Conway v. State Water Res. Control Bd.
Annotate this CaseMcGrath Lake has about 12 acres of surface area. Its subwatershed consists of approximately 1,200 acres including agricultural fields, petroleum facilities, park land, public roads and a closed landfill. Runoff reaches the lake by Central Ditch; there is no natural outlet. The lake and its bed sediment are polluted with pesticides and PCBs. California implements the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1251) through the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (Wat. Code 13000), setting "total maximum daily load[s]" (TMDL) of pollutants for bodies of water. A Regional Board established TMDLs for pollutants coming from the Central Ditch and for pollutants in the lake bed sediment. The Basin Plan Amendment sets a goal of 14 years to achieve the TMDL for the lake bed sediment, but does not mandate any particular method of remediation. The trial court denied a challenge. The court of appeal affirmed. A TMDL is an informational document, not an implementation plan, so only first-tier analysis was necessary. Remediation measures are beyond the scope of the TMDL. Until a plan is formulated, full environmental analysis of any particular method of remediation is premature.
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