Regional Water Quality Control Board -RWQCB

Information regarding the "Agricultural Regulatory Renewal" can be found at the website for the the regional office in San Luis Obispo, CA. Extensive material presented by staff and members of the public can be found at the Board’s website.

In addition to the draft policies and supporting material provided by RWQCB staff, the responses from the agricultural community add considerable depth and insight in the scope of the regulatory change. The public responses are labeled as "Group 1" through "Group 14". The only apparent way to figure out what is contained in each group is to scan through the letters, which range from one page to several pages. The response from the Grower-Shipper Association in Guadalupe can be found in Group 4 on pages 67-70.

Droid by Motorola

I went off the Apple reservation and got a Motorola Droid. I now have an HP-12c and a GPS locator installed. More coming soon...

There! Now, I have confessed and I can move on shamelessly.

Using reclaimed water in California

If a person would like to become more informed about the regulations covering the use of reclaimed water in California, it would be reasonable to try Google using the following search topics:

"Title 22", California code

At the RWQCB office, there are waste discharge requirements (WDRs) for effluent disposal by irrigation that are filed by the sanitation district.  The RWQCB has a compliance officer for each sanitation district in the Board's jurisdiction.  It is most likely going to be enlightening to learn more about the definition of "fresh water" under the California Code of Regulations.

RWQCB - Regional Water Quality Control Board - hearing 12-May-2010

The venue for the hearing was the Elk's Club in San Luis Obispo, California. The meeting was packed with standing room-only around the edges of the room. The parking lot looked like a herd of 4WD white pickups had been drawn to the site by a giant magnet.

The meeting included testimony from several public interest groups like Surfrider Foundation and others.  The rural community of San Jerardo Cooperative summarized their situation with a water well that is contaminated with nitrates. The San Jerardo Coop has received a grant to install a new well using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Some obvious questions were not asked by the sitting board members, like the size of the cooperative's property (33 acres) and the distance between their septic system and the existing (contaminated) wells. The speaker seemed to focus on the neighboring farm operations without addressing the cooperative's share of the responsibility for environmental quality.

Several farming groups and individual farmers presented testimony regarding the proposed changes to the agricultural waiver program.  One of the most compelling statements was presented by David Costa of Costa Family Farms based on Monterey County.  Mr.  Costa's presentation was just the plain simple facts about the costs and time needed to comply with the changes proposed by the RWQCB's staff.