Most Central Coast water bodies listed as impaired
by Jodi Frediani
June 2009

The 1972 Federal Clean Water Act requires states to identify water bodies that do not meet water quality objectives and are not supporting their beneficial uses. Beneficial uses include drinking water, water contact recreation such as swimming, cold water (fish) habitat, estuarine habitat, groundwater recharge, and more. Each state must submit an updated list to the EPA every two years.

This list includes streams and other water bodies that are considered impaired due to a variety of contaminants including fecal coliform, pathogens, nitrates, pesticides, mercury, turbidity, and sediment, among others, as well as those streams where temperatures are too high for survival of fish.

Currently, most of the water bodies in Santa Cruz County and Monterey County are listed as impaired for sediment. Alisal Creek in Monterey County is already listed for fecal coliform and nitrate and is proposed to be listed for sodium and chlorophyll-a. The Pajaro River is currently listed for nitrates, nutrients, sedimentation/siltation, boron and fecal coliform and is being proposed to add chloride, chlorpyrifos, E. Coli, low dissolved oxygen, pH, sodium and turbidity. Additional new listings are proposed for other water bodies throughout Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. The Water Board is proposing 500 additional listings. Some steams will be listed for multiple pollutants.

A public hearing conducted by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board Central Coast Region on the impaired water bodies will be held July 10 in the Watsonville City Council Chambers starting at 8:30 a.m. Attend and speak up in support of the listings, or send them a letter. You can download a sample here as a MS Word or PDF document.

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