By Paul Sousa, Director of Regulatory & Environmental Affairs

The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board will hold an important meeting on June 3 at its offices located at 11020 Sun Center Drive, Suite 200, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670, near Sacramento. On the agenda is approval of the Modesto Management Zone Implementation Plan and amendments to water quality permits incorporating the Nitrate Control Program. This action is part of the CV-SALTS water quality compliance strategy that has been years in the making and will affect water quality permit holders throughout the Central Valley.

While the Regional Board is currently considering only the Modesto Management Zone Implementation Plan, this action will establish a template and precedent for other Priority 1 management zones, including those affecting dairies. This is especially important for producers in the Modesto Management Zone, but dairy producers in the Turlock, Chowchilla, Kings, Tule, and Kaweah groundwater subbasins should also pay close attention. Similar actions in those areas are expected to follow soon.

Parts of the CV-SALTS process are already underway in Priority 1 zones. Permit holders are already providing replacement drinking water to residents whose domestic wells have been impacted by nitrates. At this hearing, the Regional Board will consider the critical 35-year exception allowing dairies and irrigated agriculture additional time to achieve compliance with nitrate groundwater quality standards. This exception was a key component of the broader CV-SALTS agreement that made immediate drinking water solutions possible.

Some groups are now attempting to undermine agreements reached after more than a decade of stakeholder meetings and negotiations in which they actively participated. Dairy producers and others affected by this action should make it clear to the Regional Board that the 35-year exception remains essential for agriculture to continue developing and implementing workable long-term solutions to nitrate challenges while continuing to provide safe drinking water solutions today.

Dairy producers are encouraged to attend the meeting, either in person or remotely, and provide testimony regarding the importance of maintaining the 35-year exception. Dairies are actively working toward long-term groundwater quality improvements, but significant technical and economic challenges remain. Producers must balance crop nutrient needs with manure management and continue developing practical ways to export excess nitrogen from dairy operations. This largely depends on technologies and systems that convert manure into transportable solid forms that can be moved offsite or composted. There are also technologies that can denitrify excess nitrogen in liquid manure.

The Dairy Plus Program will provide the final round of funding for some of these technologies very soon. However, additional time is necessary for producers to identify, finance, and implement effective solutions on a broader scale while maintaining viable dairy operations.

WUD will provide the meeting agenda once it is posted on the Regional Water Board’s website: Central Valley Water Board Meeting Information

This meeting matters to every dairy producer in the Central Valley. The decisions made here will shape how nitrate regulation is implemented for years to come and will directly impact the future viability of dairy farming in our region. If dairy producers do not participate in this process, others could shape the outcome for us. Please consider attending the meeting and making your voice heard in support of maintaining the 35-year exception and workable pathways for compliance. If you have questions about the meeting or would like talking points for testimony, please contact me.