Each person for whom waste discharge requirements have been prescribed pursuant to Section 13263 of the Water Code shall submit, to the state board, an annual fee in accordance with the following schedules. The fee shall be submitted for each waste discharge requirement order issued to that person. ¹

¹ Federal facilities will generally not be invoiced for the portion of the annual fee that is attributable to the state board's ambient water monitoring programs. See Massachusetts v. United States (1978) 435 U.S. 444.

² For this table, discharges to land or surface waters are those discharges of waste to land or surface waters not covered by NPDES permits that are regulated pursuant to Water Code Section 13263 that do not implement the requirements of Title 27 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR). Examples include, but are not limited to, wastewater treatment plants, erosion control projects, and septic tank systems. It does not include discharge of dredge or fill material, discharges from agricultural lands, including irrigated lands, or discharge from animal feeding operations. Dischargers covered by a WDR for municipal and domestic discharges with permitted flows of less than 50,000 gallons per day in categories 2-B, 2-C, 3-B and 3-C will receive a 50 percent fee discount. The design flow shall be used where no permitted flow is present. Municipal and domestic discharges receiving the discount are defined as discharges from facilities that treat domestic wastewater or a mixture of wastewater that is predominately domestic wastewater. Domestic wastewater consists of wastes from bathroom toilets, showers, and sinks from residential kitchens and residential clothes washing. It does not include discharges from food preparation and dish washing in restaurants or from commercial laundromats. Dischargers covered by a Landscape Irrigation General Permit issued by the state board will be assessed a fee associated with TTWQ/CPLX rating of 3B.

³ For this table, land disposal discharges are those discharges of waste to land that are regulated pursuant to Water Code Section 13263 that implement the requirements of CCR Title 27, Division 2, except Chapter 7, Subchapter 2, §22560-22565 (confined animal facilities). Examples include, but are not limited to, discharges associated with active and closed landfills, waste piles, surface impoundments, and mines.

⁴ For this table, Not Paying a Tipping Fee are those land disposal dischargers not subject to Public Resources Code (PRC) § 48000 et seq.

⁵ For this table, Paying a Tipping Fee are those land disposal dischargers subject to PRC § 48000 et seq.

⁶ A surcharge of $12,000 will be added for Class I landfills. Class I landfills are those that, during the time they are, or were, in operation, are so classified by the regional board under 23 CCR Chapter 15, have WDRs that allow (or, for closed units, allowed) them to receive hazardous waste, and have a permit issued by the Department of Toxic Substances Control under 22 CCR Chapter 10, § 66270.1 et seq.

⁷ In assigning a category for TTWQ, a regional board should consider duration, frequency, seasonality, and other factors that might limit the impact of the discharge.

⁸ Assumes 2.5 persons per equivalent dwelling unit (EDU).

⁹ Fees shall be based on the sum of temporary and permanent impact amounts to be authorized by the order. Impacts include both the excavation and fill area and the dredging area. If water quality certification is issued in conjunction with dredge or fill WDRs or issued for a discharge regulated under preexisting WDRs for the same project, the project will be assessed a single fee derived from this dredge and fill fee schedule. Discharges requiring certification and regulated under a federal permit or license other than a US Army Corps of Engineers Clean Water Act Section 404 permit or a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission License shall be assessed a fee determined from Section 2200(a).

¹⁰ Fees shall be based on the sum of project impacts. Projects that include both category (A) and category (B) discharges shall be subject to the category (A) application and project fees. A single annual fee shall be assessed based on the higher of the applicable annual fee categories.

¹¹ Dischargers shall pay a one-time application fee and the project fee, if a project fee is required, for each project at the time that the application or report of waste discharge is submitted. Application and project fees shall be determined according to the fee schedule in effect on the date of application submittal.

¹² Consistent with Section 2200.2, the sum of the application fee and the project fee shall serve as the first annual fee. If the submittal of this first annual fee does not coincide with the current fiscal year billing cycle, then the next, and only the next, fiscal year billing shall be adjusted to account for the payment of the application fee. The annual fee for category (B) dredging discharges will be calculated using the annual dredge volume authorized in the applicable Order. Annual fee invoices are based on the fee schedule in effect for the fiscal year in which the invoice is issued.

¹³ “Excavation” refers to removing sediment or soil in shallow waters or under no- flow conditions, typically for purposes other than navigation. Examples include, but are not limited to, trenching for utility lines; other earthwork preliminary to discharge; removing sediment to increase channel capacity; and other flood control and drainage maintenance activities (e.g., debris removal, vegetation management and removal, detention basin maintenance and erosion control of slopes along open channels and other drainage facilities).

¹⁴ “Dredging” refers to removing sediment or aquatic vegetation, typically in deeper water for navigation purposes. For fee purposes, this fee category includes aggregate extraction within stream channels, where the substrate is composed of coarse sediment (e.g., gravel) and is replenished by normal winter flows (e.g., point bars).

¹⁵ To qualify for a special/flat fee category, the whole of a project must meet the fee category description (i.e., all project discharges are limited to those defined by the fee category).

