Water Board Proposes Exceptions to ASBS Discharge Ban

California’s State Water Resources Control Board designated 34 critical marine ecosystems in the 1970s as "Areas of Special Biological Significance (ASBS)." Since 1983, the State Water Board's Ocean Plan has officially prohibited all waste discharges into ASBSs to protect their health.  Yet, a 2006 ASBS Status Report found over 1,600 illegal discharges into these sensitive habitats.  To assist in cleaning up pollution into these protected areas, CCKA has developed an interactive map of the state’s 34 ASBSs.  The map provides fact sheets that describe each ASBS and highlight the known pollutants threatening these important marine habitats.  CCKA will use this information in weighing in on the State Water Board's proposal to grant dozens of new exceptions to the "no discharge" rule.  Comments are due May 4.

Many of the ASBSs also overlap with marine protected areas (MPAs) designated through the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative.  The map also allows users to see how these areas overlap, including in the newly-designated South Coast Study Region of MPAs.

In addition, the maps outline the watersheds that most closely impact ASBSs via land-based polluted runoff.  The California Coastal Commission has spearheaded a program to address pollution in these “Critical Coastal Areas” to protect ASBSs and other identified marine waters.  Attention to these coastal watersheds will help CCKA and partners to control land-based pollution discharges in to sensitive ASBS (and MPA) waters.

Learn more.