The California Department of Transportation was ordered Tuesday to halt what federal regulators said were widespread discharges of silt and pollution from road construction and maintenance sites into rivers and streams.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency gave Caltrans a year to upgrade its statewide storm water management program and control discharges or face penalties under the Clean Water Act.

"The protection of our waters is one of EPA's major priorities, and limiting the damage done by storm water from construction sites is a key goal," said Jared Blumenfeld, the EPA's regional administrator. "We urge Caltrans to join us in the fight for improved water quality by controlling its storm water runoff."

A series of field audits by EPA regulators documented storm water discharges of metals, sediment, oil, grease, pesticides and trash from numerous Caltrans construction sites along the 50,000 miles of highway and freeway that it operates in California, said Greg Gholson, an enforcement officer and inspector for the EPA.

Among the findings, Gholson said, were lax management and a lack of control of the sediment from hillsides dug up during construction activities.

"We found several instances where controls were not installed properly or were not installed at all," said Gholson, who explained that fiber mats sometimes were not put down to control runoff and erosion.

Inspections also found instances in which oil and grease were leaking from construction equipment.

"At any given construction site the problems may not have required enforcement, but taken as a whole the agency was very concerned with the deficiencies that were seen," Gholson said.

The agency ordered Caltrans to improve its management and procedures and fix the problems by Dec. 31, 2011.

Pollution from storm water runoff has been blamed for damaging water quality in San Francisco Bay, the ocean and in lakes, rivers and creeks throughout the state.

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