The Rice Waste Discharge Requirements Order (WDR) amendments were approved at the Central Valley Water Board meeting on February 7. Changes were necessary as the result of litigation to the East San Joaquin WDR Order. The pending changes affect all coalitions managing the WDR Orders, with the least impact to rice. We will provide updates once we receive the changes in final format.
After January 1, 2022, growers must conduct annual drinking water supply well monitoring for nitrates unless, before that date, “the State Water Board determines that the legislature has established a comprehensive statewide program that assures that private drinking water wells will be routinely monitored for nitrate contamination and users of the wells will be notified of the results”.
You can choose to collect a groundwater sample from a drinking water well now for your personnel background purposes. The laboratory you contact will provide information on proper sampling methods, chain-of-custody, and quality assurance/quality control protocols for groundwater samples. Certified laboratories can be found at the web link: www.waterboards.ca.gov\elap.
