How to resolve AdBlock issue? The meeting will take place beginning at 1 p.m. Monday, Aug. 28, at Lakeport City Hall, 225 Park St.
The public outreach meeting will provide a forum for interested parties to give input on potential amendment alternatives and their potential environmental impacts.
Water board staff will present an overview of the program’s regulatory performance to date and discuss several preliminary alternatives for an amendment that are being considered.
The Central Valley Water Board is considering amending the compliance date of 19 June 2017 for the total maximum daily load, or TMDL, and waste load allocations required by the Basin Plan’s Clear Lake Nutrient Control Program to reduce phosphorus contributions to Clear Lake.
The Clear Lake Nutrient Control Program was adopted in 2007 and implements the Clear Lake Nutrient TMDL to decrease the incidence of nuisance algal blooms in Clear Lake.
The Nutrient Control Program was based in part on modeling studies that predicted that a 40-percent reduction in average phosphorus loading will significantly reduce the incidence of algae blooms.
In September 2012, five years after TMDL adoption, the Clear Lake Nutrient Control Program was evaluated to determine if the TMDL was still appropriate based on new information. The Central Valley Water Board determined that the TMDL was still appropriate and phosphorus reductions should continue.
The Basin Plan states compliance with load and waste load allocations for phosphorus in Clear Lake is required by 19 June 2017. Many implementation activities have been completed and are in progress.
However, available information indicates it is not possible to attain all allocations by the compliance date primarily due to delays in acquiring funding to complete the Middle Creek Flood Damage Reduction and Ecosystem Restoration Project.
Approximately half of the properties needed for the restoration project have been acquired to date. Completion of the restoration project will restore a historical wetland where approximately 50 percent of the runoff from the Clear Lake watershed enters Clear Lake. The restoration project is expected to accomplish the majority of the Clear Lake’s nutrient load reduction goal.
As a result, Central Valley Water Board staff will evaluate the need and options for amending portions of the Nutrient Control Program including the compliance date.
Staff will consider several preliminary amendment alternatives, including extending the compliance date by 10 years for allocations not yet met; extending the compliance date by 20 years for allocations not yet met; developing milestones to track progress should the compliance date be extended; or no action, meaning the compliance date is not amended.
Other approaches may be considered as stakeholders and interested parties provide information during the public participation process.
Questions to consider during the public outreach meeting include:
– Can the TMDL load and waste load allocations be met within 10 years (by June 2027) or 20 years (by June 2037)?
– Is there justification to consider other reasonable time frames to achieve compliance with the allocations?
– Are there any feasible alternatives to revising the compliance date? What are the reasonably foreseeable options for complying with each alternative?
– Is there information in addition to that associated with compliance with the current Nutrient Control Program that the Board should consider in making their decision?
– What are the potential environmental impacts of revising the compliance date, or of any alternatives? How might those impacts be mitigated?
If you have further questions, need to access background documents, or wish to make a presentation at the workshop, please contact Holly Grover at 916-464-4747 or send an email to
