Environmental Impact Statement - Sonoma Land Trust

California Department of Fish and Game
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Section 3.3. Water Quality
• No pesticide or combination of pesticides shall be present in concentrations
that adversely affect beneficial uses.
• Discharges shall not result in pesticide concentrations in bottom sediment or
aquatic life that adversely affects beneficial uses.
• Persistent chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides shall not be detectable in water
within the accuracy of the analytical methods approved by the EPA.
• The suspended sediment load and suspended sediment discharge rate of
surface waters shall not be altered in such a manner as to cause nuisance or
adversely affect beneficial uses.
• Waters shall not contain suspended materials in concentrations that cause
nuisance or adversely affect beneficial uses.
• Groundwater shall not contain chemical constituents in concentrations that
adversely affect beneficial uses.
The Basin Plan also restricts increases in water temperature and reduction of
dissolved oxygen concentrations, especially in water bodies supporting coldwater
aquatic organisms.
Finally, the RWQCB is required to identify water bodies that do not meet water
quality objectives pursuant to Section 303(d) of the CWA. See further description
of CWA Section 303(d) impairments under “Regional Water Quality Conditions”
below.
Waste Discharge Requirements
Beneficial uses of the major rivers and groundwater basins, along with narrative
and numerical water quality objectives, are established in the Basin Plan for the
region (San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board 2006X7).
Beneficial uses of surface water in the Project area include municipal and
domestic supply; agricultural supply; industrial service supply; groundwater
recharge; contact and non-contact recreation; warm, freshwater habitat; cold,
freshwater habitat; wildlife habitat; migration of aquatic organisms; and
spawning, reproduction, and or early development. Beneficial uses of
groundwater throughout the region include municipal and domestic supply,
agricultural supply, and industrial service supply.
The San Francisco Bay RWQCB establishes WDRs to protect those beneficial
uses identified in the Basin Plan. Beneficial uses protected by the Basin Plan that
would be applicable to the proposed wetland restoration include wildlife and fish
habitat, estuarine habitat, and preservation of rare and endangered species. In
establishing WDRs, the RWQCB considers the potential impact on beneficial
uses within the area of influence of a discharge and the existing quality of
receiving waters based on the appropriate water quality objectives.
WDRs issued for a project based on water quality objectives may contain moreor
less-restrictive conditions that take into account factors such as economic
considerations in addition to actual and potential beneficial uses. Because San
Pablo Bay is considered a “water quality limited segment” in the Basin Plan,
Sears Point Wetland and Watershed Restoration
Project Final Environmental Impact
Report/Environmental Impact Statement
3.3-3
April 2012