13269
. (a) (1) On and after January 1, 2000, the provisions of
subdivisions (a) and (c) of Section 13260, subdivision (a) of Section
13263, or subdivision (a) of Section 13264 may be waived by the
state board or a regional board as to a specific discharge or type of
discharge if the state board or a regional board determines, after
any necessary state board or regional board meeting, that the waiver
is consistent with any applicable state or regional water quality
control plan and is in the public interest. The state board or a
regional board shall give notice of any necessary meeting by
publication pursuant to Section 11125 of the Government Code.
(2) A waiver may not exceed five years in duration, but may be
renewed by the state board or a regional board. The waiver shall be
conditional and may be terminated at any time by the state board or a
regional board. The conditions of the waiver shall include, but need
not be limited to, the performance of individual, group, or
watershed-based monitoring, except as provided in paragraph (3).
Monitoring requirements shall be designed to support the development
and implementation of the waiver program, including, but not limited
to, verifying the adequacy and effectiveness of the waiver's
conditions. In establishing monitoring requirements, the regional
board may consider the volume, duration, frequency, and constituents
of the discharge; the extent and type of existing monitoring
activities, including, but not limited to, existing watershed-based,
compliance, and effectiveness monitoring efforts; the size of the
project area; and other relevant factors. Monitoring results shall be
made available to the public.
(3) The state board or a regional board may waive the monitoring
requirements described in this subdivision for discharges that it
determines do not pose a significant threat to water quality.
(4) (A) The state board or a regional board may include as a
condition of a waiver the payment of an annual fee established by the
state board in accordance with subdivision (f) of Section 13260.
(B) Funds generated by the payment of the fee shall be deposited
in the Waste Discharge Permit Fund for expenditure, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, by the state board or appropriate
regional board for the purpose of carrying out activities limited to
those necessary to establish and implement the waiver program
pursuant to this section. The total amount of annual fees collected
pursuant to this section shall not exceed the costs of those
activities necessary to establish and implement waivers of waste
discharge requirements pursuant to this section.
(C) In establishing the amount of a fee that may be imposed on
irrigated agriculture operations pursuant to this section, the state
board shall consider relevant factors, including, but not limited to,
all of the following:
(i) The size of the operations.
(ii) Any compliance costs borne by the operations pursuant to
state and federal water quality regulations.
(iii) Any costs associated with water quality monitoring performed
or funded by the operations.
(iv) Participation in a watershed management program approved by
the applicable regional board.
(D) In establishing the amount of a fee that may be imposed on
silviculture operations pursuant to this section, the state board
shall consider relevant factors, including, but not limited to, all
of the following:
(i) The size of the operations.
(ii) Any compliance costs borne by the operations pursuant to
state and federal water quality regulations.
(iii) Any costs associated with water quality monitoring performed
or funded by the operations.
(iv) The average annual number of timber harvest plans proposed by
the operations.
(5) The state board or a regional board shall give notice of the
adoption of a waiver by publication within the affected county or
counties as set forth in Section 6061 of the Government Code.
(b) (1) A waiver in effect on January 1, 2000, shall remain valid
until January 1, 2003, unless the regional board terminates that
waiver prior to that date. All waivers that were valid on January 1,
2000, and granted an extension until January 1, 2003, and not
otherwise terminated, may be renewed by a regional board in five-year
increments.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a waiver for an onsite sewage
treatment system that is in effect on January 1, 2002, shall remain
valid until June 30, 2004, unless the regional board terminates the
waiver prior to that date. Any waiver for onsite sewage treatment
systems adopted or renewed after June 30, 2004, shall be consistent
with the applicable regulations or standards for onsite sewage
treatment systems adopted or retained in accordance with Section
13291.
(c) Upon notification of the appropriate regional board of the
discharge or proposed discharge, except as provided in subdivision
(d), the provisions of subdivisions (a) and (c) of Section 13260,
subdivision (a) of Section 13263, and subdivision (a) of Section
13264 do not apply to a discharge resulting from any of the following
emergency activities:
(1) Immediate emergency work necessary to protect life or property
or immediate emergency repairs to public service facilities
necessary to maintain service as a result of a disaster in a
disaster-stricken area in which a state of emergency has been
proclaimed by the Governor pursuant to Chapter 7 (commencing with
Section 8550) of Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(2) Emergency projects undertaken, carried out, or approved by a
public agency to maintain, repair, or restore an existing highway, as
defined in Section 360 of the Vehicle Code, except for a highway
designated as an official state scenic highway pursuant to Section
262 of the Streets and Highways Code, within the existing
right-of-way of the highway, damaged as a result of fire, flood,
storm, earthquake, land subsidence, gradual earth movement, or
landslide within one year of the damage. This paragraph does not
exempt from this section any project undertaken, carried out, or
approved by a public agency to expand or widen a highway damaged by
fire, flood, storm, earthquake, land subsidence, gradual earth
movement, or landslide.
(d) Subdivision (c) is not a limitation of the authority of a
regional board under subdivision (a) to determine that any provision
of this division shall not be waived or to establish conditions of a
waiver. Subdivision (c) shall not apply to the extent that it is
inconsistent with any waiver or other order or prohibition issued
under this division.
(e) The regional boards and the state board shall require
compliance with the conditions pursuant to which waivers are granted
under this section.
(f) Prior to renewing any waiver for a specific type of discharge
established under this section, the state board or a regional board
shall review the terms of the waiver policy at a public hearing. At
the hearing, the state board or a regional board shall determine
whether the discharge for which the waiver policy was established
should be subject to general or individual waste discharge
requirements.