 |
Butte-Yuba_Sutter Water Quality Coalition (BYSWQC)
SCRCD provides Outreach and Education to the BYSWQC through the participation of James Cornelius and Larry Lloyd at meetings and workshops regarding regulatory issues for irrigated agricultural operations. The Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley
Region (Regional Board) is currently developing a long-term Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program (ILRP) that will affect farmers throughout Butte, Yuba, and Sutter Counties.
For several decades prior to 2002, growers who irrigate were exempt from needing water discharge permits, but that changed with a 2003 Central Valley Water Board decision to initiate the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program (ILRP) with the adoption of a Conditional Waiver of Waste Discharge Requirements (Conditional Waiver). The 2003 Conditional Waiver expired in 2006, at which time a Revised Conditional Waiver was adopted that continues until June of 2011.
The Revised Conditional Waiver provided growers who irrigate with three choices: join a coalition, form a coalition or file as an individual discharger. Joining a coalition of growers who irrigate (who pay jointly for monitoring) allows growers to avoid the costly application for an individual discharge waver or having to submit a report of waste discharge along with a fee to the Central Valley Water Board. The rule applies to 429,000 acres in Butte, Yuba and Sutter Counties.
As Outreach Coordinators for the BYSWQC, Mr. Cornelius and Mr. Lloyd have produced a 12-page summary of the Regional Board's Programmatic Draft Environmental Report (PEIR) for the ILRP and a 6-page report on the economic impact of the ILRP. The Coordinators also submitted comments to the Regional Board regarding regulatory concerns identified in the preferred alternative (See below).
Economic Impact (Coming Soon)
Spring 2011 Newsletter (Coming Soon)
1511 C Butte House Rd., Yuba City, CA 95993, (530) 674-1461 ext 130