Education For Environmental Responsibility

Deadline nearing to sign up for ag discharge coalition

This article appeared in the November 14, 2004 issue of the Chico Enterprise-Record newspaper.

By Heather Hacking, staff writer

Growers only have a few more weeks to sign up to join a watershed coalition that will conduct water quality monitoring in the Sacramento Valley.

People with irrigated lands in Sutter, Butte and Yuba counties are being asked to pay a $50 flat fee for the program plus 50 cents for each acre owned. The money will pay for the monitoring, which is estimated at $35,000 per location, with six locations spread through the three counties.

Steve Danna, president of the Butte-Yuba-Sutter Watershed Coalition said only about 50 percent of the growers on the list have signed up, so there is a push to get the word out. Between the three counties there are about 429,000 acres that will be covered under new rules by the Central Valley Water Quality Control Board.

Any business that discharges into the waterways is required to have a permit, but for two decades agriculture was exempt.

That has now changed. But rather than require a permit, the water quality board agreed that if coalitions were created to monitor waterways, the permits could be avoided.

Those who choose not to joint an approved coalition can apply for an individual discharge waiver at considerable expense or submit a complete report of waste discharge with a filing fee to the water board.

Danna said his group is getting serious about getting the word out. Those who don't sign up by Nov. 30 will be charged double if they sign up later on and lists of names of landowners who haven't signed up will be given to the water control board, he said.

He said he thinks there might be a lot of growers who are confused. Previously, it was thought that a larger coalition would be formed to cover most of the northern Sacramento Valley. However, the sub-basins have been established. Danna said it could be that growers who voiced interest in the Sacramento Valley Coalition think they have already signed up.

The fees being charged are based on the assumption that the majority of growers will pay for the monitoring program. If significant numbers of growers don't sign up, fees for those in the program will need to be adjusted.

For more information, call 538-7381 in Butte County, 822-7500 in Sutter County or 749-5400 in Yuba County.

Information

BACKGROUND: A change in rules governing water runoff from agricultural land will require farmers to either obtain their own permits or join a group monitoring the discharges.

DEADLINE: Landowners with irrigated land have until Nov. 30 to sign up for a watershed coalition that will monitor water quality. The program includes a new fee charged to growers.

INFORMATION ON THE WEB:

http://www.swrcb.ca.gov/rwqcb5/programs/irrigated_lands#

http://www.orovillemr.com/Stories/0,1413,135%257E25088%257E2534609,00.html?search=filter