About CREST - Introduction

CREST....Cleaner Rivers through Effective Stakeholder-led TMDLs, is a stakeholder effort initiated by the City of Los Angeles for the purpose of developing TMDLs to restore and protect water quality in the Los Angeles River and Ballona Creek.

The Clean Water Act (CWA) provides for the identification of waters for which applicable technology-based effluent limitations are not stringent enough to meet water quality standards, and establishment of total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for those waters that are identified. Water quality standards include the designated and beneficial uses of a water body, the adopted water quality criteria or objectives, and the State of California anti-degradation policy. TMDLs are written plans and analyses established to ensure that the waterbody will attain and maintain water quality standards.

TMDL development consists of seven distinct steps:

1. Problem Identification
2. Numeric Targets
3. Source Assessment
4. Linkage Analysis
5. Allocations
6. Implementation Strategy
7. Monitoring

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), State Water Resources Control Board (State Board), and California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Los Angeles Region (Los Angeles Regional Board) share responsibilities for the development of TMDLs in the Los Angeles Region. In December 2002, a joint Draft Strategy for Developing TMDLs and Attaining Water Quality Standards in the Los Angeles Region (Draft Strategy) was publicly circulated for consideration and comment.

In the Draft Strategy, the EPA and Regional Board offered interested stakeholders an opportunity to conduct a stakeholder-led TMDL development process. In response, the City of Los Angeles, Department of Public Works, Bureau of Sanitation has taken the initiative to engage a diverse set of stakeholders to participate in the CREST Program. The City provides staff and consultant support and helps administer the stakeholder-formulated work plan and deliverables. Although the City has taken the lead to organize and fund the CREST Program, all CREST members work collaboratively in an environment where all points of view and ideas are treated equally and are heard, discussed and considered.

The focus of CREST's work is on the development of TMDLs to meet water quality standards. There are several water quality attainment processes (i.e., 303(d) Listing, Basin Plan, Triennial Review of the Basin Plan, TMDL Implementation, TMDL Development). The scope of the CREST TMDL Development process is defined in the attached diagram of the CREST water quality attainment processes.

While there is an Implementation Strategy (Step 6) associated with the TMDL development process, it is important to differentiate this step from TMDL Implementation which follows TMDL Development. (TMDL implementation may be presented in the form of an Implementation Plan that is prepared after the issuance of a final TMDL.) To distinguish between these two stages of implementation planning, Step 6 (Implementation Strategy) and Step 7 (Monitoring) are called "Water Quality Attainment Strategies" in CREST terminology. The goals of the CREST program are to contribute toward the development of TMDLs to create sound, achievable, Water Quality Attainment Strategies that will set the direction for effective TMDL Implementation.