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Monitoring Monday - Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (Region 5)
The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board is the largest and most diverse region in California, stretching from the Oregon border to the northern tip of Los Angeles County - about 60,000 square miles or nearly 40 percent of the state. The Region’s boundaries are formed by the crests of the Sierra Nevada on the east, the Coast Ranges and Klamath Mountains on the west, the Oregon border on the north, and the Tehachapi Mountains on the south. Thirty-eight of California’s 58 counties are either completely or partially within the Region (Modoc, Shasta, Lassen, Plumas, Butte, Glen, Colusa, Lake, Sutter, Yuba, Sierra, Nevada, Placer, Yolo, Napa, (N. East), Solano (West), Sacramento, El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras, San Joaquin, Contra Costa (East), Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Merced, Mariposa, Madera, Kings, Fresno, Tulare, Kern. (Very small portions of San Benito, San Luis Obispo).
The Sacramento River and San Joaquin River Basins cover about one fourth of the total area of the State and over 30% of the State's irrigable land. The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers furnish roughly 51% of the State's water supply. Surface water from the two drainage basins meet and form the Delta, which ultimately drains to San Francisco Bay.
The Delta is the focal point of the State’s two largest water conveyance projects, the Federal Central Valley Project and the State Water Project. These two projects deliver water from the Delta to Southern California, the San Joaquin Valley, Tulare Lake Basin, the San Francisco Bay area, as well as within the Delta boundaries.
- The Sacramento River Basin covers 27,210 square miles and includes the entire area drained by the Sacramento River. For planning purposes, this includes all watersheds tributary to the Sacramento River that are north of the Cosumnes River watershed. It also includes the closed basin of Goose Lake and drainage sub-basins of Cache and Putah Creeks
- The San Joaquin River Basin covers 15,880 square miles and includes the entire area drained by the San Joaquin River. It includes all watersheds tributary to the San Joaquin River and the Delta south of the Sacramento River and south of the American River watershed.
The Central Valley Water Board regulates activities and industries that can have an effect on groundwater and surface water quality. The Board address water quality issues associated with timber harvest, environmental restoration, fuels management projects, and post-fire restoration activities. Other water quality challenges in the Central Valley are related to activities that occurred more than a century ago; many of the remnants of the Gold Rush persist in the Sierra-Cascade and Coastal Ranges in the form of abandoned mine lands, which still discharge heavy metals and other pollutants to surface waters. The effects of this legacy are still being felt by recreational anglers, subsistence fishers and tribal communities throughout the region.
To protect beneficial uses in water bodies throughout a region that spans over 40 percent of the State of California. The Central Valley Water Board accomplishes this regulatory charge through the implementation of 19 water quality programs which fall into one of 5 key water quality programs in the Central Valley (agriculture and ag-related industry, animal feeding operations including dairies, municipal and industrial waste disposal in water and on land, storm water runof, and timber harvest operations).
In the last couple decades, the work of the Board has expanded due to the increased value that our society has placed on water quality protection. An Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program has grown to focus its efforts not just on protecting in-stream water quality, but also on protecting the groundwater that many disadvantaged communities rely upon for their drinking water. The Forest Activities Program and a new Cannabis Program operate on lands where numerous tribes have an interest in restoring water quality. Cleanup of contaminated sites in the Valley’s urbanized areas is vital to increasing housing opportunities by ensuring contaminated properties are responsibly returned to productive use. Vast new programs have been established by the state to develop drinking water solutions for disadvantaged communities. All these efforts require that the Board to be more responsive to the need for disadvantaged and underserved communities to have a voice in the Board’s decision-making processes.
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Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board Website www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley/\
Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board Strategic Plan www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley/about_us/2021_strategic_plan.pdf
Delta Water Quality www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley/water_issues/delta_water_quality/
SWAMP - Region 5 (Central Valley) Monitoring Program www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/swamp/monitoring/regional_monitoring_programs/region_5.html
Water Quality Issues www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley/water_issues/
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Erick Burres
Clean Water Team Coordinator
California Water Quality Collaboration Network Facilitator
Safe to Swim Network Co-facilitator
erick.burres@waterboards.ca.gov
213 712 6862 mobile
Mailing address:
Erick Burres – Clean Water Team
C/O SARWQCB
3737 Main Street, Suite 500
Riverside, CA 92501-3348
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