This agreement is to fund the state of california's water quality management planning program to improve impaired water and protect unimpaired waters across the state by conducting planning that…

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 9 awarded the State of California Water Resources Control Board $3.08 million under the Water Quality Management Planning program (CFDA 66.454) to fund comprehensive water quality management planning activities across California. Awarded on October 1, 2025, with performance extending through September 30, 2030, this formula grant supports planning initiatives designed to improve impaired waters and protect unimpaired waters through implementation of Clean Water Act (CWA) programs. Funding is provided in full by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).

The grant funds state personnel activities addressing harmful algal blooms and nutrients, ocean acidification and hypoxia ocean plan amendments, basin planning coordination with regional boards, and grant administration. Substantial subaward activities deliver specialized products and services including tribal beneficial use designations in the North Coast Region and Ventura/Los Angeles Counties; ocean acidification and hypoxia modeling; constituents of emerging concern monitoring pilots; cyanotoxin threshold recommendations; microplastic and dissolved oxygen monitoring protocols; wetlands tracking improvements; regional bioassessment and mercury monitoring programs; and technical support for statewide water quality plans including ocean, desalination, and coastal policies. Sea Grant Fellows provide research and policy analysis support across multiple water quality planning initiatives.

This agreement is to fund the state of california's water quality management planning program to improve impaired water and protect unimpaired waters across the state by conducting planning that informs and supports implementation of clean water act programs. In accordance with clean water act section 205(j)(3), the recipient's waiver request dated april 22, 2025, was approved by EPA on june 30, 2025, or is anticipated to be submitted and approved by the EPA by the time the grant is awarded. This agreement is supported by funding from the infrastructure investment and jobs act (IIJA) (PL 117-58). This assistance agreement provides full federal funding in the amount of $3,080,000.00. Activities:the activities to be performed include the following water quality management planning activities. State of california personnel activities include harmful algal blooms and nutrients provisions, ocean acidification and hypoxia ocean plan amendment, basin planning coordination with the regional boards, and grant program administration. Subaward activities include the tribal beneficial use designation support in the north coast region, the tribal beneficial use identification in ventura and LOS angeles counties, ocean acidification and hypoxia modeling, constituents of emerging concern monitoring pilot program, oehha cyanotoxin threshold recommendations, microplastic sample collection protocols, swamp edna monitoring guidance, the russian river regional monitoring program, improvement of tracking of no-net-loss of wetlands, lake merritt dissolved oxygen advance restoration plan, central coast ambient monitoring program, cache creek mercury monitoring, SAN diego regional bioassessment monitoring, mussel identification for LOS angeles regional ammonia water quality objectives, and work by sea grant fellows assisting on statewide water quality plans and policies including the ocean plan, the desalination policy, and other relevant coastal and ocean plans. Subrecipient:subawards:subaward activities include the tribal beneficial use designation support in the north coast region, the tribal beneficial use identification in ventura and LOS angeles counties, ocean acidification and hypoxia modeling, constituents of emerging concern monitoring pilot program, oehha cyanotoxin threshold recommendations, microplastic sample collection protocols, swamp edna monitoring guidance, the russian river regional monitoring program, improvement of tracking of no-net-loss of wetlands, lake merrit dissolved oxygen advance restoration plan, central coast ambient monitoring program, cache creek mercury monitoring, SAN diego regional bioassessment monitoring, mussel identification for LOS angeles regional ammonia water quality objectives, and work by sea grant fellows assisting on statewide water quality plans and policies including the ocean plan, the desalination policy, and other relevant coastal and ocean plans. Outcomes:the anticipated deliverables for projects generally include quarterly reports and final reports with findings or recommendations. The anticipated deliverables for monitoring projects generally include monitoring locations, raw data, data analysis, and final reports. The expected outcomes include completion of activities that carry out a water quality management planning program with environmental outputs related to restoring the state of california's impaired waters and protecting healthy waters. The intended beneficiaries include the people of the state of california and people that reside in other states and tribes that are affected by the quality of california's water bodies.