RFP - 2026 Water Quality Trading Framework Project Support, Santa Rosa, CA

On December 2, 2021, the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Water Board) adopted Amendment Order No. R1-2021-0041. The Amendment Order modified the Water Quality Trading Framework (WQTF) that was adopted within National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), Waste Discharge Requirement Order No. R1-2020-2012, issued to the City of Santa Rosa. The permit also contains a Final Water Quality-Based Effluent Limitation for phosphorus which states that there shall be no net loading of total phosphorus to the water bodies of the greater Laguna de Santa Rosa watershed. Compliance with the total phosphorus effluent limitation is achieved via the WQTF. The City currently has four projects under the WQTF, a description of each project is as follows: Beretta Dairy Installed three agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs) at the Beretta Dairy in Santa Rosa to reduce potential nonpoint source discharges of nutrients from pasture areas at the Beretta Dairy to Roseland Creek Colgan Creek Reaches 1 and 2 Excavation of legacy sediment and organic matter from a ~9,800 ft stretch of Colgan Creek. Laguna Reaches 1 and 2 Excavation of legacy sediment and organic matter from a ~4,200 ft stretch of the mainstem Laguna de Santa Rosa, modifying hydraulic conditions to reduce Ludwigia growth. Pepperwood Preserve Treatment of 34 eroding or potentially eroding stream crossing sites and 2.3 miles of gravel roads by implementing best management practices at the Pepperwood Preserve. All four of the projects listed above are required to have ongoing project verification annually. This verification process is to review and confirm that the credit-generating project continues to be maintained in conformance with its approved project plan. Verification reports are submitted annually with the Discharge Season Annual Report (due July 1st of each year). In order to maintain compliance with the total phosphorus effluent limit the City needs to identify and implement new credit generating projects which can be implemented under the WQTF.