  To
South Coast Region CCA list
The
South Coast Region is comprised of areas under the jurisdiction
of three Regional Water Quality Control Boards: the Los Angeles
Region, the Santa Ana Region, and the San Diego Region.
The
Los Angeles Region is
the State's most densely populated and industrialized region.
This Region includes all coastal drainages flowing to the
Pacific Ocean between Rincon Point (on the coast in western
Ventura County) and the eastern Los Angeles County line,
as well as the drainages of five coastal islands (Anacapa,
San Nicolas, Santa Barbara, Santa Catalina, and San Clemente).
The Regional Board's jurisdiction also includes all coastal
waters within three miles of the continental and adjacent
island coastlines.
 The Region encompasses ten Watershed Management
areas which are the geographically-defined watershed areas where
the Regional Board implements the watershed approach. Many of the
watersheds in this Region range over large areas that are highly
diverse. A Designated Wilderness Area may occur in one part of a
watershed while extensive development dominates another part and
possibly agriculture in yet a different area of the watershed. This
fact results in a great diversity of issues of concern in any particular
watershed with the concomitant need to balance priorities among
existing stakeholders.
Over 1,000 discharges of wastewater from point
sources in this Region are regulated by the Los Angeles Regional
Board. Over 700 of these point source discharges are discharged
to surface waters, and are regulated under the National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System. Permits issued under this program
are referred to as NPDES permits. In addition, the Regional Board
prescribes Waste Discharge Requirements (WDRs) for the remaining
discharges, which are primarily to ground waters and landfills.
However, the quality of many waters continue to be degraded from
pollutants discharged from diffuse and diverse nonpoint sources.
Future success in reducing pollutants from nonpoint sources and
achieving additional reductions in pollutants from point sources
requires a shift to a more geographically-targeted approach.
The Santa Ana Region,
while the smallest of the nine Regional Water Board regions
in the State (2800 square miles), contains a wide variety of water
resources, including pristine mountain streams and lakes, coastal
estuaries and beaches, and effluent-dominated rivers. Most of the
Region is comprised of the watershed of the Santa Ana River and
its tributaries, including the San  Jacinto
River system. The Orange County watersheds that drain into the
San Gabriel River are included in the Santa Ana Region. The Region
also includes the watersheds of San Diego Creek and other tributaries
to Newport Bay, as well as the coastal drainages located southeast
of Newport Bay to just north of the City of Laguna Beach. While
the Region is geographically small, it is the most densely populated,
with almost five million residents (1993 estimate), and furthermore
incorporates the Chino Basin area, which holds the highest density
of dairy animals in the country, if not the world.
The San Gabriel,
San Bernardino, and San Jacinto Mountains form the northern,
northeastern, and eastern boundaries of the Region. The western
boundary of the Region conforms roughly to the Los Angeles
County line. Portions of the Santa Ana Mountains and other hills
form the southern boundary of the Region. The Region includes ocean
coastal waters, roughly from Seal Beach to Muddy Canyon, just
north of Laguna Beach. The two coastal embayments in the Region
are Newport Bay and Anaheim Bay/Huntington Harbour.
Considerable
improvements in water quality have been achieved in the Region
through the control of point source discharges such as those
from sewage treatment plants and industrial facilities. However,
many of the region’s waterbodies remain
impacted from nonpoint source inputs, such as urban nuisance
flows, stormwater runoff and agricultural runoff.
Some of the key
issues that are of wider significance for the Santa Ana Region
include nitrogen/Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) management in the
Santa Ana River, water quality problems associated with dairies,
and coastal beaches. Water quality degradation due to high concentrations
of nitrogen and TDS is the most significant regional water quality
problem in the Santa Ana River Watershed. Water quality problems
associated with dairy wastes include groundwater degradation
in the Chino Basin and Orange County, and adverse impacts to the
Santa Ana River. There are approximately 74 miles of coastal and
bay beaches within the portion of Orange County that is included
in the Santa Ana Region. Monitoring data collected since 1999 demonstrate
that there is a significant public health threat from microbial
pollution problems in ocean waters along the Orange County coast.
To date, studies have indicated that beach water postings cannot
be linked to any single source, although there are a number of
suspected or potential sources. These may include unreported
sewage spills and leaks, urban runoff, Orange County Sanitation
District’s
ocean outfall, the AES power plant discharge at Huntington State
Beach, vessel pump out stations or discharges from vessel holding
tanks, septic systems, coastal wetlands and marshes and wildlife.
The San Diego Region occupies
an area of approximately 3,900 square miles in the southwestern
corner of California. The region encompasses most of San Diego
County and parts of southwestern Riverside County and southern
Orange County. The southern boundary of the region is the United
States – Mexico international border. The northern boundary
of the region is the hydrologic divide extending from the eastern
boundary westerly along the ridge of the Elsinore Mountains through
El Toro to the coast north of Laguna Beach and extending three
miles offshore. The population of the region is, for the most
part, concentrated near the coast. The activities associated
with this population can directly influence the water quality
and beneficial uses of coastal ocean waters.
The region’s natural water resources,
which include coastal waters, inland surface waters, and ground
waters, have a variety of beneficial uses. Most water supplied
for domestic and municipal uses is imported. The region includes
a number of relatively small watersheds, all of which drain to
the Pacific Ocean or contiguous coastal waters.
Until the
early 1980’s the San Diego
Regional Board’s efforts to protect water quality and
beneficial uses were directed primarily towards controlling point
source discharges of waste from sewage treatment plants and industrial
facilities. Pollution from such point source discharges has
largely been controlled through stringent pollution control laws
and the efforts of the San Diego Regional Board and other agencies.
Ground water contamination, nonpoint sources of pollution (such
as urban and agricultural runoff), and physical modifications
to water bodies are now considered the greatest remaining threats
to water quality and beneficial uses. |
