Background: The Basin Planning process has been identified as a topic of great interest to stakeholders throughout the region.  This process had been identified as mechanism for helping characterize existing receiving water quality.  The Basin Plan forms the basis for many important water quality regulatory processes including beneficial use designation, CWA Section 303(d) Impaired Waterbodies List, Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) establishment, and NPDES permitting.

This workgroup had their first meeting on September 18, 2002. The purpose of this meeting was to further define the potential role of Project Clean Water in fostering a regional strategy to stakeholder involvement in this process.  During this meeting, a general consensus was reached that the workgroup’s focus should be on the following four items:
 
1) Provide pro-active input during the triennial review process
2) Facilitate the education of the public / staff regarding the Basin Plan amendment process
3) Prioritize a few Basin Plan projects to which stakeholders would be willing to devote resources
4) Identify and begin compiling useful scientific data for submittal to the Regional Board