On May 5, 2011, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board (Los Angeles Water Board) adopted Resolution No. R11-008, amending the Water Quality Control Plan for the Los Angeles Region by establishing a TMDL for Toxic Pollutants in Dominguez Channel and Greater Los Angeles and Long Beach Harbor Waters. The TMDL includes numeric targets for the water column based on California Toxics Rule criteria for protection of human health; sediment targets based on the narrative standards of the Basin Plan, the Enclosed Bays and Estuaries Plan, Sediment Quality Objectives Part 1, and sediment quality guidelines compiled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and fish tissue targets based on Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) Fish Contaminant Goals. Final load allocations (LAs) are assigned to direct atmospheric deposition and bed sediments. Final waste load allocations (WLAs) are assigned to stormwater discharges from municipal separate storm sewer systems, California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) facilities, and construction and industrial facilities, and other NPDES permitted discharges in both wet and dry weather. Dominguez Channel freshwater allocations are set for wet weather only because exceedances of water quality standards have only been documented in wet weather.
TMDL implementation will be carried out by assigned responsible parties for (1) Dominguez Channel, Torrance Lateral, and Dominguez Channel Estuary; (2) Greater Los Angeles and Long Beach Harbor waters (including Consolidated Slip); and (3) Los Angeles River and San Gabriel River as listed in detail in the Basin Plan, Table 7-40.1. Responsible parties can implement a variety of implementation strategies to meet the required WLAs and LAs by reducing sediment transport from the upstream and nearshore watersheds to Dominguez Channel and Greater Los Angeles and Long Beach Harbor waters, and implementing targeted actions addressing internal reservoirs of contaminants. Dischargers and responsible parties may implement structural and or non-structural BMPs and work collaboratively to achieve the numeric targets and allocations.
The TMDL requires responsible parties for the assigned WLAs and LAs to submit: monitoring plans (MP) and Implementation Plans (IP) and Contaminated Sediment Management Plans (CSMP) within twenty months (MP) and two years (IP and CSMP) after the effective date of the TMDL. Responsible agencies shall submit progress reports to provide updates on the status of implementation actions performed under the TMDL three years after the effective date of the TMDL and annually thereafter. The Los Angeles Water Board will reconsider targets, WLAs, and LAs six years after the effective date of the TMDL based on new policies, data or special studies. The implementation schedule for achieving applicable WLAs and LAs is 20 years after the effective date of the TMDL.
Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 23, § 3939.44