State Water Board Releases Revised Regulation

State Water Board Releases Revised Regulation

The State Water Resources Control Board released its second draft response to the petition of the Eastern San Joaquin Waste Discharge Requirements (WDR). The proposal will substantially change the current monitoring and reporting requirements for farmers in the Central Valley and eventually the entire State. The State Board will hold a public workshop on December 6, 2017 in Sacramento and is currently scheduled to adopt the final response to the petition on January 23, 2018. The major modifications to the regulation are the following:

• Requires all growers to monitor drinking water wells for nitrate and report findings to the Central Valley Water Board through a certified water quality testing laboratory.
• Changes the current Nitrogen Management Plan and Summary Report forms to an Irrigation and Nitrogen Management Plan. Anticipated and actual irrigation amounts will be required elements of the plan that stays on farm. Irrigation and nitrogen management methods will be required to be reported in the Irrigation and Nitrogen Management Plan Summary Report to the Coalition. Requires yield reporting to the Coalition instead of the Applied Nitrogen over Yield (A/Y) ratio.
• Phases out low vulnerability areas. Farmers currently in low vulnerability areas will be required to participate in outreach activities, have certified Irrigation and Nitrogen Management Plans, and report to the Coalition the Irrigation and Nitrogen Summary Report.
• Reduces the reporting to the Coalition of the Farm Evaluation Survey from annually to once every 5 years.

For full details of the draft proposed regulatory changes see the following links:

• Transmittal Letter (October 10, 2017)
• Proposed Order Redline Version, Clean Version (October 10, 2017)
• Appendix A to the Proposed Order (October 10, 2017)
• Frequently Asked Questions