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Newsletter Update
July 2006
This newsletter of
the San Joaquin County & Delta Water Quality
Coalition (Coalition) is for members and potential members of the Coalition. Its
purpose is to update and inform Coalition members of our activities and
progress. The San Joaquin County
Resource Conservation District (SJCRCD) is responsible for the operation of the
Coalition. The
Coalition was formed in 2003, to monitor irrigation water and stormwater runoff
from irrigated lands under the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control
Board’s (Regional Board) Irrigated Lands Program (ILP). The ILP states that:
“Irrigated lands are lands planted to row, vineyard, pasture, field and
tree crops, commercial nurseries, nursery stock production, managed wetlands,
rice production, and greenhouse operations with permeable floors that do not
currently discharge under waste water discharge requirements (WDRs)…” with
runoff “… that may adversely affect the quality of the “waters of
the State”…” Since April 2004, the
Coalition has been monitoring many of the major waterways of the Coalition’s
Area (the Area) and reporting the results of water testing to the Regional
Board. The Area covers all of Regional Board Extends the Life of Coalitions. The
Regional Board, at its June 22, 2006, meeting, voted to extend the use of
Coalitions for five more years to monitor the irrigation and stormwater runoff
from agricultural lands in the At
the same meeting the Regional Board set December 31, 2006, as a final date to
join a coalition. The following is
the Regional Board staff’s recommended wording: “After
31 December 2006 no additional participants may join any Coalition Group unless
one or more of the following conditions exist: a.
The subject owner and property were not a “discharger” qualifying
for coverage under the Coalition Group Conditional Wavier prior to 31 December
2006, but management or physical changes on the subject property, or on
properties between the subject property and receiving surface waters to which
the wastewater drains, have been modified such that the subject owner and
property are now a “discharger” and qualify for Coalition Group membership. b.
The owner/property were participants in one Coalition Group or covered
under the Individual Discharger Conditional Waiver Order prior to 31 December
2006, but are transferring their participation to another Coalition Group. c.
Transfer of property to a new owner. d.
Other situations reviewed and approved by the Executive Officer on a
case-by-case basis. All
additions of participants to a Coalition Group after 31 December 2006 must
be approved by the Executive Officer.” “Additionally,
it is recommended that the date each participant joined a Coalition Group be
required as part of the information that must be submitted with the List of
Coalition Participants.” Pamela
Creedon, the Regional Board’s Executive Officer told the board members that
the passing of the Irrigated Lands Program (ILP) would allow staff to spend more
time regulating and enforcing the ILP. To
learn more about the new ILP please check the Regional Board web page at: http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley/programs/irrigated_lands/index.html#Groups The Regional Board is expected to finalize the wording on how one may join a
coalition after this date based on their staff’s recommended wording at their
meeting in August 2006. The joint
coalition group is attempting to assist staff with that wording.
There has been no indication that the Regional Board will change this
date. Management Practice
Information.
The ILP requires that Coalitions contact its members in each
watershed of the Area where an exceedance (hit) was found from the samples taken
during the monitoring season. In
doing so we are to develop an inventory of the management practices (MPs)
landowners/operators employ, and then provide members with information on
additional MPs and options to improve water quality for your farming operations.
Since exceedances were found at every site through out the Area, every
watershed will be involved. Gathering this information will be a major
effort in 2006. After the notification and outreach presentations, we are required
by the ILP to report back to the Regional Board all of the activities and the
degree of participation of the operators. While
sampling is going to become more involved and more expensive, the
outreach/education aspect of the Coalition’s mission is going to be far more
time consuming, far more expensive, and far more difficult to do. We have
to demonstrate that there are operators who are changing their MPs
substantially. For example, putting
in tail water ponds, changing to drip, eliminating aerial applications, etc., to
improve their irrigation and storm water runoff. We plan to begin to have landowner/operator meetings in August
2006. The locations, dates, and
times will be sent to the Coalition’s “Steering Committee Members and
Cooperating Entities” to help get the word out.
