AB 2053: Freshwater and Estuarine Harmful Algal Bloom Program.

Under the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act, the State Water Resources Control Board and the California regional water quality control boards are the principal state agencies with regulatory authority over water quality.

This bill would require the state board to establish a Freshwater and Estuarine Harmful Algal Bloom Program to protect water quality and public health from algal blooms. The bill would require the state board, in consultation with specified entities, among other things, to coordinate immediate and long-term algal bloom event incident response, as provided, and conduct and support algal bloom field assessment and ambient monitoring at the state, regional, watershed, and site-specific waterbody scales.