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4.8 – Water Draft Environmental Impact Report February 2021 14800 W. Schulte Road Logistics Center 4.8-3 contamination. While the threat from many of these sites can be mitigated, the aggregate impact from undetected point-source contamination on groundwater quality in the basin cannot be determined. Regional Surface Waters The Central Valley is a very large, flat alluvial valley that dominates the central portion of California. Land use in this region includes a majority of the state’s most productive agricultural operations. The valley stretches approximately 500 miles from north to south, from about 100 miles south of the Oregon border to the boundary between Kern and Los Angeles counties. The Central Valley is div ided into three hydrologic regions or surface water basins including the Sacramento River Basin in the north, the San Joaquin River Basin in the center, and the Tulare Lake Basin to the very south. Together the Sacramento and San Joaquin River Basins cover about one fourth of the total areas of the state and over 30 percent of the irrigable land. The two main drainages for these valleys, the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River, empty into the San Francisco Bay estuary system through a large expanse of interconnected canals, streambeds, sloughs, marshes and peat islands known as the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta). The County lies entirely within the San Joaquin River Basin which is bounded topographically and geologically by the bedrock of the Diablo Range on the west and the Sierra Nevada to the east. The San Joaquin River flows in a southeast to northwest direction from the Sierra Nevada through the county into the Delta, San Francisco Bay, and ultimately the Pacific Ocean. Both the headwaters a nd ultimate destination of the San Joaquin River and its tributaries are outside of the county. 4.8.2 Relevant Plans, Policies, and Ordinances Federal The federal Clean Water Act establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters. The basis of the Clean Water Act was enacted in 1948 and was called the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, but the Act was significantly reorganized and expanded in 1972. "Clean Water Act" became the Act's common name with amendments in 1972. Under the Clean Water Act, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has implemented pollution control programs such as setting wastewater standards for industry. The federal EPA has also developed national water quality criteria recommendations for pollutants in surface waters. The Clean Water Act made it unlawful to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters, unless a permit was obtained: • EPA's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program controls discharges. • Point sources are discrete conveyances such as pipes or man-made ditches. o Individual homes that are connected to a municipal system, use a septic system, or do not have a surface discharge do not need a NPDES permit. o Industrial, municipal, and other facilities must obtain permits if their discharges go directly to surface waters.