All Coalition members should plan to attend.
How many have joined the Coalition? Of
the estimated 545,000 acres of irrigated agricultural lands in the Area,
landowners/operators of approximately 460,000 acres have knowingly elected to
join the Coalition. That means approximately 85,000 acres have not joined
the Coalition. This acreage may be
subject to penalties by the Regional Board under the ILP regulations. The Regional Board is taking steps to identify
landowner/operators who are not members of Coalitions or not otherwise in
compliance with the law. The
Coalition, as requested by the Executive Officer of the Regional Board, provided
a list of parcels that had joined the Coalition in 2005 along with a digital map
that shows which parcels have joined the Coalition.
The new ILP requires that we annually provide (using the preliminary
wording): “(a) assessor parcel number(s); (b) parcel size; (c) parcel owner or
operator name, and (d) parcel owner or operator address.” to the Regional
Board. The first
membership/participant list is due September 30, 2006, with a follow-up list due
December 31, 2006. Who is performing monitoring and analysis? Dr. Michael Johnson,
a water quality consultant and a scientist with U.C. Davis, is the Coalition’s
Program Manager. He directs the
monitoring effort to collect the water samples from the monitoring sites and
prepares the reports required under the ILP.
Pacific EcoRisk from How are membership dues being spent? The Coalition’s
2006 operating budget is $848,581. The
operating costs include:
The Coalition has
received a grant from the State Water Resources Control Board to measure the
effectiveness of agricultural Management Practices (MPs) practices in the
Coalition’s Area. Grower surveys
of their MPs will be part of the fact gathering process. How much are the membership dues in 2006? The Coalition is
required by the Regional Board’s Monitoring and Reporting Program Plan (MRP)
to expand its number of monitoring sites from 12 in 2005, to 15 in 2006.
Adding these sites and the additional costs for testing additional pollutants
has increased the estimated operating costs. The 2006 membership dues are
$1.50 per parcel acre for irrigated parcels plus any
outstanding balances for irrigated parcels that were not enrolled in 2004 and
2005 at the rate of $1 per parcel acre. The
enrollment charge for 10 acres or less is $20.
The cost of
membership after October 15, 2006, is $1.75 per parcel acre with a minimum of
$25 for parcels of 10 acres or less. Per
the new ILP we are not to accept membership after December 31, 2006.
Coalition
work completed for its members include: ·
The volunteer steering committee members meet monthly and makes
recommendations to the San Joaquin County Resource Conservation District’s (SJCRCD)
Board of Directors, who are also volunteers, regarding the operation of the
Coalition. The SJCRCD has the final
approval of all recommendations proposed by the steering committee. ·
Hosted meetings in the Area to inform landowners and operators of the
former Ag Waiver regulations. ·
Completed and submitted the Coalition’s monitoring plan. ·
Continues to monitor major stem streams and rivers in the Area during
the irrigation season. ·
Monitored storm events in February and March 2006. ·
Prepared and delivered the required Semi Annual Reports to the Regional
Board. ·
Attended Regional Board meetings and speak on behalf of the
Coalition’s membership. To comply with the Regional Board’s ILP the
Coalition’s mission is to: 1.
Operate an efficient, economical
program that enables members to be in compliance with the Regional Board’s
June 22, 2006, Resolution No.
R5-2006-0053, Coalition Group Conditional Waiver of Waste Discharge Requirements
for Discharges from Irrigated Lands (ILP). 2.
File required reports with the
Regional Board to maintain conditional waiver coverage for Coalition members. 3.
Implement an economical and
scientifically valid water-monitoring program for 4.
Spread costs equitably among
landowners/operators of irrigated farmland who are Coalition members. 5.
Communicate to landowners where
water monitoring indicates problems and work to solve those problems. 6.
