A Defense Against TMDLs

The Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) is currently developing total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for Imperial Valley Waterways. A TMDL is a regulation limiting the amount of a pollutant that can be released into a water body. The development of TMDLs will require agricultural dischargers to reduce the amount of substances such and silt and nutrients that leave their fields. There is no doubt that TMDLs will have a huge impact on Imperial Valley Agriculture. That is why the Imperial County Farm Bureau (ICFB) has developed a voluntary compliance program to help defend growers from the onslaught of TMDLs

Handed Down from a Higher Source

The ICFB Program is based on the California Farm Bureau Federation’s (CFBF) Nonpoint Source Initiative which was developed to provide guidance to county Farm Bureaus operating under the threat of nonpoint source (NPS) regulation. The CFBF Initiative acknowledges agriculture’s responsibility as a NPS contributor and enlists the practical genius of each farmer to reduce the impacts that they have on water quality. The goal of the CFBF Initiative is to maintain the flexibility of individual agricultural operations, avoid prescriptive regulation, and enable agricultural entities to meet the pollutant load allocations imposed by TMDLs.

How it Works

Participating growers will be organized into one of ten working groups that will pool their farming experience to develop feasible methods of controlling pollutant runoff. Each individual will then prepare a plan for his own farming operations, implement the plan, and monitor the results. Being organized into groups will give growers access to the legal, technical, and financial support they will need to meet the demands of TMDL compliance. It will also provide an organizational structure that will enable ICFB to maintain the anonymity of individual growers through a region-wide monitoring and reporting program. Protecting individual operations from the scrutiny of the RWQCB is a major priority of the ICFB Program.

Determining Compliance

The RWQCB has agreed to grant temporary immunity to growers who participate in the ICFB Program. Growers who elect to participate will register with the ICFB and have their name submitted to the RWQCB. They are then free from further enforcement action from the RWQCB. They will, however, be accountable to ICFB and required to follow through with their commitment to cooperate.

The Grim Alternative

As distasteful as cooperating with another regulatory program may seem, the alternative is even more grim. Growers who choose not to participate in the ICFB Program will be contacted by the RWQCB and required to submit a water quality management plan, an implementation schedule, proof of implementation, and monitoring results directly to the RWQCB. Another downside to individual compliance is the lack of privacy it provides - a primary objective of the ICFB Program. To top it off, growers who go it alone will be at the head of the list when it comes to RWQCB enforcement actions.

The Best Defense? - A Good Offense

It is unrealistic to believe that TMDL regulations will disappear or that Imperial Valley growers will become exempt from regulation due to the unique conditions that exist here. The ICFB Voluntary TMDL Compliance Program offers a proactive approach for growers who are ready to defend themselves against the onslaught of TMDLs. Having considered all of the angles, the ICFB and the CFBF believe that that the ICFB Voluntary TMDL Compliance Program is the Imperial Valley grower’s best offense against TMDLs.