¹⁶ Ecological Restoration and Enhancement Project means the project is voluntarily undertaken for the purpose of assisting or controlling the recovery of an aquatic ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged or destroyed to restore some measure of its natural condition and to enhance the beneficial uses, including potential beneficial uses of water. Such projects are undertaken:

1) in accordance with the terms and conditions of a binding stream or wetland enhancement or restoration agreement, or a wetland establishment agreement, between the real property interest owner or the entity conducting the habitat restoration or enhancement work and:

a. a federal or state resource agency, including, but not limited to, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Farm Service Agency, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California Wildlife Conservation Board, California Coastal Conservancy or the Delta Conservancy;

b. a local agency with the primary function of managing land or water for wetland habitat purposes; or

c. a non-governmental conservation organization; or

2) by a state or federal agency that is statutorily tasked with natural resource management. These projects do not include the conversion of a stream or natural wetland to uplands or stream channelization. It is recognized that Ecological Restoration and Enhancement Projects may require ongoing maintenance or management to maximize fish, wildlife, habitat, or other ecological benefits, or filling gullied stream channels and similar rehabilitative activities to re-establish stream and meadow hydrology. Changes in wetland plant communities that occur when wetland hydrology is more fully restored during rehabilitation activities are not considered a conversion to another aquatic habitat type. These projects also do not include actions required under a Water Board Order for mitigation, actions to service required mitigation, or actions undertaken for the primary purpose of land development.

¹⁷ Dischargers that have met the project fee cap will be assessed the minimum fee for each amendment of previously-issued WDR or water quality certification.

¹⁸ Non-Traditional Small MS4s are facilities that have systems similar to separate storm sewer systems in municipalities, such as systems at military bases, large hospital or prison complexes, and highways and other thoroughfares. (40 C.F.R. § 122.26(b)(16)(iii)).

¹⁹ Total daily population must include resident and commuter populations. For public entities other than cities or counties, total daily population must include resident population and non-residents regularly employed in the areas served by the public entity.

²⁰ These costs include labor, state board and regional board administrative costs, and overhead costs.

²¹ A mosquito and vector control activity involves discharge of pesticides into a designated area for the maintenance and control of mosquito larva for the protection of public health from the outbreak of lethal diseases. A mosquito and vector control agency discharges pesticides into surface waters for the control of mosquito larva.

²² All Transmission Systems and Water Wholesaler Systems are Primary Systems. If the Discharger does not have a Transmission System or a Water Wholesaler System, the Discharger’s individual water system with the highest number of service connections will be designated as the Primary System. All systems that are not Primary Systems are designated as Secondary Systems.

²³ Fee shall be based on the intake type as defined in the Water Quality Control Plan for Ocean Waters of California Chapter III.M.2.d(1)(a).

²⁴ NPDES permitted industrial discharger(s) means those industries identified in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual, Bureau of Budget, 1967, as amended and supplemented, under the category “Division D-Manufacturing” and such other classes of significant waste producers as, by regulation, the U.S. EPA Administrator deems appropriate. (33 USC Sec. 1362).

²⁵ Threat/complexity categories are listed under (a)(1) of this document.

²⁶ Wet weather municipal facilities are intermittently operated facilities that are designated specifically to handle flows during wet weather conditions.

²⁷ The actual monthly average flow is defined as the average of the flows during each of the months that the discharge occurred during the previous five-year period.

²⁸ De minimis discharge activities include, but are not limited to, the following: aquaculture activities (as defined in Chapter 40, Section 122.25(b) of the Code of Federal Regulations) defined as managed water areas that use discharges of pollutants into that designated area for maintenance or reproduction of harvestable freshwater, estuarine, or marine plants or animals including fish hatcheries; geothermal facilities that utilize, extract, or produce energy from geothermal fluids for heating, generating power, or other beneficial uses, and discharge geothermal fluids to surface waters; aquatic pesticide applications; evaporative condensate; swimming and landscape pool drainage; discharges from fire hydrant testing or flushing; discharges resulting from construction dewatering; discharges associated with supply well installation, development, test pumping, and purging; discharges resulting from the maintenance of uncontaminated water supply wells, pipelines, tanks, etc.; discharges resulting from hydrostatic testing of water supply vessels, pipelines, tanks, etc.; discharges resulting from the disinfection of water supply pipelines, tanks, reservoirs, etc.; discharges from water supply systems resulting from system failures, pressure releases, etc.; discharges of non-contact cooling water, not including steam/electric power plants; discharges resulting from diverted stream flows; water treatment plant discharges; and other similar types of wastes that have low pollutant concentrations and are not likely to cause or have a reasonable potential to cause or contribute to an adverse impact on the beneficial uses of receiving waters yet technically must be regulated under an NPDES permit.

²⁹ These fees apply to discharges from poultry operations that are identified as posing a “low threat to water quality” in the applicable waste discharge requirements or waiver of waste discharge requirements.

³⁰ Rounded to the nearest whole number