RCRC, along with stakeholders from agriculture, public agencies, and the business community, opposes Assembly Bill 2447, authored by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda). This measure seeks to greatly increase reporting requirements and compliance costs on the Agriculture community for water quality monitoring and using irrigation.
Specifically, AB 2447 would require the State Water Resources Control Board to require regional water boards to change the current benchmarks of the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program by 2030 to meet specified standards and ensure compliance.
California growers have engaged with the State Water Board and regional water boards for decades to investigate, monitor and attempt to remedy long-standing water quality issues across the State. Nitrogen discharges have been regulated for more than two decades by regional water quality control boards through Conditional Waivers or Waste Discharge Requirements. Such regulatory requirements have evolved over time resulting in today’s comprehensive Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program (ILRP), which is administered by the State Water Board and the regional boards.
Nitrate contamination in groundwater is a long-standing challenge for the State regardless of grower practices today. Growers have followed and employed the best scientific and state-supported research on application rates and fertilization management practices. To that end, the existing ILRP framework, regional orders, coalition monitoring, and ongoing expert review provides a robust and iterative pathway for progress grounded in science and regional adaptability.
AB 2447 replaces that adaptive existing framework with rigid mandates, exposes growers, communities and the state to unsustainable burdens, and generates unintended harms.
AB 2447 is currently pending a hearing in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. RCRC’s most recent letter joining with other stakeholders can be found HERE.
For additional information, contact RCRC Policy Advocate Eric Will.