Water Quality Control Plan for the Sacramento and San Joaquin Basins

Water Quality Control Plans or “Basin Plans” provide the foundation for all Central Valley Water Board regulatory actions. Basin Plans identify beneficial uses of surface and ground waters, water quality objectives to protect those uses, implementation actions to achieve objectives, and a monitoring and surveillance program to insure that implementation actions are effective. All actions by the Board must be compliant with the Basin Plans. The Central Valley Water Board has two Basin Plans: one for the Sacramento and San Joaquin River Basins and one for the Tulare Lake Basin.

A public review process is conducted every three years (Triennial Review) to identify and prioritize actions needed to address water quality concerns and maintain effectiveness of the Basin Plans. Upon Board approval of the Triennial Review work plan, staff investigates water quality issues and proposes amendments to the Basin Plans for Board consideration. Amendments may range from developing site specific water quality objectives for a single constituent such as copper, to basin-wide control programs for a suite of potential pollutants such as pyrethroids, to policy recommendations and strategies for addressing emerging contaminants and/or climate change.

This basin plan has many sections with many amendments, and so no attempt is made to house this document in the library.  Instead, please visit the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board’s basin planning page.