Hoping to provide clean drinking water to those who can’t afford it, California political leaders are considering major policy changes that would create funding for improving community drinking water systems.
Under pressure to provide clean drinking water to rural areas, Sacramento policymakers are considering groundbreaking legislation and policy changes. (Photo credit: Water Deeply/Tara Lohan)
The plans bear a large price tag for farmers and other water users, but come with a promise that the state would make it easier for the state’s farmers – including almond growers – and others to comply with water quality protection regulations.
Two similar, but separate, efforts are moving through the governmental process. The higher-profile effort for the moment is Senate Bill (SB) 623 (Monning), which would create a “Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund.” The current version proposes to collect $140 million annually, $110 million coming from surcharges on residential and business water bills and most of the remainder coming from a five-mill assessment (one half-cent per dollar spent) on fertilizer sales. Under the draft plan, dairies would also be charged a fee. On September 1, the Assembly Appropriations Committee referred the bill to the Assembly Rules Committee, making it a 2-year bill.
Fixing the drinking water problem
Supporters of SB 623, including the Almond Alliance of California and Agricultural Council of California, say the bill will be a way to fix the longstanding problem of poor drinking water quality in many rural communities. Solving this problem would not only improve the quality of life in farming communities but could relieve pressure on the farming community and others with the potential to impact water quality.
A key feature of SB 623 is the promise that state officials will not take enforcement action against farmers for violating water quality objectives simply because they use nitrogen fertilizers. However, farmers would still have to meet permit requirements for responsible farming, such as budgeting nutrients to ensure the correct amount of fertilizer is applied to crops.
While the fate of SB 623 remains uncertain, a separate and perhaps lesser-known effort is also moving its way through the halls of California government. This effort is a package of amendments to the Water Quality Control Plans (Basin Plans) in the Central Valley of California. These proposed amendments are the product of a stakeholder-led initiative known as CV SALTS (www.cvsalinity.org), which includes representatives of agriculture, food processors, publicly-owned waste treatment plants, other industries, government agencies and environmental justice advocates.
Encouraging local management zones
Much like SB 623, the Basin Plan amendments proposed by CV SALTS would make it easier for farmers and other “dischargers” (people who use water and then release it back to the environment) to comply with their permits. Also like SB 623, this regulatory flexibility would come with a cost. One major component of CV SALTS’s recommendations is to create “management zones” in which residents would be assured access to safe and affordable drinking water. In turn, farmers, other businesses and local governments who “discharge” water would not face enforcement for exceeding water quality objectives related to salt and nitrates, so long as they participated in their management zone’s efforts. That would include providing financial support for clean drinking water, as well as continuing to comply with permit conditions to protect water quality.
Unlike SB 623, CV SALTS’s recommendations do not include a specific cost at this point; it is likely they could vary significantly by region, depending on the extent of local water quality impacts.
The CV SALTS recommendations are under review by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board, which is scheduled to vote on the changes by early 2018. After that, the plan would still need to be approved by the State Water Resources Control Board and (for portions of the plan affecting surface waters) the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Regardless of the fate of these specific efforts, it is clear the state is devoting an increasing amount of attention to finding solutions to the challenge of clean drinking water. Almond growers would be wise to make sure their voices are heard in the discussion.
Learn more
http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB623
https://www.cvsalinity.org/
