By Paul Sousa, Interim CEO

Central Valley dairies face a lot of changes over the next 10 years in how they are regulated for water quality. This article focuses on the most immediate change, and it’s one that could matter a great deal if your dairy has grown. If you have expanded beyond your 2005 mature cow numbers and are not enrolled in the digester permit, you do not want to miss this opportunity.

Why this matters

In 2005, when the Regional Board began drafting a dairy order, it asked dairies to report the number of mature cows on their dairy as of October 2005. The Regional Board allowed a 15% increase on top of that number, and the total became the permitted herd size. That cap allowed the Regional Board to rely on the existing facilities exemption under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) when adopting that permit.

Dairies that expanded along the way either moved to another existing permit, like the dairy digester permit, or were left in limbo because the Regional Board was not issuing new permits.

What’s changing

The State Water Resources Control Board (State Board) has directed the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Board) to reopen its 2013 dairy order. The reopened order will allow dairies to enroll that are not currently covered because they expanded their cow numbers.

Dairies will be able to use the number of mature cows on their dairy as of September 15th of this year as their new permit number. Exactly how this plays out will be seen in the reopened order, which the Regional Board is expected to release this week. However, this will likely be the easiest opportunity for dairies to get their existing cow numbers grandfathered into the Regional Board’s permitting process.

The timeline

The State Board gave the Regional Board 150 days to reopen the order, and that clock started on September 15th. Here is what to expect:

• This week: The Regional Board is expected to release a tentative order.
• 30 days: Public comment period on the tentative order.
• February: The Regional Board is expected to consider the order at a hearing.
• April (60 days after adoption): Dairies have 60 days to submit updated cow numbers and any additional information required by the reopened order.

These deadlines are tight, but they were set by the State Board as a mandate for the Regional Board.

This is only the beginning, and more details will emerge in the coming weeks. In the meantime, review the tentative order to understand what you will need to submit to the Regional Board. Start preparing now. The 60-day timeline is short, and depending on how much information is required, consultants could be very busy trying to meet the deadline.

I will keep our members updated as we learn more. As always, I look forward to answering your questions on this topic.