Division of Water Quality - Underground Storage Tanks Program - Enforcement Unit

The State Water Resources Control Board's underground storage tank (UST) "Red Tag" regulations were approved by the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) and filed with the Secretary of State on May 13, 2004. The regulations became effective on June 12, 2004.

The changes to Title 23 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR) amended section 2713, and added sections 2717- 2717.7. The new regulations:

• Define the terms “significant violation” and “imminent threat to human health or safety or the environment.”
• Specify circumstances under which an agency may affix a red tag to an underground storage tank system with one or more significant violations.
• Specify that if a local agency does affix a red tag to the fill pipe of a non-compliant UST system, it must use a State Board-issued tag, tamper-resistant strap or straps, fill pipe bag, or any combination thereof.
• Prohibit the deposit of petroleum to a red-tagged system and prohibits removing, defacing, altering, or tampering with a red tag.
• Describe the appearance of the “red tag.”

The changes to Title 23 of CCR implement portions of Assembly Bill 2481 (stats. 2002, ch. 999).

A complete text of the regulations and a detailed statement of reasons are available online.

Please direct questions or comments on the regulatory changes to:

Ms. Leslie Graves
e-mail: lgraves@waterboards.ca.gov
phone: (916) 341-5810