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Central Valley Organochlorine Pesticide TMDL and Basin Plan Amendment

Central Valley Organochlorine Pesticide TMDL and Basin Plan Amendment

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This web page contains information for a proposed amendment to the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River Basin Plans regarding TMDLs for the control of Organochlorine (OC) pesticides in the Central Valley. Waterbodies include reaches of the San Joaquin River, the lower Tuolumne River, the lower Stanislaus River, Orestimba Creek, the lower Merced River, the lower Feather River, the Colusa Basin Drain, and 8 portions of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta located in Region 5 including the Stockton Ship Channel.

Stakeholder Meeting (18 October 2010)

Stakeholder Meeting (19 August 2010)

Stakeholder Meeting (17 June 2010)

Examples of Other Regional Boards/States Approaches on OC Pesticides

  1. Regional Board 4 (Calleguas Creek OC Pesticides & PCBs TMDL)
    This TMDL was approved by US EPA on 14 March 2006. It addresses eleven of fourteen reaches in Calleguas Creek Watershed, identified on the 2002 Clean Water Act 303(d) list of water-quality limited segments as impaired due to elevated levels of OC pesticides and PCBs in water, sediment and/or fish tissue.
  2. Regional Board 8 (San Diego Creek/New Port Bay Organochlorines TMDL)
    This TMDL was adopted by the Santa Ana Regional Board on 7 September 2007. It is yet to be approved by US EPA. It addresses organochlorine compounds on the 2006 303(d) list for San Diego Creek, Upper and Lower Newport Bay, and Rhine Channel listed as impaired for OCs in fish tissue.
  3. Lower Yakima River TMDL: State of Washington
    This TMDL was approved by US EPA on 25 November 1998. Several reaches of the lower Yakima River and several of its tributaries did not meet state water quality criteria and federal guidelines for DDT and turbidity. As a result, the Department of Ecology placed these water bodies on the state of Washington's 1996 303(d) list.

CEQA Scoping Meeting

Data Sources for Organochlorine (OC) Pesticides in the Central Valley

Below are links to some of the data sources for OC Pesticides in the Central Valley. There could be other sources of data available and Staff will periodically update these links as necessary.

  1. Central Valley Water Board SWAMP/UC Davis Fish Study
    The Central Valley Water Board Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program (SWAMP) in conjunction with the University of California Davis conducted a fish study to analyze OC pesticides and PCBs from archived fish tissue in the San Joaquin River (SJR), Sacramento River and the Delta in 2005. Data was collected from 73 sites (20 sites from the SJR; 34 sites from the Sacramento River and 19 sites from within the Legal Delta boundary). The Report and results of this study can be accessed from this link:
    http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley/water_issues/swamp/devlaming_rpt.pdf, 1.06 MB*, PDF (PDF Info)

  2. Central Valley Water Board- Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program

    1. Pesticides Detected in Water, 2004-2009
      Data is presented from pesticide monitoring by several coalition groups covered under the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program for the period from 2004 updated through 2009. The data has several pesticides and included in these are some OC pesticides namely; Aldrin, Chlordane, DDD, DDE, DDT, Dieldrin, Endosulfan I and II, Endrin, HCH (Alpha, Beta, Delta and Gamma) and Toxaphene. Data was collected from 271 sites (128 sites from the SJR; 103 sites from the Sacramento River and 40 sites from within the Legal Delta boundary). The results of this study can be accessed from this link:
      http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley/water_issues/irrigated_lands/monitoring/monitoring_data/program_participants/index.shtml#esj

    2. Pesticides Detected in Sediment, August 2004 - October 2004
      This document presents the draft results from sediment pesticide monitoring for the Irrigated Lands Conditional Waiver Program for the period from August 2004 through October 2004. The table compares the monitoring results to the sediment toxicity results that were processed during the same time period. The sediment toxicity tests that exhibited significant toxicity as compared to laboratory control are provided in red text. The table presents several pesticides and included in these are some OC pesticides namely; DDD, DDE, DDT and Dieldrin monitored by various Coalition groups. Data was collected from 50 sites (26 sites from the SJR; 13 sites from the Sacramento River and 11 sites from within the Legal Delta Boundary). The results of this study can be accessed from this link:
      http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley/water_issues/irrigated_lands/monitoring/staff_monitoring_data_analysis/pest_sed_tox2004.pdf, 84 KB, PDF (PDF Info)

    3. UC Davis Monitoring
      UC Davis conducted a Phase I evaluation of the water quality of some agriculturally dominated water bodies in the Central Valley from March 2003 to October 2003. Data was collected from 24 sites (4 sites from the SJR; 12 sites from the Sacramento River and 8 sites from within the Legal Delta Boundary). Phase II was conducted from July 2004 through March 2006 from 31 sites (8 sites from the SJR; 13 sites from the Sacramento River, 5 sites from within the Legal Delta Boundary and the other 5 sites were from Tulare Basin outside of the OC TMDL project area). The results of these efforts include several pesticides and OC pesticides only form a sub-component of the studies. Results for both Phase I and Phase II can be accessed at:
      http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley/water_issues/irrigated_lands/monitoring/monitoring_data/uc_davis_monitoring/index.shtml

  3. State Board SWAMP: Contaminants in Fish from California Lakes and Reservoirs
    This study was conducted by the State Water Resources Control Board's SWAMP in 2007 from 152 lakes. The fish chosen for this study are common targets for fishermen, as well as primary food sources for birds and other mammals. For Region 5 in the Central Valley, 57 lakes were sampled (23 lakes from the SJR; 26 lakes from the Sacramento River, 4 lakes from within the Legal Delta Boundary, the other 4 lakes were from Tulare Basin outside of the OC TMDL project area). The Technical Report can be accessed at:
    http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/swamp/lakes_study.shtml

    Data used in the Technical Report specific for Region 5 can be accessed at:
    http://swamp.mpsl.mlml.calstate.edu/online-data/year-1-lakes-fish-contaminant-study

  4. State Water Resources Control Board Toxic Substances Monitoring Program
    The Toxic Substances Monitoring Program was a statewide initiative conducted by the State Water Resources Control Board for the time period 1978 – 2000 throughout the Central Valley. It employed a uniform approach for monitoring pollutants in fish and invertebrates in freshwater and estuarine habitats. It primarily targeted water bodies with known or suspected water quality impairments, and identified many hotspots of contamination. The data presented gives species-specific fish tissue data for OC pollutants at various sites for the time period 1978 – 2000 in the Central Valley. Within the OC TMDL project area, there were 169 sites sampled (57 sites from the SJR; 86 sites from the Sacramento River Basin and 26 sites from the Legal Delta Boundary). Results of this effort include several pesticides and OC pesticides only form a sub-component of the studies. Data can be accessed by clicking on the link entitled “TSM Program Data 1978-2000” at:
    http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/swamp/mussel_watch.shtml

  5. Department of Pesticide Regulation
    The Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) Surface Water Database contains data for various environmental monitoring studies by DPR for time period 1991 through 2000. There are 51 sites for which OCs were detected (24 sites from the SJR; 17 sites from the Sacramento River, 10 sites from within the Legal Delta Boundary). The data is presented for various pesticides and OC pesticides only form a part of each data set. Specific OC pesticides detected in this monitoring include Aldrin, Endosulfan, Chlordane, DDT, DDD, DDE, HCH and Dieldrin. The summary of chemical analysis data by sampling sites for various Counties sampled can be accessed at:
    http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/emon/surfwtr/caps/sites.htm

--Web page updated 06/30/2011