(a) (1) On or before December 1, 2007, the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Natural Resources Agency shall enter into a memorandum of understanding for the purposes of establishing the California Water Quality Monitoring Council, which shall be administered by the state board. (2) As used in this section, âmonitoring councilâ means the California Water Quality Monitoring Council established pursuant to this section. (3) The monitoring council may include representatives from state entities and nonstate entities. The representatives from nonstate entities may include, but need not be limited to, representatives from federal and local government, institutions of higher education, the regulated community, citizen monitoring groups, and other interested parties. (4) The monitoring council shall review existing water quality monitoring, assessment, and reporting efforts, and shall recommend specific actions and funding needs necessary to coordinate and enhance those efforts. (5) (A) The recommendations shall be prepared for the ultimate development of a cost-effective, coordinated, integrated, and comprehensive statewide network for collecting and disseminating water quality information and ongoing assessments of the health of the stateâs waters and the effectiveness of programs to protect and improve the quality of those waters. (B) For purposes of developing recommendations pursuant to this section, the monitoring council shall initially focus on the water quality monitoring efforts of state agencies, including, but not limited to, the state board, the regional boards, the department, the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the California Coastal Commission, the State Lands Commission, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and the Department of Pesticide Regulation. (C) In developing the recommendations, the monitoring council shall seek to build upon existing programs, rather than create new programs. (6) Among other things, the memorandum of understanding shall describe the means by which the monitoring council shall formulate recommendations to accomplish both of the following: (A) Reduce redundancies, inefficiencies, and inadequacies in existing water quality monitoring and data management programs in order to improve the effective delivery of sound, comprehensive water quality information to the public and decisionmakers. (B) Ensure that water quality improvement projects financed by the state provide specific information necessary to track project effectiveness with regard to achieving clean water and healthy ecosystems. (b) The monitoring council shall report, on or before December 1, 2008, to the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Natural Resources Agency with regard to its recommendations for maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of existing water quality data collection and dissemination, and for ensuring that collected data are maintained and available for use by decisionmakers and the public. The monitoring council shall consult with the United States Environmental Protection Agency in preparing these recommendations. The monitoring councilâs recommendations, and any responses submitted by the California Environmental Protection Agency or the Natural Resources Agency to those recommendations, shall be made available to decisionmakers and the public by means of the Internet. (c) The monitoring council shall undertake and complete, on or before April 1, 2008, a survey of its members to develop an inventory of their existing water quality monitoring and data collection efforts statewide and shall make that information available to the public. (d) All state agencies, including institutions of higher education to the extent permitted by law, that collect water quality data or information shall cooperate with the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Natural Resources Agency in achieving the goals of the monitoring co
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