State Water Resources Control Board Issues Draft Order Staying Provisions of Central Coast Agricultural Order

On September 10, 2012, the State Water Resources Control Board (“State Board”) issued a Draft Order which, if adopted, will stay certain provisions of the agricultural order and related monitoring and reporting program orders issued by the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (“Regional Board”). The State Board received five petitions for review of the Regional Board’s Order No. R3-2012-0011, Conditional Waiver of Waste Discharge Requirements for Discharges from Irrigated Lands (“Agricultural Order”), and Monitoring and Reporting Program Orders Nos. R3-2012-0011-01, R3-2012-0011-02, and R3-2012-0011-03 (“Monitoring and Reporting Orders”). A copy of the Agricultural Order and Monitoring and Reporting Orders are available here. In addition to petitioning for State Board review of those orders, the petitioners also requested that the State Board stay all or certain provisions of the orders, pending State Board review.

The Draft Order stays the following requirements and compliance deadlines of the Agricultural Order and Monitoring and Reporting Program Orders:

• the compliance deadline for installation of backflow prevention devices (stayed until March 1, 2013);
• the requirements related to containment structures (stayed until the petitions for review are resolved);
• the requirements related to practice effectiveness verification (stayed until the petitions for review are resolved);
• the requirements related to calculation of nitrate loading risk factors and crop nitrogen uptake (stayed until the petitions for review are resolved); and
• the compliance deadline for photo monitoring of streams and riparian and wetland area habitat (stayed until June 1, 2013).

The Draft Order states that the State Board expects to resolve the petitions for review by October 2013.

The comment deadline on the Draft Order will be September 14, 2012, by noon. The final State Board stay order is scheduled for adoption at the State Board’s September 19, 2012, public meeting. 

For additional information regarding the State Board’s Draft Order, please contact Elizabeth Leeper or the KMTG attorney with whom you normally consult. Additional information is also available through the State Board website.

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State Water Resources Control Board Decides To Stay Provisions Of Central Coast Agricultural Order