Resulting WLAs are implemented via permits

Sustainability and Water Resources

• Sustainability has many definitions and applications (some very specialized)

• In our communities there are three main test / elements (each of which is undergoing a paradigm shift today).

Sustainability Tests

• Resource – protection to enhancement and reuse (“runoff is a resource”)

• Technical – complex, technological standard-based to simple, natural, performance-based solutions

• Institutional – centralized, subsidized approaches to decentralized, self-supporting approaches

• Community – healthy individual, societal cost driven equations to healthy community, community opportunity equations

NPDES Stormwater Permits – help or hindrance?

• Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s), in both large and small communities, are required to comply with MS4 requirements

• Much of the permit requirements focus on traditional BMPs and general, indirect municipal efforts (like general planning, outreach/education etc.)

• In 2002, Standard Urban Storm Water Mitigation Plans (SUSMPs – but they are called “performance standards” in some parts of the State) became mandatory for all MS4 permits

SUSMPs & HMMPs & Performance Standards,

oh my!

• SUSMPs - Standardized Urban Stormwater Mitigation Plans

• HMMPs - Hydrograph Modification Management Plans

• WQMPs• Performance Standards – specifically for

new and redevelop activities in MS4s

SUSMP History (brief)

• 1996 - NPDES Permit for LA County MS4s first suggested SUSMPs (R4-1996-054)

• 1999 - NPDES Permit for LA County Required “improved” SUSMPs (R4-1999-060)

• 2000 - SB upheld RB4-99-060 with WQ-2000-11

• Precedent - all new MS4 permits after WQ-2000-11 must comply with general principles of R4-1999-060 SUSMP lang.

SUSMPs and Sustainability

• SUSMPs and other “performance standards” in MS4 permits require new developments and, in some cases, “significant” redevelopments to apply rigorous measures to mitigate the effects of urbanization.

• The technical approaches and science behind some of the issues are still being debated in the State.

• Q: Does Low Impact Development = SUSMPs and HMP compliance?

Yes, LID = SUSMPs

• In theory, a well designed and executed LID project would fully comply with MS4 permit requirements (and probably avoid 404/401 permits, too).

• Translators are needed to help communities demonstrate compliance with MS4 requirements

LID and SUSMPs (cont.)

• Clearly SUSMP=LID works best for new development and significant redevelopment

• But strategic LID projects could also be used to retrofit urban landscapes to address other watershed problems

• State Board staff are working on developing translator tools for municipal officials who must comply with SUSMPs and wish to use LID-like approaches

SUSMPs in the Regions

• As expected, most RBs took the liberty to “improve” on the SUSMP language in R4-1999-060

• Some RBs have evolved at least one generation since the original SUSMP approach

Los Angeles Region

• SUSMP Architects• Multiple generations – new draft

coming for Ventura County in June 2006:– Numerical Hydromodification Criteria

based on Stream Bank Erosion Potential

– Limiting Directly Connected Impervious Area to no more than 5 pecent of Total Construction Project Area

LA Region (cont.)

• Ventura updates (cont.)– Low Impact Development

Technical Document to comply with SUSMPs and Hydromod Criteria

– Post Construction BMP Inspection Program

– Stream Bank Restoration Planning based on Southern CA Integrated Biological Index

S.F. Bay Region:One Permit Approach

• Phase I for 4 urbanized counties

• Consistent requirements• Consistent deadlines (with a

few exceptions)• Detail formerly in Stormwater

Management Plans now in the Permit

SF Bay Super Permit (cont.)

• BMPs, Level of Implementation and Reporting specified for all Performance Standards

• Major improvements in Monitoring and TMDL implementation

• Only minor changes to New Development Measures, Inspections, Public Information and Municipal Maintenance

San Diego Region:Watershed Approach

• Tackle priority stormwater problems in each watershed, in addition to Baseline BMPs

• Adding HMP requirements similar to S.F. Bay Area approach

• Setting minimum inspection # requirement

Other Regions &Approaches within CA

• Santa Ana Region – like RB4• Lahontan Region – no SUSMP

requirements• North Coast Region – like RB2 (2

year, 24 hour storm event, hydrograph modification management plan, etc.)

• Central Coast Region – not sure• Phase II• Caltrans

Other States

• MD – Recharge / LID credits• PA – Recharge• DE – Recharge / LID• NJ – Recharge / LID• [Handout available]

Sustainable Projects Present Real Community

Opportunities• If done right, more sustainable projects

will deliver:– NPDES compliance– Clean Water Act promises– Low Lifetime Costs to operate,

maintain, decommission, etc.– Community buy-in and support through

meeting multiple objectives, etc.– Unpredictable community economic

opportunities (e.g., tourism and other ancillary benefits to the community)

Evidence of Shift

• Performance measures that would SHOW we are moving in the right direction.

• NPDES permits for MS4s contain LID-type requirements for New Development

• Increased judicial support

Shift (cont.)

• Planning departments and land use agencies are excited about natural systems (we see this now)

• Natural Systems (low tech, natural function-based technologies) are embraced as cornerstones of “sustainable development”

• A number of disciplines integrated into stormwater management.

What can WE do to help implement / enforce the

CWA?• Appropriate designation, development and

enforcement of appropriate Beneficial Uses would encourage smarter growth.

• We also need to develop effective criteria for protecting uses from pollutants and/or habitat disturbance associated with urbanization impacts.

• Apply all our tools to encourage avoidance and minimization of impacts through better siting and management practices.

• Get out of the way of good practices

Greg Gearheart916-341-5892

ggearheart@waterboards.ca.gov