1 Sent via email: no hard copy to follow
August 21, 2025
California Department of Transportation
Attn. Hardeep Takhar, Chief Environmental Engineer
1120 N Street
P.O. Box 942873, MS-27
Sacramento, CA 95814
[email protected]
Subject: Conceptual Approval of Multi-benefit Cooperative Agreement with City of Richmond; Trash Discharge Cease & Desist Order and Statewide Municipal Stormwater Permit, California Department of Transportation Dear Mr. Takhar:
Consistent with the requirements of the Department of Transportation’s (Caltrans’ or Department’s) Statewide NPDES Municipal Stormwater Permit (Order No. 2022-0033- DWQ) (Permit) and the Statewide Trash Amendments to the Water Quality Control Plans for Ocean Waters and for Inland Surface Waters, Enclosed Bays, and Estuaries, Caltrans must control discharges of trash from significant trash generating areas (STGAs) of its right- of-way (ROW) by no later than 2030. The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (Water Board) also regulates Caltrans trash discharge through Cease and Desist Order (CDO) (Order No. R2-2019-0007
, as amended by R2-2021-0030).
CDO provision 1 allows Caltrans to coordinate trash device installation with municipalities as follows:
The Regional Water Board commits to working with the Department to identify opportunities for cooperative projects with local municipalities to implement trash controls. To the extent possible, the Department will prioritize cooperative projects with disadvantaged communities.
CDO provision 5.c.i allows Caltrans to claim alternative compliance credits through demonstration of infeasibility:
If the Department and Regional Water Board agree that it is infeasible to implement trash controls sufficient to reach full trash capture equivalency within significant trash generating portions of ROW or in areas managed by municipalities or local agencies to which trash from Department ROW is discharged, or other trash control projects within watersheds that reduce trash discharges from Department ROW, the Department may seek alternative
2 compliance credits. Two acres of local ROW or watershed area treated will yield one acre of alternative compliance credit based on similar trash generation rating, i.e., the non-Department ROW treated area must be of equivalent trash generation to the ROW determined to be infeasible to treat.
On July 22, 2025, Caltrans submitted a request for final approval of the multi-pollutant removal full trash capture device installations, which have been implemented by the cooperative agreement partnership between Caltrans and the City of Richmond (City). Caltrans will generate trash control compliance credit from the installation of four certified full trash capture devices, as described in Table 1, below. Caltrans is also requesting conceptual approval for alternative compliance credits to be granted toward CDO benchmark acreages in areas where Caltrans demonstrates infeasibility of implementing trash controls.
Table 1 – Trash Control Compliance Summaries
No. Project Location
Total Area
Treated
(Acres)
Caltrans Area
Treated
(Acres)
Device
Type
1 Burlingame & Montgomery St.[a] 81 16 TBD
2 S 51st St & Bayview Ave.[a] 63 28 TBD
3 700 W Cutting Blvd.[a] 196 23 TBD
4 7th St.[b] 159 0 GSRD1
5 Alternative Compliance Credit2 - 100 -
[a] 10 acres of duplicative Caltrans operational structural control treatment has been identified through the screening process.
[b] The 7th St. GSRD is an existing device that has already been installed in the City. Due to frequent vandalism, the device is currently non-operational. The goal of including this site is to work with Caltrans to redesign and repair the GSRD, including additional fencing and/or other measures to prevent future vandalism. 1 Debris-separating baffle box (DSBB) or gross solids removal device (GSRD) Alternative Compliance Credit
Alternative compliance credit will only be granted toward CDO benchmark acreages in areas where Caltrans demonstrates infeasibility of both structural and non-structural trash controls within its ROW due to safety, maintenance, accessibility, or other justifiable reasons. Prior to alternative compliance credit being granted, the Department must exhaust all treatment opportunities within its ROW through structural controls or enhanced maintenance, or off its ROW through cooperative implementation projects that treat discharges from its ROW. Ultimately, Caltrans cannot offset the discharge of trash from STGAs by controlling trash from non-Caltrans ROW or non-STGAs unless trash opportunities within Caltrans ROW are fully evaluated, identified, documented, and deemed infeasible.
