Difference between revisions of "Central Coast Region Agricultural Waiver"

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The Central Coast is one of nine regions in the state designated to regulate waste discharges from irrigated agricultural land. Essentially, it waives growers of their obligation to obtain waste discharge permits. The '''Conditional Waiver'''<ref name="CondWaiv">[http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb3/water_issues/programs/ag_waivers/docs/2009_0050_public_notice.pdf  CRWQCB Conditional Waiver of Waste Discharge Requirements for Discharges from irrigated lands]</ref> is reviewed and, revised, replaced, or reinstated every five years. The Ag Waiver is “conditional” and the Water Quality Control Board has the authority to revoke it at any time. To comply with the conditions of the waiver, growers have several requirements including discharge prevention and management, as well as water quality monitoring, and corrective actions when impairments are found.<ref name="AgDischs"> [http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb3/water_issues/programs/ag_waivers/index.shtml  CCRWQCB Agricultural Regulatory Program Overview]</ref> In the Central Coast region, the '''Central Coast Water Quality Preservation Inc.'''<ref name= "CCWQP">[http://www.ccwqp.org/  Central Coast Water Quality Preservation, Inc.]</ref> is a non-profit agency that conducts the cooperative monitoring program to comply with monitoring requirements of the waiver.<ref name="WFP">[http://westernfarmpress.com/mag/farming_conditional_ag_waiver/  Western Farm Press. Conditional ag waiver:  What is it?]</ref>
 
The Central Coast is one of nine regions in the state designated to regulate waste discharges from irrigated agricultural land. Essentially, it waives growers of their obligation to obtain waste discharge permits. The '''Conditional Waiver'''<ref name="CondWaiv">[http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb3/water_issues/programs/ag_waivers/docs/2009_0050_public_notice.pdf  CRWQCB Conditional Waiver of Waste Discharge Requirements for Discharges from irrigated lands]</ref> is reviewed and, revised, replaced, or reinstated every five years. The Ag Waiver is “conditional” and the Water Quality Control Board has the authority to revoke it at any time. To comply with the conditions of the waiver, growers have several requirements including discharge prevention and management, as well as water quality monitoring, and corrective actions when impairments are found.<ref name="AgDischs"> [http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb3/water_issues/programs/ag_waivers/index.shtml  CCRWQCB Agricultural Regulatory Program Overview]</ref> In the Central Coast region, the '''Central Coast Water Quality Preservation Inc.'''<ref name= "CCWQP">[http://www.ccwqp.org/  Central Coast Water Quality Preservation, Inc.]</ref> is a non-profit agency that conducts the cooperative monitoring program to comply with monitoring requirements of the waiver.<ref name="WFP">[http://westernfarmpress.com/mag/farming_conditional_ag_waiver/  Western Farm Press. Conditional ag waiver:  What is it?]</ref>
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A Press Release<ref name="PR">[http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb3/water_issues/programs/ag_waivers/docs/ag_press_release.pdf  CCRWQCB Press Release February 1, 2010]</ref>On December 10, 2009, The Water Board directed the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board staff to distribute a '''preliminary report''' which includes the '''preliminary draft order''' for the regulation of discharges from irrigated lands on February 1, 2010.<ref name="Prelim">[http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb3/water_issues/programs/ag_waivers/docs/ag_preliminary_report.pdf  CCRWQCB Preliminary Draft Report]</ref> This preliminary report and preliminary draft order became available on February 1, 2010 and is now available to the public to review, comment, and provide alternative recommendations for regulating agricultural discharges. Water Board members request that members of the public submit comments or alternatives to staff by '''April 1,2010'''.
 
  
 
== The Regional Water Quality Control Board ==
 
== The Regional Water Quality Control Board ==

Revision as of 01:15, 2 February 2011

A watershed-related issue examined by the ENVS 560/L Watershed Systems class at CSUMB.

Summary

In California, Regional Water Quality Control Boards can issue conditional waivers also known as "Ag Waivers" to regulate discharge from agricultural irrigation. The intent of this program is to prevent agricultural contributions to the impairment of water quality as defined in Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act. Requirements of these permits include water quality monitoring of water sources in the region potentially impacted by agricultural discharge.


