CV-SALTS NITRATE CONTROL PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS WEBINAR

Thursday, February 29, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

This webinar will be helpful if you have received a Nitrate Control Program Notice to Comply in the mail and would like to learn more about the program and your regulatory responsibilities.

CV-SALTS – Managing Salt and Nitrate in the California Central Valley

For Permittees

Priority 2 Groundwater Subbasins

Priority 2 groundwater basins/subbasins are Delta-Mendota, Eastern San Joaquin, Kern County (Poso), Kern County (West-side South), Madera, Merced, Tulare Lake, and Yolo.

Notices to Comply were sent to permittees in these areas in December 2023.

The map for Priority 2 Management Zones can be accessed by clicking on the button below entitled “Find Your Management Zone.”

Two Nitrate Compliance Pathways for Permittees to Choose

Once nitrate permittees receive a Notice to Comply with the Nitrate Control Program, they have a choice of two pathways for compliance. After receiving a Notice to Comply, permittees must choose a pathway and file a notice of intent.

Pathway B offers many benefits and will be best choice for permittees that cannot meet the Pathway A approach.

  • Ensure safe drinking water to those who need it.

  • Avoid “going it alone” under demanding individual permit (Pathway A).

  • Establish local control and more flexibility than under past regulations.

  • Adapt management to local conditions.

  • Share resources, funding, and knowledge.

Frequently Asked Questions

Pathway A: Individual Permitting Approach

A permittee or groups of permittees subject to a single order may opt to comply under the individual permit requirements.

Pathway A compliance options are difficult and expensive if there are drinking water wells near your facility that are high in nitrates, if your discharge is high in nitrates, or if local shallow groundwater exceeds 75% of the nitrate drinking water standard.

Priority 1 Pathway A Approvals:

  • Total Pathway A submittals: 27
  • Pathway A approvals: 4
  • Pathway A conditional approvals: 3
  • Pathway A denials: 2
  • Switched to Pathway B: 16

 

Pathway B: Local Management Zone

When a permittee chooses Pathway B and joins a Management Zone, they receive an exception from the nitrate standard and must work with Management Zone members to first assure safe drinking water.

Permittees opt to work collectively with other permittees through a Management Zone. A Management Zone serves as a discrete regulatory compliance unit for nitrate compliance. Permittees would ensure that those impacted by nitrate have safe drinking water within the zone while continuing to implement best practices and nitrogen management plans. In turn, permittees may be allowed greater flexibility and more time to achieve nitrogen balance and restore nitrate affected water bodies.