SECTIONS 16100-16104 - California Statutes

WATER CODE

SECTION 16100-16104

16100. This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the
California Watershed Improvement Act of 2009.

16101. (a) Each county, city, or special district that is a
permittee or copermittee under a national pollutant discharge
elimination system (NPDES) permit for municipal separate storm sewer
systems may develop, either individually or jointly with one or more
permittees or copermittees, a watershed improvement plan that
addresses major sources of pollutants in receiving water, stormwater,
urban runoff, or other surface runoff pollution within the watershed
or subwatershed to which the plan applies. The principal purpose of
a watershed improvement plan is to implement existing and future
water quality requirements and regulations by, among other things,
where appropriate, identifying opportunities for stormwater
detention, infiltration, use of natural treatment systems, water
recycling, reuse, and supply augmentation; and providing programs and
measures designed to promote, maintain, or achieve compliance with
water quality laws and regulations, including water quality standards
and other requirements of statewide plans, regional water quality
control plans, total maximum daily loads, and NPDES permits.
(b) The process of developing a watershed improvement plan shall
be open and transparent, and shall be conducted consistent with all
applicable open meeting laws. A county, city, special district, or
combination thereof, shall solicit input from entities representing
resource agencies, water agencies, sanitation districts, the
environmental community, landowners, home builders, agricultural
interests, and business and industry representatives.
(c) Each county, city, special district, or combination thereof
shall notify the appropriate regional board of its intention to
develop a watershed improvement plan. The regional board may, in its
discretion, participate in the preparation of the plan. A watershed
improvement plan shall be consistent with the regional board's water
quality control plan.
(d) A watershed improvement plan shall include all of the
following elements relevant to the waters within the watershed or
subwatershed to which the plan applies:
(1) A description of the watershed or subwatershed improvement
plan area, the rivers, streams, or manmade drainage channels within
the plan area, the agencies with regulatory jurisdiction over matters
to be addressed in the plan, the relevant receiving waters within or
downstream from the plan area, and the county, city, special
district, or combination thereof, participating in the plan.
(2) A description of the proposed facilities and actions that will
improve the protection and enhancement of water quality and the
designated beneficial uses of waters of the state, consistent with
water quality laws and regulations.
(3) Recommendations for appropriate action by any entity, public
or private, to facilitate achievement of, or consistency with, water
quality objectives, standards, total maximum daily loads, or other
water quality laws, regulations, standards, or requirements, a time
schedule for the actions to be taken, and a description of
appropriate measurement and monitoring to be undertaken to determine
improvement in water quality.
(4) A coordinated economic analysis and financing plan that
identifies the costs, effectiveness, and benefits of water quality
improvements specified in the watershed improvement plan, and, where
feasible, incorporates user-based and cost recovery approaches to
financing, which place the cost of managing and treating surface
runoff pollution on the generators of the pollutants.
(5) To the extent applicable, a description of regional best
management practices, watershed-based natural treatment systems,
low-flow diversion systems, stormwater capture, urban runoff capture,
other measures constituting structural treatment best management
practices, pollution prevention measures, low-impact development
strategies, and site design, source control, and treatment control
best management practices to promote improved water quality.
(6) A description of the proposed structure, operations, powers,
and duties of the implementing entity for the watershed improvement
plan.

16102. (a) A regional board shall review, in accordance with the
reimbursement requirement described in subdivision (c), a watershed
improvement plan developed pursuant to Section 16101 and may approve
the plan, including any appropriate conditions to the approval, if
the regional board finds that the proposed watershed improvement plan
will facilitate compliance with water quality requirements. A
regional board's review and approval of the watershed improvement
plan shall be limited to components described in paragraphs (1), (2),
(3), and (5) of subdivision (d) of Section 16101.
(b) A regional board may not approve a proposed watershed
improvement plan that includes a geographical area included in an
existing approved watershed improvement plan unless the regional
board determines that it is infeasible to amend either the proposed
watershed improvement plan or the approved watershed improvement plan
to achieve the purposes of this chapter.
(c) The entity or entities that develop a watershed improvement
plan that is submitted to the regional board for approval shall
reimburse the regional board for its costs, including the costs to
review and oversee the implementation of the plan, if nonstate funds
are not available to cover the costs of the review and oversight. For
the purpose of this paragraph, the state board shall adopt a fee
schedule by emergency regulation in the manner prescribed in
paragraph (2) of subdivision (f) of Section 13260. Fees collected
pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the Waste Discharge
Permit Fund established by Section 13260.
(d) A regional board may, if it deems appropriate, utilize
provisions of approved watershed improvement plans to promote
compliance with one or more of the regional board's regulatory plans
or programs.
(e) Unless a regional board incorporates the provisions of a
watershed improvement plan into waste discharge requirements issued
to a permittee, the implementation of a watershed improvement plan by
a permittee shall not be deemed to be compliance with those waste
discharge requirements.

16103. (a) In addition to making use of other financing mechanisms
that are available to local agencies to fund watershed improvement
plans and plan measures and facilities, a county, city, special
district, or combination thereof may impose fees on activities that
generate or contribute to runoff, stormwater, or surface runoff
pollution, to pay the costs of the preparation of a watershed
improvement plan, and the implementation of a watershed improvement
plan if all of the following requirements are met:
(1) The regional board has approved the watershed improvement
plan.
(2) The entity or entities that develop the watershed improvement
plan make a finding, supported by substantial evidence, that the fee
is reasonably related to the cost of mitigating the actual or
anticipated past, present, or future adverse effects of the
activities of the feepayer. "Activities," for the purposes of this
paragraph, means the operations and existing structures and
improvements subject to regulation under an NPDES permit for
municipal separate storm sewer systems.
(3) The fee is not imposed solely as an incident of property
ownership.
(b) A county, city, special district, or combination thereof may
plan, design, implement, construct, operate, and maintain controls
and facilities to improve water quality, including controls and
facilities related to the infiltration, retention and reuse,
diversion, interception, filtration, or collection of surface runoff,
including urban runoff, stormwater, and other forms of runoff, the
treatment of pollutants in runoff or other waters subject to water
quality regulatory requirements, the return of diverted and treated
waters to receiving water bodies, the enhancement of beneficial uses
of waters of the state, or the beneficial use or reuse of diverted
waters.
(c) The fees authorized under subdivision (a) may be imposed as
user-based or regulatory fees consistent with this chapter.

16104. Nothing in this chapter alters requirements that govern the
diversion of water.