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San Joaquin River at Vernalis Salt and Boron TMDL and Basin Plan Amendment

This web page contains information on a TMDL and Basin Plan Amendment for the Control of Salt and Boron Discharges into the San Joaquin River. For additional information please contact Joseph Simi at (916) 464-4833 or by email at jsimi@waterboards.ca.gov.

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Regional Board and US Bureau of Reclamation MAA to Address Salinity

List of Available Documents

  • Phase I MAA
    As part of the San Joaquin River at Vernalis TMDL implementation program, the Central Valley Water Board and US Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) entered into a Phase I Management Agency Agreement (MAA), 254 KB, PDF (PDF info) in 2008 to address salt imported into the San Joaquin River basin via the Delta-Mendota Canal.  This MAA was part of a planned phased MAA process, and was intended to be a 2-year agreement.

    In this initial MAA, Reclamation agreed to implement a salt management plan (Action Plan), and to prepare and submit a Compliance Monitoring and Evaluation Plan (Compliance Plan, 410 KB, PDF (PDF info)), a Compliance Monitoring and Evaluation Report (Compliance Report, 615 KB, PDF (PDF info)), and quarterly monitoring reports (QMRs).Following execution of the agreement, Reclamation prepared and submitted those plans and reports, along with an Action Plan, 69 KB, PDF (PDF info).

  • Development of Phase II MAA
    Shortly after entering into the Phase I MAA,  Central Valley Water Board and Reclamation staffs jointly prepared a preliminary  Phase II MAA, and in July 2010, this draft agreement along with Reclamation’s Compliance Plan, Compliance Report, and revised Action Plan were sent out for public review and comment.  Written comments were received from the San Luis – Delta Mendota Water Authority, 861 KB, PDF (PDF info), and in August, a stakeholder meeting was held to receive additional comments on the documents.  After that meeting, written comments were also submitted by ICF International, 570 KB, PDF (PDF info) .

    Based on both written and verbal comments received, the preliminary MAA and Reclamation’s related documents were revised and sent out for another round of public comments in December 2010. Written comments on those documents were received from:

    Following consideration of those comments, a draft Phase II MAA, 34 KB, PDF (PDF info) , revised Action Plan, 169 KB, PDF (PDF info) , revised Compliance Plan, 273 KB, PDF (PDF info) , and revised Compliance Report, 414 KB, PDF (PDF info) were prepared.

    At the February 3, 2011 Central Valley Water Board meeting, a status report on the MAA and related activities was provided to the Board and they directed staff to continue working with stakeholders and Reclamation to resolve outstanding issues with the goal of bringing a Phase II MAA back for approval by the end of Summer 2011.

    One of the outstanding issues is quantifying dilution flow for the purpose of calculating dilution flow credit. Two methodologies have been identified to date – one currently utilized by Reclamation and an alternative approach submitted by Russ Brown of ICF International. Reclamation’s methodology, 29 KB, PDF (PDF info) has previously been reviewed and discussed in some detail, but Russ Brown’s approach, 540 KB, PDF (PDF info) has not been previously distributed to stakeholders. To continue moving forward with the MAA process, we are providing stakeholders the opportunity to review and comment on his approach and/or recommend an alternative. Please submit comments by March 15, 2011 by email at jmartin@waterboards.ca.gov or by mail to:

    Jim Martin
    Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board
    11020 Sun Center Drive, # 200
    Rancho Cordova, CA 95670

If you have any questions, contact Jim Martin at (916) 464-4685 or email at jmartin@waterboards.ca.gov.

CV-SALTS Initiative

San Joaquin River Upstream of Vernalis Salt and Boron Basin Plan Amendment

  • San Joaquin River Upstream of Vernalis Salt and Boron Basin Plan Amendment
    At their 13 May 2010 meeting, the Executive Committee of CV-SALTS established a Lower San Joaquin River Committee to address the Regional Board ’s request for CV-SALTS to take on the upstream San Joaquin River salt and boron beneficial use and objectives study and work on the policy and science to develop a basin plan amendment that would address those issues. The Regional Board website for this project, including material from CEQA scoping meetings, has been moved to the CV-SALTS website and can be found at:

    http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley/water_issues/salinity/upstream_salt_boron/index.shtml

    This website also contains a March 2010 draft Technical Report on Salt Tolerance of Crops in the Lower San Joaquin River (Stanislaus to Merced Reaches). A comment period on the Draft Report closed on 19 May, and comments received on the Draft Report will be posted soon to the website above.

