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San Diego Region - Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs)

On September 14, 2005, the Regional Board assessed four Dischargers $642,000 in civil liability. Of that total, the Dischargers may satisfy up to $303,500 by funding Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) acceptable to the Regional Board. SEPs are projects that will contribute to the enhancement, protection or restoration of water quality and beneficial uses of waters in the San Diego Region. A project is considered to be "supplemental" if the project does not qualify to be funded and implemented through an existing program, and does not involve an existing obligation or requirement of the Regional Board.

In order for the Regional Board to consider a SEP, the Discharger needs to do the following: (1) submit its proposal(s) to the Regional Board by October 3, 2005 for the November 14, 2005 meeting, or November 9, 2005 for the December 14, 2005 meeting; and (2) newspaper notice a 30-day public comment period prior to presenting the SEP for consideration by the Regional Board. In 2000, the Regional Board established a procedure to facilitate the evaluation and acceptance of SEPs (Attachment No.1). In addition, the State Water Resources Control Board Water Quality Enforcement Policy, adopted in February 2002, added additional criteria to consider when approving SEPs. Each project application must meet the following criteria:

  1. The work involved will lead to improved water quality and support of beneficial uses of waters within the San Diego Region.
  2. The project has a well-defined scope of work, an estimate of the life-cycle costs, a stated duration, clearly defined goals or objectives, and includes methods to determine the effectiveness after completion.
  3. The project includes documentation of support by other resource agencies, public groups and impacted persons and, when appropriate, includes environmental impact documentation, such as a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) document.
  4. The project does not in any way satisfy any pre-existing regulatory requirement of the Regional Board.
  5. The project includes the designation of a Project Trustee who will be acceptable to the Regional Board to provide oversight of funds and accountability for project accomplishment on the behalf of the Regional Board. The Project Trustee is required to report progress to the Regional Board including participation at public meetings.
  6. There is a nexus between the violation and the SEP. A geographic nexus requires that the project be conducted in the area where the violation occurred. A beneficial use nexus addresses protection and improvement to beneficial uses affected by the violation.

Project proposals are submitted to the Regional Board on a SEP Application form, (Attachment No. 2). The Regional Board evaluates proposed SEPs based on: consideration of the SEPs' water quality, beneficial use, monitoring, public education and/or outreach attributes. Since the Regional Board may or may not approve any individual SEPs proposed by a Discharger, the Regional Board recommends additional SEPs be submitted.

While SEPs can be a means of retaining some portion of assessed penalties within a particular region or area, oversight of such SEPs can require a great deal of Regional Board staff time. Even reliance on a third party for such oversight requires that Regional Board ensure a third party tracks completion. Therefore, if a Discharger proposes a SEP, which requires significantly more staff oversight than a nominal amount of time needed to track the SEP progress, the Discharger may be required to make additional payment to the State Board to cover the cost of Regional Board oversight.

The status of SEPs funded and implemented by the Regional Board is reported to the Regional Board by the Executive Officer periodically in the monthly Executive Officer's Report.

For more information

Please contact Rebecca Stewart at (858) 467-2966 or by email at RStewart@waterboards.ca.gov, or Mark Alpert at 858-467-2963 or by email at MAlpert@waterboards.ca.gov, .