Welcome to the EPA Region 9 Water Programs page. Our Water Division is responsible for implementing programs to protect the public and the environment by preventing, reducing and regulating contamination of surface and ground water. A watershed approach is used to provide protection for public health and water resources including lakes, rivers, estuaries, oceans, and wetlands. Primary authority for EPA water programs was established by the 1986 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and the 1987 amendments to the Clean Water Act (CWA). For more information see the EPA Office of Water home page.

Learn more about the health of the watershed you live in by visiting EPA's interactive site, Surf your watershed.

Surface water quality

• Polluted Runoff -- Nonpoint Source Program (NPS)
• Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Program
  ...identifying impaired waters (including 303(d) lists), and setting pollutant limits for surface waters
• California water quality planning projects
• California toxics rule
• CALFED Bay-Delta program
• Dioxins in San Francisco Bay
• Southern California coastal study
• Arid West water quality research project
• Tribes - Water Quality Standards & Criteria

Drinking water and ground water program information

• Tribal Wastewater fact sheet (PDF, 4 pg, 429 KB  About PDF)
• Underground Injection Control: Pineview subdivision in Gardnerville, NV draft permit
• EPA Fact Sheet: Ban on Large Capacity Cesspools to Protect Public Health in Hawaii (PDF, 2 pp., 41 K)
  Find out about the ban, if it applies to you and how it is being implemented in the State of Hawaii
• EPA Headquarters Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water
  ... with frequently asked questions, perchlorate info, and more
• Status of state source water assessment programs
  ... new requirements and upcoming workshops
• Notes from the Underground Newsletter
• Charnock MTBE project (updated April 30, 2002)
  ... with documents, photos, and background about MTBE cleanup in Southern California's Charnock Sub-Basin
•  Disinfecting drinking water with chloramine
  ... San Francisco PUC makes the switch
• U.S.-Mexico border projects: including drinking water projects in in Baja California, Mexico/California, and Sonora, Mexico/Arizona

Wastewater program information

• Fort Bragg storm water inflow and infiltration repair project
• Ventura County El Rio, CA -- Wastewater system improvements
• Russian River county sanitation district wastewater treatment facility’s third unit processes project
• National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program
• Water recycling and reuse: The environmental benefits
• Lenwood/High desert estates sewer project
• U.S./Mexico border projects: including wastewater infrastructure projects in Baja California, Mexico/California, and Sonora, Mexico/Arizona.

Other information

• Lower Owens River Project (LORP)
• San Francisco deep ocean disposal site
• Funding sources for communities
• Transportation and water quality: A guidebook to funding
  ... how local agencies can get TEA21 funding
• Western environmental monitoring and assessment program
• Animal waste management
  ... including the California Dairy Quality Assurance Program
• Oil spill prevention & response
• State and local contacts for further water program information