The Central Coast is one of nine regions in the state designated to regulate waste discharges from irrigated agricultural land. Essentially, it waives growers of their obligation to obtain waste discharge permits. The Conditional Waiver[1] is reviewed and, revised, replaced, or reinstated every five years. The Ag Waiver is “conditional” and the Water Quality Control Board has the authority to revoke it at any time. To comply with the conditions of the waiver, growers have several requirements including discharge prevention and management, as well as water quality monitoring, and corrective actions when impairments are found.[2] In the Central Coast region, the Central Coast Water Quality Preservation Inc.[3] is a non-profit agency that conducts the cooperative monitoring program to comply with monitoring requirements of the waiver.[4]

The Regional Water Quality Control Board

The Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (1969) established the nine Regional Water Quality Control Boards and granted them the authority to regulate all waste discharges through the issuance of Waste Discharge Requirements. These are roughly equivalent to NPDES permits.[5]

The Central Coast (Region 3) Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) is the state agency with the authority to regulate waste discharges that may impact water quality in this part of the state. The RWQCB is responsible for issuing Waste Discharge Requirements (WDRs), or in this case, conditional waivers thereof, and for enforcing compliance with the conditions imposed by the Ag Waiver. The Central Coast Water Board is responsible for protecting and restoring water quality in the coastal region from southern San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties to the northern part of Ventura County.[6]

Resource/s at stake

Achieving the highest water quality to provide the maximum benefit to the people is the goal of California state policy for water quality control. To ensure water resource protection, twenty standard categories have been established for identification and protection from pollution and nuisance that may occur as a result of waste discharges.[7] The beneficial uses include but are not limited to:

  • Drinking Water
  • Irrigation
  • Fresh Water Habitat
  • Marine Habitat
  • Estuarine Habitat
  • Areas of Special Biological Significance

Stakeholders

The Central Coast (Region 3) Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB)

Farmers practicing irrigated farming in the central coast region are subject to conditions of the Ag Waiver.

Among the conditions imposed by the Ag Waiver is a requirement for water quality monitoring. A Cooperative Monitoring Program (CMP) has been established as part of the waiver program, so that each individual farmer will not have to conduct water quality monitoring independently. The CMP is managed by a non-profit organization: Central Coast Water Quality Preservation Inc., which was established for this purpose.

Environmental advocacy groups with an interest in fish, aquatic/riparian habitat, coastal ecosystems, or drinking water quality also have a vested interest in the success of the Ag Waiver program. Senate Bill 390 which initiated the new conditional Ag Waiver process was sponsored by two such organizations San Francisco Bay Keeper and Delta Keeper. [8]

Finally, all citizens making use of water that is impacted by agricultural discharges, whether for drinking or recreation, are affected by the outcome of the Ag Waiver program.

Regulation Background

When the Clean Water Act was implemented in 1972, discharge from irrigated agriculture was exempted from federal regulation under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)[9] permit program . While waste water discharge from agricultural irrigation is not regulated by the federal government, it is subject to regulation under state law. In 1987 the Clean Water Act was amended and Section 319 was added which required states to develop plans to control non-point source pollution. As part of these plans a three tiered system was developed that included conditional waivers[10]. California state law requires anyone who is discharging waste which could impact the quality of the waters of the state to submit a Report of Waste Discharge.


Section 13269 of the California Water Code (CWC) grants Regional Water Quality Control Boards the authority to waive waste discharge requirements (WDRs). In 1983 the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board issued a waiver officially exempting irrigation return flows and other discharges from agricultural lands from Waste Discharge Requirements.[11] Waste water discharge from agricultural irrigation was similarly exempted through the issuance of Ag Waivers by the Central Valley, San Diego, and Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Boards [10].


In 1999 the state legislature passed Senate Bill 390 amending Section 13269 of the CWC. As part of this amendment water quality boards were required to review existing wavers. Those waivers not revised or reissued would automatically expire January 2003 [12]. The amendment also required that new waivers be conditional upon compliance with water quality monitoring requirements, and have a term of no longer than five years.[11]

The CWC was amended again in 2003 to grant the State Water Board with the authority to instigate fees for waivers[10].

