Water quality checks hit, miss

Inconsistent enforcement cited in report

Alex Breitler
The Stockton Record
04/07/2008

SACRAMENTO - Agencies charged with protecting California's water quality are inconsistently enforcing the law and levying fines that have not increased since 1984, according to a new staff report.

Environmentalists have long complained that the State Water Resources Control Board and nine other regional boards are not properly safeguarding water quality.

While not as prominent as other government branches, these boards investigate thousands of violations - some in paperwork, others toxic discharges into creeks and streams. The boards take a key role in protecting water bodies such as the Delta.

The report, open for public comment, was requested by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2007.

"It's really an attempt by the water boards, in response to a lot of criticism that we've received, to say where we are right now, warts and all, with the idea that we need this information so we can improve," said Reed Sato, who heads the Office of Enforcement for the state board.

Problems identified by the board include:

» Key data on water quality violations are either missing or incomplete, and records vary from region to region, making it difficult to tell where the most serious violations are taking place.

» In the Central Valley, only 43 enforcement and compliance offers are charged with tracking nearly 16,000 permits.

» When violations are found, not all of the perpetrators are penalized. For example, in the Central Valley, 493 violations were reported in 2006-07 under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System wastewater program. This includes many permits held by cities and factories. Just 280 of those violations - or 56 percent - were enforced.

» Finally, penalties have not been adjusted for inflation in more than two decades. This could make the law less of a deterrent, the report warns.

"Being caught for violating the law is just kind of the cost of doing business," said Bill Jennings, a Stockton environmentalist who frequently criticizes the water boards. "It's cheaper to continue to pollute than it is to either upgrade equipment or take management measures.

"The bottom line," Jennings said, "is that if (the laws) had been enforced and complied with, these waters wouldn't be polluted now. For 20 years, we haven't vigorously enforced the law."

Under state law, fines cannot exceed $15,000 for each day a violation takes place or $20 for each gallon of waste discharged into the environment. Under that cost structure, the penalties seem "really low" in some situations, such as the high-profile Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay in the fall, the board's Sato said.

On the other hand, fees could mount into the millions in less than an hour should an illegal spill occur at Stockton's wastewater treatment plant.

The city, after all, discharges about 33 million gallons of treated wastewater every day into the San Joaquin River.

"The fines they do issue in the municipal arena can be appreciable," said Mark Madison, director of the city's Municipal Utilities Department. "Are they a deterrent? Yes, they are. They do not need to make changes to further get our attention."

A staff attorney for Baykeeper, a conservation group that monitors water quality, said she was encouraged by the state's recommendation to keep better track of enforcement.

"I hope action comes from it," Amy Chastain said. "We don't need just another report."