The Department of Conservation provides services and information
that promote environmental health, economic vitality, informed
land-use decisions and sound management of our state’s natural
resources.
Formerly known as the Department of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal
(DOGGR), CalGEM regulates statewide oil and gas activities with
uniform laws and regulations. CalGEM supervises the drilling,
operation, maintenance, and plugging and abandonment of onshore
and offshore oil, gas, and geothermal wells. Also involved in
hydraulic fracking issues.
California’s Department of Water Resources protects, conserves
and manages state water supplies, water resources planning and
the construction and operation of the State Water Project.
Cal-EPA is the state’s regulatory agency that enforces pollution
control laws and oversees six other state entities including the
Air Resources Board, the State Water Resources Control Board, and
the Integrated Waste Management Board. The head of Cal-EPA is
appointed by the governor and a member of the governors’ cabinet.
The California Natural Resources Agency oversees 15 state
entities including the Coastal Commission, Coastal Conservancy,
Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Department of Water
Resources. The head of California Natural Resources Agency is
appointed by the governor, a member of the governors’ cabinet and
chairs the governor’s Water Policy Council.
The State Water Resources Control Board is a five-member board
appointed by the governor that allocates water rights for
California surface water and regulates, along with nine regional
boards, state water quality.
The California Water Commission advises the Director of the
Department of Water Resources on such matters as approving
rules and regulations, and State Water Project operations. The
nine-member commission is appointed by the governor.
Develops specific recommendations to improve the coordination and
cost-effectiveness of water quality and ecosystem monitoring and
assessment, enhance the integration of monitoring data across
departments and agencies.
Selects, authorizes and allocates funds for the purchase of land
and waters suitable for recreation purposes and the preservation,
protection and restoration of wildlife habitat.
The Central Valley Flood Protection Board is responsible for
flood control along the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and
their tributaries. It works in cooperation with the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers and other federal, state and local government
agencies.
The Coastal Conservancy purchases, protects, and restores coastal
resources in partnership with local governments, public agencies,
nonprofit organizations, and private property owners.
The Colorado River Board of California oversees the state’s
interests involving the seven-state Colorado River, including
water supplies and hydroelectric power.
The Delta Protection Commission aims to protect, maintain and
enhance the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta environmental quality
consistent with the Delta Protection Act. (See also chart of
Delta agencies and stakeholders.)
Created in 2009, the Delta Stewardship Council has seven members
with various expertise. Four of the seven are appointed by the
governor, one each by the California senate and state assembly,
and the seventh is the Chair of the Delta Protection Commission.
Front-line responsibility for protecting California’s water
quality and policing waste discharges in the state rests
primarily with nine regional water quality control boards
overseeing water quality in major watersheds from Oregon to
Mexico.
The nine regional boards are semi-autonomous from the State Water
Resources Control Board, which is charged with allocating surface
water rights and setting statewide policy on water quality. The
regional boards are comprised of seven part-time board members
appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the state Senate.
Regional boundaries are based on watersheds and water quality
requirements are based on the unique differences in climate,
topography, geology and hydrology for each watershed. Each
regional board makes critical water quality decisions for its
region, including setting standards, issuing waste discharge
requirements, determining compliance with those requirements, and
taking appropriate enforcement actions.
BACKGROUND
World War II brought rapid industrial development and population
growth to California, and with them came water pollution and
water-borne disease outbreaks. Attempts to regulate the sources
of water pollution were complicated by conflicting
interpretations of existing laws and overlapping authority among
government agencies.
In an attempt to better address California’s water pollution
concerns, the state Legislature in 1949 passed the Dickey Water
Pollution Act. Authored by Randal F. Dickey, a Republican
assemblyman from the city of Alameda, the act created a State
Water Pollution Control Board to oversee statewide water
pollution policy, and regional water pollution control boards to
be the enforcing agency in each of the state’s nine major
watersheds.
Over the next two decades, new legislation would rename the state
and regional water boards, expand the state board’s duties to
include surface water rights, and – with the enactment in 1969 of
the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act – strengthened the
state’s oversight of water quality affecting beneficial uses of
surface and groundwater. The Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control
Act – coauthored by Sen.
Gordon Cologne, a Riverside County Republican, and Assemblyman Carley Porter, a Los
Angeles County Democrat – became the model for the federal Clean
Water Act in 1972.
Below are the nine regional water quality control boards and the
counties they cover.
Region 3 — Central Coastal Regional
Water Quality Control Board
Santa Clara (south of Morgan Hill), San Mateo (southern portion),
Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey, Kern (small portions), San Luis
Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura (northern portion) counties.
Region 5 — Central Valley Regional Water
Quality Control Board
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) counties.
Region 6 — Lahontan Regional Water
Quality Control Board
Modoc (East), Lassen (East side and Eagle Lake), Sierra, Nevada,
Placer, El Dorado, Alpine, Mono, Inyo, Kern (East), San
Bernardino, Los Angeles (N/E corner) counties.
