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State Water Board releases Appendix N, Appendix O, waterbody fact sheets and a mapping tool; staff demo common access problems
Summary
State Water Board staff demonstrated new public resources for the draft 2026 Integrated Report — Appendix N (data evaluated), Appendix O (statewide objectives), waterbody fact sheets and an interactive mapping tool — and acknowledged link problems reported by users.
State Water Board staff demonstrated new resources designed to increase transparency around the draft 2026 Integrated Report, including Appendix N (a ‘‘data evaluated’’ table listing parent projects and whether the data were assessed) and Appendix O (a statewide table of numeric water quality criteria and evaluation guidelines used to assess chemical concentrations).
Ryan Hamm, who led the waterbody fact-sheet demonstration, said each waterbody fact sheet compiles the decision ID(s) and every line of evidence used to evaluate a waterbody–pollutant combination, with links to raw data, monitoring sites, the applicable objective or guideline and a Quality Assurance Project Plan where available. Hamm showed both an HTML view and an Excel download of Appendix B/B1 so users can filter and search lines of evidence across decisions.
Patty Kubieski, an environmental scientist in the integrated report program, demonstrated the Appendix D mapping and visualization tool. Kubieski noted that the map includes layers for assessed linear waterbodies (rivers/streams), assessed lakes/reservoirs, an unassessed waterbodies layer from the National Hydrography Dataset, regional board boundaries, tribal boundaries and CalEnviroScreen scores. The map offers pop-ups with proposed 2026 listings and links to fact sheets and can export assessed-waterbody shapefiles for use in GIS.
Participants reported link problems when opening fact-sheet URLs from the map. Karen (participant) said she could only load the fact sheet after removing a leading ‘‘review’’ token from the URL; map manager Norma said the map layers had been updated and public-facing links would be restored within about 20–30 minutes. Staff asked users to report broken links to the program inbox so staff can supply raw files directly if necessary.
Kubieski clarified that the mapping tool displays both ‘‘proposed’’ 2026 listings and the most recent EPA-approved listings (through 2024) so users can distinguish draft changes from EPA-approved status. Staff emphasized the map is a visualization and ‘‘is not a binding legal document used for regulatory determinations’’ and may contain errors and be updated.