The most recent Ag waiver (as of this editing) was issued in 2004. This Ag Waiver requires that all farmers of irrigated land within the Central Coast region to:[13]

1. Produce a Notice of Intent

2. Complete a 15 hour course on water quality management

3. Produce water quality management plan

4. Implement water quality improvement practices

5. Monitor water quality, either individually or through the Cooperative Monitoring Program (CMP).

Recent Changes

In July 2010 the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board extended the 2004 Ag waiver to the end of March 2011. A revised draft of the waiver was produced in November 2010 and by March 2011 a new draft of the waiver is scheduled to be produced.

Systems

The Conditional Ag Waiver program seeks to reduce the impact of agricultural discharge. Agricultural discharge may percolate into the groundwater, where it can impact groundwater quality. Alternatively, the discharge may travel as surface flow into local streams and rivers, where it can affect aquatic and riparian habitat via toxicity, sedimentation, and nutrient enrichment. Ultimately, these rivers flow to the ocean, where near-shore marine habitats may be similarly impacted.

Science

Numerous scientific studies address concerns about water supply, water quality, wastewater treatment, water pollution control in surface and groundwaters, and the impacts, evaluation and management of hazardous waste. EnviroQual, a consulting firm also known as G. Fred Lee & Associates, has published a considerable amount of work with respect to the conditional Ag Waiver.

Waterbodies inside and surrounding agricultural areas the Central Coast have unsafe levels of nutrients, pesticides, toxins, and levels of sediment/turbidity that have exceeded maximum contaminant levels for water quality standards and biological and physical conditions. Various scientific studies conducted in study sites throughout the central coast heavily impacted by agricultural practices have resulted in the following conclusions:


Surface Water Quality Impairment[14]

  • Most areas contaminated from agricultural pollutants five years ago are still seriously contaminated.
  • 167 water quality limited segments were included in the 2008 Clean Water Act Section 303(d) List of Impaired Waterbodies for the Central Coast Region.
  • 60% of the surface water listings identified agriculture as one of the potential sources of water quality impairment.
  • Evaluated through a multi-metric of water quality, 82 percent of the most degraded sites in the Central Coast Region are in agricultural areas.
  • Nitrate concentrations in areas that are most heavily impacted are not improving and appear to be getting worse in the last few years.
  • 30% of all sites from Central Coast Ambient Monitoring Program (CCAMP)[15] and Irrigated Agriculture Program Cooperative Monitoring Fact Sheets [16] have average nitrate concentrations that exceed the drinking water standard
  • Approximately 57 percent exceed the nitrate level necessary to protect aquatic life.
  • Discharges from some agricultural drains have shown toxicity every time the drains are sampled.
  • Bioassessment data shows that creeks in areas of intensive agricultural activity have impaired benthic communities.
  • Several Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) along the Central Coast are at risk of pollution impacts from sediment and water discharges leaving river mouths.


Groundwater Quality Impairment[14]

  • Groundwater contamination from nitrate severely impacts public drinking water supplies in the Central Coast Region.
  • Groundwater quality data collected 1994-2000 from 711 public supply wells in the Central Coast Region found 17% of the wells exceeded maximum contaminant levels
  • Groundwater contamination from nitrate severely impacts shallow domestic drinking water supplies in the Central Coast Region.
  • Domestic wells are typically screened in shallower zones than public supply wells, and typically have higher nitrate concentrations as a result.
  • The number of domestic wells that exceed the nitrate drinking water standard is likely in the range of hundreds to thousands in the Central Coast Region.
  • In many cases, whole communities relying on groundwater for drinking water purposes are affected.
  • Local agencies have reported the shut down of domestic drinking water wells due to high nitrate concentrations.
  • Local agencies and consumers have reported impacts to human health resulting from nitrate contaminated groundwater likely due to agricultural land uses.


