preparing the final report due to the Regional Water Board on June 1, 2020. CCGC staff will be involved in 2020 with Central Coast agricultural organizations during negotiations of 4.0. All CCGC operations are expected to end by August 2020.

New Draft Order Set For ReleaseA draft of the next Order for irrigated agriculture on the Central Coast is set for release in late 2019 or early 2020. This next Order, commonly referred to as 4.0, is expected to contain significant changes in the regulation of discharges to surface and groundwater by agricultural entities. Twopreliminary documents released in January and April 2019 were the primary focus of Regional Water Board workshops held in March, May and September. The soon to be released draft will reflect comments by agriculture and environmental groups in addition to direction given by Regional Water Board members to their staff. It’s anticipated that the upcoming 4.0 draft Order will be revised in mid-2020 after a public comment period with a final draft released by late summer. Final adoption by the Regional Water Board is expected in January 2021.

CCGC Ending Operations in 2020The 2019 draft of the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program (4.0) currently does not include the option to negotiate a “better deal” for growers if they are part of a groundwater monitoring cooperative or coalition. In the previous Order (3.0), CCGC created a program that enabled members tofulfill the two sample per well requirement over a three-year period versus fulfilling requirements under the individual option (perform two samples in 2017).

After much consideration, the CCGC Board of Directors recently decided that not being able to provide members with extra value in the next Order/4.0 removes an important incentive for belonging to the organization and paying member dues. Unlike the mandatory cooperative surface water monitoring program which also collects the State fee for irrigated agriculture (currently $1.08/acre), CCGC develops and manages an “opt-in” groundwater monitoring program where growers chose to participate. With no regulatory mandate or added value option for participation, the CCGC board recognizes that growers have limited incentive to continue their membership in CCGC for the next Order.

In November, the CCGC Board of Directors instructed its staff to continue assisting members in early 2020 to finalize well sampling data submittals and reporting. Staff will also be

December 2019Central Coast Groundwater Coalition

UPDATENEWSLETTERCCGC

www.centralcoastgc.org

to Members forSupporting CCGC!

Accolades to CCGC Board of Directors CCGC was formed in 2013 with a mission based on very limited language included in the Order adopted by the Regional Water Board in 2012. The growers who volunteered to manage the new entity as its Board of Directors knew that they were at the helm of an organization being created out of “whole cloth” since a similar entity had never existed on the Central Coast. Developing a funding approach and dues level to cover its operating costs was an educated guess at best since it was unknown how many growers and number of acres would enroll in the organization.

Six years later, that educated guess proved to be quite accurate as the organization attracted and has kept more than 500 members farming 200,000-plus acres on the Central Coast. The success of the well monitoring programsdeveloped and completed would not have happened without the leadership of the CCGC Board of Directors and its advisors. These growers exhibited the ability to represent the interests of all CCGC members, not just the companies they owned or were employed by. The current and former CCGC Board members and Board advisors listed at the end of this newsletter each deserve kudos next time you see them with an extra “good job” to the Board chair, Tim Borel.

Final Compliance ReportCCGC staff will submit a final Compliance Report of all Coalition member ranches to the Regional Water Board in June 2020. Member ranches enrolled in CCGC must meet the sampling requirements for Cooperative growers (two samples of the primary irrigation well, plus two samples of all domestic wells on each ranch) and results must be successfully posted to Geotracker. Failure to do so may result in a Notice of Violation (NOV) from the Regional Water Board.

If a member added a ranch in 2018 or 2019 that was sampled by a previous operator, the member can provide the Global ID that the well(s) were sampled under and/or contact CCGC staff who can assist in locating the previous well results.

THANK YOU CCGC Board of Directors would like to say “Thank You” to all the members who supported

the Coalition over the last 7 years!

Outreach Begun on 4.0 Order Set for Adoption in 2020The Regional Water Board held three listening sessions throughout the Central Coast region in August, gathering input from growers and others about what they’d like to see in the next order set for adoption in 2020. The content of the next order, being dubbed “4.0”, will have numerous issues overshadowing its development including the outcome of lawsuits and petitions against both the previous order adopted in 2012, called 2.0, and the existing order currently being implemented, 3.0. In addition, the State Water Board just released revised Waste Discharge Requirements (WDR) for the East San Joaquin Water Quality Coalition. While the order is directed to Central Valley irrigated agriculture, the State Water Board included provisions it describes as “precedential” for all irrigated lands programs throughout the State, including the Central Coast. The next step in development of 4.0 is issuance of the environmental impact report (EIR), scheduled to be released in March 2018. The first draft of the new order is tentatively scheduled for release in Fall 2018.

Labs Qualified for Groundwater MonitoringMembers are encouraged to use a lab that has indicated willingness and ability to meet CCGC reporting requirements which help avoid costly miscommunication and unforeseen issues on member’s compliance and data reporting. Labs who have agreed to work with CCGC and its members are listed below. Please contact CCGC if you’ve already used a lab not on the list. MLJ-LLC: https://mljsampling.comFruit Growers Laboratory (FGL):Monterey Bay Analytical Services (MBAS):Dellavalle Laboratory:Abalone Coast Analytical: http://www.abalonecoastanalytical.com/Monterey County Health Department – Consolidated Environmental Laboratory:http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/government/departments-a-h/health/Control Laboratories, Inc.:

Frequently Encountered Well Sampling ProblemsScheduling Samples: When scheduling your wells to be sampled, be sure to a) alert the lab that you are a CCGC member b) provide Form 2B from your membership packet to the lab. Completing Form 2B ensures that well sample results are uploaded under the correct Global ID preventing any disassociated results. Contact CCGC if you need another form 2B.

