State Water Board Puts Parts of Controversial Ag Waiver on Hold

The flurry of appeals against the "ag waiver," a set of rules intended to improve water quality by cracking down on agricultural polluters, means some parts of the new regulations are on hold.

The State Water Resources Control Board hasn't yet made a final determination on the appeals—which came both from agricultural and environmental interests, the former arguing the new rules are too stringent, the latter that they're too soft.

In a draft order issued Monday, the state board agreed with two appellants, including Castroville-based Ocean Mist Farms, that some key aspect of the ag waiver shouldn't take effect until a final ruling comes down. This delay, called a stay in legalese, keeps growers from implementing what they claim are expensive practices to comply with rules that might soon be reversed.

The state board didn't grant Ocean Mist everything it asked. According to the draft order: "Agricultural petitioners are effectively requesting that the stay roll back the clock to prior to 2004," the year the first ag waiver took effect.

"Dischargers should have been making progress towards complying with water quality standards provisions since 2004."

Growers got extra time to comply with one of the most controversial aspects of the ag waiver—calculating how much nitrogen a given crop takes up. Nitrate pollution in groundwater is a critical issue on the Central Coast, but its direct link to fertilizer use is hotly debated.

Meanwhile, some other controversial provisions of the ag waiver, mostly monitoring and reporting, were upheld on the original implementation schedule.

Marina Mayor Bruce Delgado is one of the newest appointees to the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, which approved the ag waiver—after years of delay—in March.

For more on the ag waiver, visit www.mcweekly.com/agwaiver.