Develop and implement reasonable
and cost effective Management Practices (MPs) to address any toxicity from
irrigated farmland. What is the status of the Coalition’s monitoring and reporting
efforts? ·
In 2005, 12 sites were monitored in the Area. ·
A total of eight samples per site were collected during the irrigation
and stormwater runoff seasons. Six
per site during the irrigation season (April thru September) and two during the
stormwater runoff season (December thru March). ·
In 2006, 15 sites will be sampled eight times. What were the results of the 2005 monitoring effort? During the
irrigation and storm runoff seasons 12 monitoring sites were sampled eight
times. The results of testing showed
the following across the entire Area: Type of
Exceedance
Total Samples
Total Exceedances
% of Total Samples E. coli
155
43
27.7 Physical
Parameters*
155
222
100.0 Water
Chemistry
155
17
11 Toxicity**
174
53
30.5 *Physical
Parameters: Type of
Exceedance
Total Samples
Total Exceedances
% of Total Samples Dissolved
oxygen
155
17
11.0 pH
155
10
6.5 Electro
Conductivity (EC)
155
52
33.5 TDS (salt)
155
143
92.3 **Toxicity:
Algae
90
9
10
Water flea
90
7
8
Fathead minnow
90
7
8
Sediment
30
19
61
Pesticide:
Chlorpyrifos
90
9
10
Diazinon
100
1
1
Type of
Exceedance
Total Samples
Total Exceedances
% of Total Samples Water Quality
pH
100
7
7
Dissolved Oxygen
100
16
15
EC
100
49
47
E. coli
100
41
47 You can see
from the list of exceedance types shown above that the ILP is more than testing
for herbicides and pesticides, for the ILP states that:
“Waste specifically regulated by the Conditional Waiver (ILP) includes
earthen materials, such as soil, silt, sand, clay, and rock; inorganic
materials, such as metals, salts, boron, selenium, potassium, and nitrogen; and
organic materials, such as organic pesticides, that enter or have the potential
to enter into waters of the State.” The Coalition
is in contact with the County Agriculture Commissioner’s offices to determine
who may have been using the suspected herbicide and pesticide materials.
The collection of that information is on going and meetings and workshops
will be held with landowners and operators during the year to review the
exceedances and an operator’s MPs. Who
is responsible for making the Coalition successful? The
individual members of the Coalition are primarily responsible for the success of
the Coalition by participating in the Coalition’s efforts to correct water
quality problems and paying their fair share of all costs to carry out the
Regional Board’s Irrigated Lands Program. The primary long-term goals of
the Coalition are to achieve water quality standards through the implementation
of reasonable, cost-effective management practices. The Coalition was formed
under the auspicious of the ILP to coordinate the monitoring, sample testing,
reporting to the Regional Board, and to develop the Area’s management
practices. Who
is managing and operating the Coalition? The SJCRCD meets
monthly to oversee the daily operations of the Coalition.
John B. Meek, Jr. was hired by the SJCRCD in 2005 to be the Executive
Director of the Coalition. The
Program Manager is Dr. Michael Johnson. He coordinates the collection and
testing of water samples, monitoring site selection, Coalition area mapping, MP
data collection, and communication and annual reports to the Regional Board.
Ruth Mulrooney is in charge of the membership fee invoicing and fee
collection. For ILP information
contact: Central Valley
Regional Water Quality Control Board website:
www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley/
or (916) 464-4611 For Coalition information contact: San Joaquin Co
& Delta Water Quality Coalition, John B. Meek, Jr.,
Executive Director, 209-472-7127 ext. 125 - Contact for information regarding
participation in the Coalition. jmeek@jmeek.com
Ruth Mulrooney,
209-472-7127 ext. 125 -
Contact for billing or accounts receivable. ruthmulrooney@softcom.net
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South San Joaquin Irrigation District, 11011 E. Highway 120, Manteca, CA, 95336. ~ Tel: 209.249.4600 ~ Fax: 209.249.4640 Copyright 2005, South San Joaquin Irrigation District. All rights reserved.
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