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ARARs and TECs for Superfund Sites -7- 17 May 1991 (updated 10 October 1991) OTHER STANDARDS, REQUIREMENTS, CRITERIA, AND LIMITATIONS AND GUIDANCE Statement of Policy with Respect to Maintaining High Quality of Waters in California, State Board Resolution No. 68-16 Included in the list of state ARARs and TBCs developed in June 1987 are all the policies, procedures, orders, and resolutions of the Regional Water Quality and State Water Resources Control Boards. One of the most significant policies with respect to the protection of water quality from contaminated sites is State Board Resolution No. 68-16. This resolution, often referred to as the antidegradation policy, requires the continued maintenance of high quality waters of the state even where that quality is greater than needed to protect beneficial uses. This policy would be a chemical-specific and an action- specific ARAR This and other important policies have been incorporated into the Basin Plans by the Regional Boards. Pretreatment Standards under the Clean Water Act Discharges of treated waste to sanitary sewers may be proposed as part of a remedial actions. These discharges may be regulated under the pretreatment program of the appropriate county sanitation district. The Regional Board is involved in oversight of this pretreatment program and how this program relates to the district's WDRs issued by our Board. Remedial actions involving proposed discharges to the sanitary sewer are regulated by these pretreatment standards and the Regional Board would have oversight authority. This ARAR would be action-specific and could be chemical-specific, as well. A Compilation of Water Quality Goals Many of the water quality objectives, contained in the Basin Plans, for protection of beneficial uses of waters of the state (California's water quality standards) are stated in narrative terms". To implement these narrative standards, Regional Board staff has produced a report entitled, A Compilation of Water Quality Goals. This report defines a procedure for selection of appropriate concentrations of chemical constituents and water quality parameters used to determine compliance with the narrative water quality objectives. Published numerical values, designed to protect various beneficial uses,have been compiled from a number of state and federal sources in the tables of this report. The procedures for selecting appropriate numerical values from the tables are detailed in the narrative "Selecting Water Quality Goals", found at the front of the report. This staff report is periodically updated to remain current with new and revised published numerical " Water quality objectives,both narrative and numeric,are ARARs because they are part of the Basin Plan. Examples of narrative objectives from the Basin Plans of the Central Valley Region include: "All waters shall be maintained free of toxic substances in concentrations that produce detrimental physiological responses in human,plant,animal,or aquatic life." "Ground waters designated for use as agricultural supply(AGR)shall not contain concen- trations of chemical constituents in amounts that adversely affect such beneficial use." "Ground waters shall not contain state-or odor-producing substances in concentrations that cause nuisance or adversely affect beneficial uses."