In the State of California, nine Regional Water Quality Control Boards (RWQCBs) administer the major water quality regulatory functions by watershed in partnership with the State Water Resources Control Board. The enforcement and compliance work across all RWQCBs is heavily influenced by the California mandatory minimum penalty statute, the California Toxics Rule, and statewide policies such as monthly minimum self-monitoring. The work is also greatly affected by the complexity of the permits which often incorporate limits for nutrients, salts, pesticides, and other non-conventional pollutants, based on difficult considerations such as toxicity, reclaim, antidegradation, or TMDLs. Moreover, there are significant differences in the program performance across the state that are reflective of the fundamental differences in the RWQCBs themselves, in how they are organized, their constituencies, their capabilities, and their water quality objectives.