Water Quality Standards for Surface Waters of the Sacramento River, San Joaquin River, and San Francisco Bay and Delta of the State of California

This final rule, required under Section 303 of the Clean Water Act, is part of an interagency effort designed to ensure that the fish and wildlife resources of the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary (Bay/Delta) are protected and to minimize the likelihood of future listings of Bay/Delta species under the Endangered Species Act. The Bay/Delta is the West Coast's largest estuary, supplying habitat for over 120 fish species and large populations of waterfowl. Over the past two years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has worked closely with the Departments of the Interior and Commerce, as well as the State of California, to address the severe and continuing decline of Bay/Delta fish and wildlife resources. This decline has been so severe that a number of fish species, including the winter-run chinook salmon are considered threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. In coordinating their respective actions in the Bay/Delta, the Federal agencies endorsed an ecosystem (as opposed to a species-by-species) approach. EPA's final rule establishes four sets of water quality criteria protecting habitat conditions in the estuary.