Adoption and Approvals

Notice of Decision

September 2004 Final Basin Plan Amendment

July 2004 Draft Final Basin Plan Amendment Staff Report and Technical TMDL

29 April 2004 Public Workshop on Basin Plan Amendment

Comments on November 2003 Public Review Draft Basin Plan Amendment Staff Report and Technical TMDL

Comment letters solicited by the Regional Board before the deadline of 20 January 2004.

January 2004 Public Workshop -- Continuation of December 2003 Workshop

December 2003 Public Workshop on Basin Plan Amendment

November 2003 Public Review Draft Basin Plan Amendment Staff Report and Technical TMDL

September 2003 Peer Review Draft Basin Plan Amendment Staff Report and Technical TMDL

  • Peer Review Draft Basin Plan Amendment Staff Report, PDF (PDF info)
    This document includes the proposed Basin Plan Amendment staff report that was made available to peer reviewers. Appendices 1 through 5 were also provided to peer reviewers; they are available above (November 2003 Public Review Draft).

January 2002 Technical Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Report

  • Salt and Boron TMDL for the Lower San Joaquin River, 2.2 MB*, PDF (PDF info) HTTP
    This document is the technical TMDL report for salt and boron in the Lower San Joaquin River submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on 22 January 2002. The technical TMDL report includes a problem statement, numeric targets, a source analysis, and waste load allocations for point sources and load allocations for non-point sources. Regional Board Staff will now commence work on an amendment to the Water Quality Control Plan for the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River Basins (Basin Plan). The salt and boron technical TMDL report will not have any regulatory authority or effect until the Regional Board adopts components of the TMDL as part of a Basin Plan Amendment.
  • Appendix A, 680 KB, PDF (PDF info)
    Methods and data sources used to develop the TMDL source analysis
  • Appendix B, 376KB, PDF (PDF info)
    Geographic Information System data processing information and metadata
  • Appendix C, 145KB, PDF (PDF info)
    Estimates of Municipal and Industrial Salt Loading to the Lower San Joaquin River
  • Appendix D, 400KB, PDF (PDF info)
    Estimates of background salt and boron loading to the Lower San Joaquin River
  • Appendix E, 503KB, PDF (PDF info)
    Alternate Methods for calculating salt loading from the Northwest Side of the San Joaquin River Sub-area
  • Appendix F, 679KB, PDF (PDF info )
    DWRSIM flow data from CALFED Study 771 used to develop load allocations, Delta Mendota Canal delivery allocations, and Lower San Joaquin River diversion allocations (this appendix primarily consists of raw data)
  • Appendix G, 164KB, PDF (PDF info)
    Linkage analysis flows, salt loads, electrical conductivity, and boron concentrations (this appendix primarily consists of raw data)

Workshop Presentations

  • 29 April 2004 Workshop Meeting Notes Compiled by Public Affairs Management, 21 KB, PDF (PDF info)

  • 29 April 2004 San Joaquin River Management Group Presentation, 652 KB, PDF (PDF info)
    Representatives from the San Joaquin River Management Group gave a presentation at the April 29, 2004 public workshop on a conceptual plan for achieving salt and boron water quality objectives. The presentation included a description of the group participants, examples of potential implementation actions, and time lines for completing the plan.

  • 29 April 2004 Workshop, 256 KB, PDF (PDF info)
    Regional Board staff held a public workshop to solicit comments and alternate approaches for a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) and Basin Plan Amendment to control salt and boron discharges to the Lower San Joaquin River.

  • September 2002 Salt and Boron TMDL workshop, 4.6 MB*, PDF (PDF info)
    Regional Board staff held a public workshop to present information on the draft Lower San Joaquin River salt and boron Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) implementation framework. This link provides a copy of the workshop presentation.

  • 4 March 2002 Workshop, 4.0 MB*, PDF (PDF info)
    Regional Board staff held a public workshop on 4 March 2002 to present the Salinity and Boron Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) developed for the Lower San Joaquin River.

  • 28 August 2001 Workshop, 4.0 MB*, PDF (PDF info)
    The Regional Board staff held a public workshop on 28 August 2001 to present new information for the Salinity and Boron Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) currently being developed for the Lower San Joaquin River. The purpose of the workshop was to provide an update on the status of the Salinity and Boron TMDL and to present proposed TMDL Load Allocations.

  • 1 March 2001 Workshop, 1.5 MB*, PDF (PDF info)
    Regional Board staff held a workshop on March 1, 2001 in Modesto to present an overview of the Salinity and Boron TMDL currently being developed. The purpose of this workshop was to explain the reasons for developing a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for Salinity and Boron in the Lower San Joaquin River, and to incorporate stakeholder input into the TMDL development process.

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--Web page updated 07/13/2011