From the Central Valley Water Board:
The Central Valley Water Board is inviting the public and other stakeholders to submit written comments on the Cawelo Water District Coalition’s Surface Water Quality Management Plan (SQMP) exemption request for pH and E. coli, dated 4 June 2024.
Development of a SQMP is required under Waste Discharge Requirements General Order R5-2013-0120-09, where an applicable surface water quality objective or trigger limit is exceeded twice in a three-year period for the same constituent at a monitoring location and irrigated agriculture may cause or contribute to the exceedances. The Executive Officer may determine that an SQMP is not required if there is sufficient evidence indicating that Coalition Members discharging waste to the affected surface water are meeting the receiving water limitations given in section III of the Order (e.g., evidence indicates that irrigated agriculture does not cause or contribute to the water quality problem) or there is sufficient evidence that the exceedance is not likely to be remedied or addressed by a management plan.
Comments must be received by 5:00 pm on 26 July 2024 to be considered in the Executive Officer’s assessment of the proposed request. Written comments can be submitted to Mathew Jian at mathew.jian@waterboards.ca.