California Water Code

§ 13391.5

WAT § 13391.5 Effective Jan 1, 2003Div. 7 · Ch. 5.6

Statute text

The definitions in this section govern the construction of this chapter.

(a)“Enclosed bays” means indentations along the coast which enclose an area of oceanic water within distinct headlands or harbor works. “Enclosed bays” include all bays where the narrowest distance between the headlands or outermost harbor works is less than 75 percent of the greatest dimension of the enclosed portion of the bay. “Enclosed bays” include, but are not limited to, Humboldt Bay, Bodega Harbor, Tomales Bay, Drake’s Estero, San Francisco Bay, Morro Bay, Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbor, Upper and Lower Newport Bay, Mission Bay, and San Diego Bay. For the purposes of identifying, characterizing, and ranking toxic hot spots pursuant to this chapter, Monterey Bay and Santa Monica Bay shall also be considered to be enclosed bays.

(b)“Estuaries” means waters, including coastal lagoons, located at the mouths of streams which serve as mixing zones for fresh and ocean waters. Coastal lagoons and mouths of streams which are temporarily separated from the ocean by sandbars shall be considered as estuaries. Estuarine waters shall be considered to extend from a bay or the open ocean to a point upstream where there is no significant mixing of fresh water and sea water. Estuarine waters include, but are not limited to, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, as defined in Section 12220, Suisun Bay, Carquinez Strait downstream to the Carquinez Bridge, and appropriate areas of the Smith, Mad, Eel, Noyo, Russian, Klamath, San Diego, and Otay Rivers.

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Legislative history

Amended by Stats. 2002, Ch. 999, Sec. 66. Effective January 1, 2003.