Morshead

Plaintiffs identify themselves as taxpayers, property owners, developers and associations of builders. They appeal a superior court judgment denying their petitions for writs of mandamus. By such petitions, they sought to restrain the enforcement of certain cease and desist orders issued by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board for the San Francisco Bay Region (hereinafter referred to as the “Regional Board.”)

. Pursuant to section 13263 of the Water Code, the Regional Board adopted water quality requirements for waste discharges which are pumped indirectly into the waters of the San Francisco Bay. These waste discharges are directed into the bay by district or municipal dischargers who operate sewage treatment plants. After the Regional Board’s water quality requirements were violated, the Regional Board, pursuant to section 13301 of the Water Code, issued separate cease and desist orders applicable to the Richardson Bay Sanitary District (order 71-33), the Mill Valley District (order 71-34) and Sanitary District No. 1, which operates a sewage treatment plant in Marin County (order 71-52). Each of these orders requires the dischargers, pursuant to…