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<back | home Proposal to Regulate Farm Runoff Under Consideration by Water Board by Miranda Leonard Unlike other California industries, agricultural operations have essentially been free to discharge polluted runoff for decades. Twenty years ago, state regulators "waived" most of the California Clean Water Act requirements for farmers, rationalizing that agricultural discharges did not pose a threat to the environment and that growers would self-regulate. Additionally, the federal Clean Water Act explicitly exempts irrigation waters and farm runoff from compliance with national water quality standards, although runoff must be considered in determining whether waters are "impaired." California has some of the most progressive water quality laws in the nation. These laws grant the Regional Water Quality Control Boards (Regional Water Boards) the authority to issue permits (called "waste discharge requirements") to anyone who discharges wastes into waters of the state, including agricultural wastes. However, rather than implement this important clean water directive, the Regional Water Boards historically waived the application of this law with regard to agricultural runoff. On January 1, 2003, all state waivers to the clean water law expired. The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (Central Coast Regional Water Board) has been working on a proposal to regulate the 2,500 Central Coast farmers under the Board’s jurisdiction. Over the past year, ECOSLO and other environmental organizations such as Environmental Defense Center and The Ocean Conservancy have been working with members of the agricultural community to reach common ground on a program to address agricultural pollution. The new program will be shaped by recent legislation (SB 923, Sher) that allows Regional Water Boards across California to waive waste discharge requirements for agricultural properties only if that action is in the public interest and is consistent with the Basin Plan, which is the overall water quality protection plan for our region. There is overwhelming evidence that polluted runoff from agricultural lands poses a substantial risk to our waterways, fisheries and community health. In order to respect the interests of the public, the Regional Water Boards must either impose waste discharge requirements (more stringent than simple "waivers") or issue waivers with conditions sufficient to protect water quality and the public interest. If waivers prevail, then conditions for our region’s new waiver must include monitoring, education and fees. Why should we be concerned with the new waiver process? There is increasing evidence of problems posed by agricultural runoff. Over the past several decades, growers have had to apply more and more pesticides to achieve the same results. Over 16,000,000 pounds of pesticides are applied to Central Coast farmland annually. Millions of pounds of fertilizers are applied annually to Central Coast farmland. Agricultural runoff sends these wastes into Central Coast waterways, including the Morro Bay National Estuary and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Agricultural pesticides, pathogens, nitrates and salts have been detected in drinking water supplies serving 16,500,000 people in 46 California counties. For example, the Department of Pesticide Regulation found pesticides in 96 percent of Central Valley locations tested, and over half of these detections exceeded unsafe levels for aquatic life and drinking water. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s 2002 list of impaired waterbodies, 44 waterbody segments in the Central Coast region, including the Salinas and Santa Ynez Rivers, San Luis Obispo and Carpentaria Creeks, and Morro Bay and Elkhorn Slough estuaries, are so polluted by agricultural contaminants that they are unsafe for beneficial uses such as fishing, swimming and drinking. Agricultural discharges jeopardize populations of threatened and endangered species and their critical habitats in the Central Coast region, including salmon and steelhead trout. Some agricultural discharges are directly toxic to aquatic life. There is also widespread groundwater contamination in the Central Coast region due to the impact of agricultural and other activities such as urban runoff — contamination that is extremely difficult and costly to clean up. Please consider writing to our Regional Water Quality Control Board to ensure that the "new waiver" program will, at a minimum, include the following elements: Require farmers to implement best available pollution prevention practices. Require adequate monitoring of agricultural pollutants in water to ensure that pollution prevention efforts work and California’s drinking water sources are protected. The monitoring component must be ongoing and scientifically supportable. Pay for itself through fees, so that needed Regional Water Board staff will be available to make the new program successful. Comments may be submitted to: California Regional Water Quality Control Board Central Coast Region 895 Aerovista Drive, Suite 101 San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 I hope you will take part in this historic opportunity to protect California’s waterways. The new plan must include reasonable benchmarks for measuring success, and a plan for program adaptation if compliance is not achieved. If you have any questions, please call or write me, or any of the following individuals or organizations. Miranda Leonard can be reached at ECOSLO (805) 544-1777, miranda@ecoslo.org. Kaitlin Gaffney, The Ocean Conservancy (831)425-1363, kgaffney@psinet.com. Eric Cardenas, Environmental Defense Center (805) 963-1622, cardenas@edcnet.org. Drew Bohan, Santa Barbara Channel Keeper (805) 563-3377, drew@sbck.org. <back | top^ |