Conditional Permit Waiver Upheld

The California State and Regional Water Boards held a joint meeting in Sacramento at the beginning of July to review the progress of the Irrigated Lands Waiver. In January, the State Water Resources Control Board upheld the Central Valley Regional Board?EUR??,,????'???s conditional waiver, which requires monitoring of runoff from irrigated lands. The State Board ordered a six-month review of the waiver. According to Bob Schnieider, chair of the Central Valley Regional Board, ?EUR??,,????'??Most of the growers in the Central Valley understand this and have established and joined coalition groups, designed monitoring plans and are working to ensure that runoff from irrigated lands does not degrade the quality of water.?EUR??,,????'??

The Regional Board waived the requirement to get permits with the condition that gives three options: 1.) Join a coalition group and apply for a group waiver; or 2.) Apply for an individual discharger waiver; or 3.) Get an individual permit.

Each of the options requires managing operations so they do not cause or contribute to surface water pollution. It also requires water monitoring, management practices to prevent water quality problems and prioritizing efforts to address problems or pollutants of concern such as pesticides and nutrients. ?EUR??,,????'??We will continue the program,?EUR??,,????'?? said Arthur Baggett, Jr., chair of the State Water Board, ?EUR??,,????'??and encourage groups to increase efforts in monitoring, outreach and coalition membership.?EUR??,,????'??

For more information, go to: www.swrcb.gov/rwqcb5/programs/irrigated_lands