This week, as many as 650 dairies and around 170 calf and heifer ranches and beef feedlots received certified letters from the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Board).

Now that these “Notices to Comply” with the Regional Board’s new Nitrate Control Program have arrived, what is the next step for dairies and cattle operations?

For virtually all dairies and cattle facilities, the next step is to join a Nitrate Management Zone (we explained why in last week’s article, go here to review).

As we mentioned last week, Management Zones in Priority 1 areas are just getting started, so there is no way to join them just yet. That will change soon. Over the next 270 days, local Management Zones will form, then begin to make decisions about supplying safe drinking water in their communities, including how to provide it, who pays for it, and how additional members can join the effort. These are particularly important, local decisions. Dairies and cattle operations should make sure their voices are heard before final decisions are made. Contact the people leading efforts to organize Management Zones in your area now, tell them you are interested, let them know how to contact you and asked to be notified of meetings.
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A list of contacts for each management zone is provided below:

• Modesto Subbasin and Turlock Subbasins
  • Parry Klassen, East San Joaquin Water Quality Coalition (559) 288-8125, [email protected],  or J.P. Cativiela, Dairy Cares (916) 476-5153, [email protected]
• Chowchilla Subbasin
  • Christina Beckstead, Madera County Farm Bureau (559) 674-8871, [email protected] or Sarah Woolf, Water Wise, (559) 341-0174, [email protected]
• Kings Subbasin
  • Charlotte Gallock, Kings River Conservation District, (559) 237-5567 x105, [email protected] or Debra Dunn, Kings River Conservation District, (559) 237-5567 ext. 135, [email protected]
• Kaweah Subbasin
  • Sarah Rutherford, Provost & Pritchard, (559) 636-1166, [email protected]
• Tule Subbasin
  • David De Groot Tule Basin Water Quality Coalition (559) 802-3052, [email protected] and Don Tucker (559) 802-3052, [email protected]

You can learn more at cvsalts.info, at  cvdrmp.org and at bovinermp.org, where you can also sign up for updates. CVDRMP is working to facilitate participation of its members in management zones as part of a group effort, to minimize costs and confusion for individual dairy and cattle ranch operators. We will keep our members apprised of these efforts.

On or about May 29, the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (“Regional Board”) is expected to mail certified letters to about 650 dairies and more than 200 calf and heifer ranches and beef feedlots, letting those operations know they must comply with an important new regulation dealing with nitrates in groundwater.
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This article’s purpose is to help owners and operators of dairies and other confined cattle operations understand what these “Notice to Comply” letters mean, what steps owners need to take, and by when. A few key facts to start with:

• The letters are not just being sent to dairies and cattle facilities, but to many other water quality permit holders in so-called “Priority One” areas of the Central Valley.
• These letters are not being sent to all dairies and cattle facilities at this time. Operations in so-called “Priority Two” areas can expect a similar letter next year or perhaps later. Cattle ranches and dairies in “non-priority” areas may not receive a Notice to Comply in the foreseeable future. See map here: https://www.cvsalinity.org/nitrate-control-program
• The letter is not bad news. The letter, taken with the new regulations, offers an alternative that is more flexible, and less expensive, for complying with the strict regulations Central Valley dairies and other cattle operations are already under.