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Sport Fish Water Quality Objective

Sport Fish Water Quality Objective applicability to the Central Valley Water Board's Water Quality Control Plans

The Water Quality Control Plan for Inland Surface Waters, Enclosed Bays, and Estuaries of California (ISWEBE) was adopted by the State Water Resources Control Board and established provisions for water quality and sediment quality that apply to all inland surface waters, enclosed bays, and estuaries and coastal lagoons. Except where otherwise noted, the provisions within ISWEBE supersede any Regional Water Quality Control Plans (Basin Plans) for the same waters to the extent of any conflict. The State Water Resources Control Board adopted Part 2 of the ISWEBE for Tribal and Subsistence Fishing Beneficial Uses and Mercury Provisions (Mercury Provisions) on May 2, 2017 that established 3 new beneficial uses and associated mercury objectives.  The Mercury Provisions are located here: https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/mercury/docs/hg_prov_final.pdf.

One of the objectives established by the Mercury Provisions, the Sport Fish Water Quality Objective (WQO) for mercury applies to waters designated with the beneficial uses of Commercial and Sport Fishing (COMM), Tribal Tradition and Culture (CUL), Wildlife Habitat (WILD), or Marine (MAR). While waterbodies in the Central Valley Water Board’s jurisdiction are not currently designated for CUL, the Sport Fish WQO applies to waterbodies with COMM and WILD designation, affording the same mercury protection as it would under CUL beneficial use designation. Currently, 99% of waterbodies listed in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Basin Plan beneficial use table and 100% of waterbodies listed in the Tulare Lake Basin Plan beneficial use table have a WILD or COMM beneficial use designation. This means that the Sport Fish WQO already applies to these waterbodies.

The Microsoft Excel file was developed to inform tribes  and the public where the Sport Fish WQO currently applies in the Central Valley Water Board’s two basin plans, the Sacramento and San Joaquin Basin Plan and the Tulare Lake Basin Plan, respectively. The excel file has 2 tabs, one for the waterbodies included in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Basin Plan and a second tab for the waterbodies included in the Tulare Lake Basin Plan. The excel file contains 6 columns:

• Main Surface Water Body
• Surface Water Bodies column identifies a specific section of the main surface water body
• Hydrologic Unit Number (Hydro Unit Number) column identifies which hydrological basin planning area the waterbody section falls into. The numbers in this column correspond with watershed regions shown in the maps linked at the bottom of the table.
• Sportfish WQO column indicates if the Sportfish WQO currently applies. A “Yes” in this column indicates that the Sport Fish WQO applies, and a blank entry indicates that the Sport Fish WQO does not apply to the specific section of the waterbody.
• Wildlife Habitat (WILD) designated waterbodies indicated by an ‘X’
• Commercial and Sport Fishing (COMM) designated waterbodies indicated by an ‘X’