The Water Board is giving our conceptual approval of the four projects shown in
1 Gross Solids Removal Device (GSRD)
2 Demonstration of infeasibility to be provided in the FY 2025 CDO Annual Report.
3 Table 1, conditioned on submittal of the following information by the City and/or Caltrans once project planning and design are finalized, and prior to construction:
• Map(s) delineating the area draining to the trash capture devices. Maps should identify the areas and trash generation rating of Caltrans and municipal ROW to be controlled for trash by the device.
• Documentation (maps showing both ABAG land use layers and the treated drainage area) confirming that the treated area is old industrial land use. • Final design plans and calculations including a breakdown of Caltrans and City ROW acres controlled by the devices and the trash generation rating of those areas.
• Confirmation that the device meets the requirements of MRP Provision C.10 and is on the State Board list of approved trash capture devices. • Final project agreements between Caltrans and the County. These should include identification of the party responsible for ongoing operation and maintenance of the device once installed. If operation/maintenance responsibilities are not described in the final agreements, provide this information in a separate document.
Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and Mercury Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Credit
Caltrans will generate waste load reduction compliance credit from the installation of the four certified full trash capture devices, as described in Table 2, associated with the Water Board’s San Francisco Bay PCBs and mercury TMDLs. The Caltrans NPDES Permit allows an acreage credit of three times the credit recognized for Caltrans-funded regional partnership projects that reduce PCB and mercury loading in old urban and industrial areas.
Table 2 – Mercury & PCB Compliance Summaries
No. Project Location
Caltrans
Area
Treated
(Acres)
Removal
Efficiency
3X Credit for
Old Urban &
Industrial
Land Use
Mercury &
PCB Credit
(Acres)
1 Burlingame &
Montgomery St. 16 20% X3 9.6
2 S 51st St &
Bayview Ave. 28 20% X3 16.8
3 700 W Cutting
Blvd. 23 20% X3 13.8
4 7th St. 0 - - 0
5 Additional - - - Up to 50
We will work with Caltrans to determine appropriate PCBs and mercury TMDL reduction crediting toward their respective stormwater NPDES permit requirements based on the land uses within the treatment catchment, supporting information documenting PCBs concentrations/loads in the contributing catchment, and removal efficiencies of the installed devices. Specifically, the following information should be provided when project
4 construction is completed:
1. Design plans showing these large facilities are appropriately sized to the 1-year and 1-hour storm standard, and there is no considerable bypass during high flow events.
2. Documentation demonstrating PCBs concentrations/loads in the contributing catchment and verifying PCBs removal efficiency as at least 20 percent for all trash control measures; this can be addressed by stormwater sampling of PCB concentrations in the influent and outflow of runoff treated by the trash capture devices.
We appreciate Caltrans’ significant engagement with Bay Area municipalities to develop multi-benefit trash control solutions that also provide PCBs and mercury load reduction benefits. However, Caltrans should continue to maximize on-system and/or offsite implementation of green stormwater infrastructure in old industrial areas as the primary compliance strategy for PCBs and mercury TMDL compliance. We will meet with Caltrans separately to discuss Caltrans compliance strategies for meeting PCBs and mercury load reduction requirements.
Based on the information provided, San Francisco Bay Water Board staff believes these projects will contribute toward Caltrans demonstration of compliance with the trash discharge CDO and PCB and mercury pollutant control requirements. The San Francisco Bay Water Board will work separately with Caltrans to determine the appropriate application of alternative compliance credits based on the corridor-based trash control feasibility assessments that are currently in progress.
If you have any questions regarding this approval, please contact Qi Yan at (510) 622-2329 or via email to [email protected].
Sincerely,
Keith H. Lichten, P.E.
Division Chief
cc (via email):
Caltrans
Ken Johansson, Statewide Stormwater Program Manager
[email protected]
Jagjiwan Grewal, Supervising Transportation Engineer
[email protected]
Bhaskar Joshi, Supervising Transportation Engineer
[email protected]
Brian Rowley, District 4 Office Chief [email protected] State Water Board
Jarma Bennett, Supervisor, Surface Water Permitting,
[email protected]
5 Mary Boyd, Senior WRCE, [email protected]
Nicholas Wong, WRCE, [email protected]
Shane Marshall, WRCE, [email protected] Leila Mosadegh, WRCE, [email protected]