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City of Stockton and County of San Joaquin Page 76 NPDES Permit CAS0083470 Response to Comments The Permit language is unclear as to whether the water quality based programs are to be implemented concurrently or consecutively. Since all local urban waterways are identified as already impaired, investigations and control efforts must be implemented concurrently and as soon as logistically possible. Since the water quality-based programs are a significant and integral part of the Permit, approval of proposed plans and time schedules must be submitted to the Regional Board for consideration following circulation for public review. The Board cannot legally delegate these responsibilities to the Executive Officer. We are submitting, as Appendix B, a recently released report titled Preliminary Assessment of the Bioaccumulation of PCBs and Organochlorine Pesticides in Lumbriculus variegatus from the City of Stockton Smith Canal Sediments and Toxicity of Stockton Smith Canal Sediments to Hyatella azteca, G. Fred Lee &Associates, July 2002. The report indicates that the likely source of PCB and organochlorine pesticide impairment is the storm sewers that drain several areas of Stockton into Yosemite Lake, at the head of Smith Canal. The Permit must include a requirement to develop and implement a water quality-based control plan for PCBs and organochlorine pesticides in Yosemite Lake and Smith Canal. There are no performance goals connected to the water quality based programs. Performance goals should either require: 1) numerical limits, 2) a percentage reduction in the discharge of impairing pollutants or 3) a requirement to attain water quality standards within three years. The absence of performance goals tied to improvements in water quality undermines all of the water quality based programs and fails to comply with MEP and the "and such other provisions as the Administrator or the State determines appropriate for the control of such pollutants"in CWA § 402(p)(3)(B)(iii). The state has already determined that receiving water quality standards are necessary for MS-4 permits. There must be performance standards to ensure that the BMPs to the MEP are effectively reducing or eliminating violations of receiving water quality standards. Response: The Tentative Order requires the Permittees to obtain the legal authority to effectively prohibit discharges of vegetative waste and pet waste to receiving waters (see Provision D.6(b)(viii)). We expect the Permittees to enforce this prohibition as soon as practicable. As part of preparing the Pathogen and DO Plans, the Permittees are required to propose BMPs to address these sources of water quality impairment. We expect the Permittees to propose performance standards along with these BMPs. Depending on the type of BMP proposed, these performance standards may take the form of numeric limits or percent pollutant reduction. Proposed BMPs and performance standards will be modified per the direction of the Regional Board. The water quality-based programs must be implemented as soon as practicable to meet the MEP standard. We expect these programs to be implemented concurrently,but we recognize that the Permittees may assert that doing so is infeasible. We will consider any such assertion when it is presented.