State Orders South County Grower To Clean Up Drinking Water

For at least two years, residents of the South County community of San Lucas, haven't been able to drink the water.

Even San Lucas Elementary School relies on bottled water, with nitrate levels in the well water that supplies the area showing nitrate levels in excess of safe drinking water standards.

The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board issued a Cleanup and Abatement Order on Thursday, calling on the landowner and farm operator at Las Colinas Ranch to provide the replacement water San Lucas residents are drinking.

The landowner, the Naraghi Trust, and grower, Mission Ranches Company, had already voluntarily agreed to that interim water supply.

Angela Schroeter of the Regional Board sent a Dec. 12 email to the Wendell Naraghi and Mission representatives with a draft of the final order, and wrote, "While these are serious issues affecting water quality, this is a unique situation and we commend you for your expeditious efforts to resolve the problems."

But the mere fact that the Regional Water Board was able to identify a responsible party when it comes to the link between fertilizer use and groundwater contamination is unusual.

"This is one of the rare cases in the state where the Regional [Water Quality Control] Board has found the responsible party," says Bob Fredenburg, chief consultant to the California Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxics Committee. "This is an interesting case. It goes to, 'Well, what if we do hold people responsible?"

The Regional Water Board is also working with Mission Ranches on a fertility plan under the 2012 agricultural waiver, a regulatory program intended to improve water quality downstream of farms.

The ag waiver is currently being litigated both by environmental groups, who say it's not tough enough, and by agricultural interests, who argue it's too costly to comply with and may not even improve water quality.