Shared Wells: Well that is shared (with a member or non-member) only needs to be monitored by one operation. If a well is on a parcel enrolled on your eNOI and is sampled by another operation, you need to obtain the Global ID used when the well result was uploaded. This information needs to be provided to CCGC.

Tier Level: The Tier level is assigned to each ranch by the RWQCB. You can check your Tier level assignment in your GeoTracker account. Tier level is based on multiple factors including proximity to an impaired water body or to a public water system in exceedance of nitrate, crop type and other considerations.

Changes to your Operation: Any changes to your Operation (well count, well classification, irrigated acres, parcel rotation, ranch termination) must first be done in your GeoTracker account on your eNOI, and secondly with CCGC.

Annual Exceedance Notification/Replacement Water check upsCCGC is required to conduct annual follow-up with members who have a domestic well with nitrate exceedances. Included in the follow-up is documenting that all new tenants are properly notified and to update your replacement water action, if it has changed. If everything is the same – no new users to notify and no changes to the replacement water action – then a member only needs to sign a response letter confirming this. CCGC is working to make this process as simple as possible, but we need written documentation to avoid having Regional Water Board staff perform the follow-up.

Inspections/Posting to Continue in 2017CCGC staff last year accompanied a member as they were inspected by the Regional Water Board to verify compliance with actions taken when a domestic well was found to exceed water quality standards for nitrates. Focus of the inspection was reviewing documentation of high nitrates in the domestic well and the proper placarding of spigots that passersby or workers might access for drinking water. Regional Water Board staff reiterated that postings are not necessary inside private residences where all members of the household are aware of the nitrates. Postings are intended to be displayed on faucets and spigots that can be accessed by employees or the public that may not have been directly notified by the member i.e. farm offices, tasting rooms and water sources in outbuildings or other facilities. Inspections are expected to continue in 2017.

UPDATE NEWSLETTERCCGC

CENTRAL COAST GROUNDWATER COALITION

Central Coast Groundwater Coalition

(831) 240-9533

December 2019

Last Chance for 2019 Well SamplingCCGC members have only a few weeks to complete irrigation and domestic well sampling before the end of 2019 to remain in compliance with the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program. A reminder was both mailed and emailed in November to all members indicating which wells were in compliance or needed additional sampling. If any well has not been sampled twice since 2017, contact a laboratory immediately and schedule a sampling as soon as possible. The analysis need not be completed by year-end but a water sample should be taken promptly to begin the process of reporting the results to Geotracker and CCGC.

Nitrate Exceedances in Wells Similarto Years PastWell results reported to CCGC as of December showed that 34% of 882 domestic wells tested between April 2017 and September 2019 were above the nitrate drinking water standard of 10 mg/L Nitrate as nitrogen. Of the 302 wells above the standard, only ninety-three wells were “newexceedances” and required members to notify residences within 10 days. The remaining 209 wells were sampled previously under the CCGC program and members had already notified occupants of high nitrates. There were 547 irrigation wells, or 34% of 1607 total wells, above the nitrate drinking water standard throughout the coalition region. The totals for both domestic and irrigation wells received to date were similar to results of sampling between 2013 and 2016 when 35% of domestic and 30% of irrigation wells were above the nitrate standard.

CCGC Members Showed 96.7%Well Sampling Compliance CCGC members complied with their first well samplingrequirements at a remarkable level: as of October 2018, 96.7% of the 1700 ranches enrolled were found to be or brought into compliance. Based on sample results to date, most CCGC members appear to be on track to complete their final sample by the end of 2019. The final compliance report scheduled to be submitted in June 2020 will track whether members fulfilled the CCGC plan of taking two samples of the primary irrigation well plus two samples of all domestic wells on each ranch with results posted to Geotracker. Regional Water Board is expected to send Notices of Violation to any member who did not comply with the CCGC Work Plan sampling schedule.

adjustments. To view your lab results, click “By facility” under “View Submittals” on the left column of the page. Then click on each AGL (Global ID) to review the sampling analysis data. The GeoTracker address:https://geotracker.waterboards.ca.gov/esi/default.asp

Ranch Tier Level: The Tier level is assigned to each ranch by the Regional Water Board. You can check your Tier level assignment in your GeoTracker account. Tier level is based on multiple factors including crop type, proximity to an impaired water body or public water system in exceedance of nitrate and other considerations. If any ranch is assigned Tier 2 or Tier 3, the operator must submit an annual Total Nitrogen Applied (TNA) report on your Geotracker account by March 1. Starting in 2020, all TNA reports must be submitted directly through your Geotracker account (no longer accepted by email).

CCGC Board of DirectorsTim Borel, Blanco Farms LLC, Board ChairAndrew Parolini, McIntyre Vineyards/Monterey Pacific, Board Secretary/TreasurerPete Aiello, Uesugi FarmsRyan Acquistapace, Acquistapace Farms Richard Bianchi, Sabor FarmsJohn Eiskamp, JE FarmsMike King (retired), Mission RanchesBrent McKinsey, Mission RanchesDennis Lebow, Reiter BerryTom Minetti, Betteravia FarmsRandy Sharer, Sharer Brothers Farms

Advisors to the Board of DirectorsAbby Taylor-Silva, Grower-Shipper Association of CaliforniaClaire Wineman, Grower-Shipper Association of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties

CCGC StaffParry Klassen, Executive DirectorCourtney Jallo, Membership Manager

Tips For Meeting ComplianceVerifying Well Samples on Geotracker: Operators can log in to Geotracker to view their posted well results. If known well samples are missing or incorrect (in particular the well classification type), members can contact CCGC or the lab who performed the sampling/analysis to make the necessary

to CCGC Board of Directorsand Advisors for your Years

of Leadership!

THANK YOU