Studies used to support recommendations for the waiver program included research from several agencies and organizations. A list of references cited and consulted on surface water and groundwater quality information, aquatic habitat and riparian protection information, and water quality standards and criterion information is available below.[17]

Tools

The State Water Resources Control Board published analytical and modeling requirements in the Conditional Waiver of the General Waste Discharge Requirements for Discharges from Irrigated Lands. Chemistry analysis, toxicity testing, quantitative limits, laboratory standards and regeants, sample preparation methods, and analytical procedures are outlined in the plan. [18]

Measuring Agricultural Water Pollution: Sampling of water for physical, chemical and biological testing

Physical Tests:

  • Temperature
  • Total suspended solids
  • Turbidity

Chemical Tests:

  • Total dissolved oxygen
  • Nutrients
  • Metals
  • pH

Biological Tests:

  • Bacteria concentrations


Controlling Agricultural Water Pollution

Point source controls:

  • Containment tools in livestock operations that trickle waste water into grasslands
  • Constructing or utilizing wetlands to assist treatment of animal wastes and runoff from fields
  • Composting animal waste to produce manure for soil improvement

Non-point source controls:

  • Erosion controls such as crop rotation, contour plowing and riparian buffers reduce soil erosion and agricultural runoff
  • Reduction in the application of synthetic fertilizers to reduce nitrate concentrations
  • Integrated Pest Management reduces the use of chemical pesticides
  • Increased tile drain spacing or decreased tile drain depth as a potential remedy to reduce nutrient transport into nearby streams (not yet official)


Central Coast Surface Water Data Collection Organizations

  • Cooperative Coastal Monitoring Program (CMP) [16]
  • Central Coast Ambient Monitoring Program (CCAMP) [15]


Central Coast Groundwater Data Collection Organizations

  • California Department of Water Resources (CDWR) [19]
  • California Department of Public Health (CDPH) [20]
  • Monterey County Water Resources Agency (MCWRA) [21]


Mitigation and Remediation Organizations

  • USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service [22]
  • Central Coast Water Quality Coalition [23]

Future research

Under the Clean Water Act, agricultural runoff has been exempt from permitting requirements under the NPDES regulations. If the regional board’s authority to issue waste discharge waivers is repealed, new studies need to reassess which dischargers that have not previously been subjected to permitting requirements will now be required to get a permit.

A CWSP thesis project can involve analyzing differences in pollution levels in a selected study area within a short time period examining the impact of the repeal

Extend the CWSP project to look at rates of pollution over the next several years to find out what kind of long term impact repealing the Ag Waiver will have on water quality.

References

  1. ↑ CRWQCB Conditional Waiver of Waste Discharge Requirements for Discharges from irrigated lands
  2. ↑ CCRWQCB Agricultural Regulatory Program Overview
  3. ↑ Central Coast Water Quality Preservation, Inc.
  4. ↑ Western Farm Press. Conditional ag waiver: What is it?
  5. ↑ Littleworth, AL and EL Garner. 2007. California Water II. Solano Press Books.
  6. ↑ CCRWQCB Map pg 3
  7. ↑ CCRWQCB Present and Potential Beneficial Uses
  8. ↑ CA State Senate Committee on Environmental Quality, Bill Analysis SB 390.
  9. ↑ US EPA National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 [1]
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. Irrigated Ag Order R3-2009-0050.
  12. ↑ [2]
  13. ↑ Central Coast Water Quality Preservation, Inc.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Surface and Groundwater Quality Impairment
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Central Coast Ambient Monitoring Program
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Cooperative Monitoring Fact Sheets
  17. ↑ CCRWQCB List of References
  18. ↑ Quality Assurance Project Plan
  19. ↑ California Department of Water Resources
  20. ↑ California Department of Public Health
  21. ↑ Monterey County Water Resources Agency
  22. ↑ USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
  23. ↑ Central Coast Water Quality Coalition

Links

Disclaimer

This page may contain Jacob Smith's work completed as part of assigned coursework. It may not be accurate. It does not necessarily reflect the opinion or policy of CSUMB, its staff, or students.

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