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6/15/2009 - Last Call for Drainshed Meetings | Make-up Meetings Scheduled for June 24 & 25

If you were not able to attend the Drainshed meetings earlier in June, Imperial County Farm Bureau has scheduled two Make-up Drainshed Meetings for June 24 & 25.

Wednesday, June 24, 10:00 a.m.
Thursday, June 25, 2:00 p.m.
Both will be held at the Imperial County Farm Bureau Board Room, 1000 Broadway in El Centro.

All farmers who participate in the Imperial Valley Voluntary TMDL Compliance program are required to attend one drainshed meeting per year, in order to remain in good standing with the program. Growers and landowners who do not participate in the Farm Bureau program are required to work directly with the Regional Water Quality Control Boar to achieve and maintain compliance with the silt & sediment TMDLs that have been established in our region.

In the Farm Bureau program, farmers implement a variety of Best Management Practices (BMPs) that are most effective for reducing silt and mineral runoff on their own farms, and maintain a record of their efforts. Participants are also required to attend annual meetings to keep up-to-date and share information relating to BMPs and TMDL management on their farms.

Imperial County’s voluntary Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL, program is designed to continue reducing the amount of silt and minerals that are transported through the drainage systems from agricultural fields into the New and Alamo Rivers, and ultimately to the Salton Sea. The goal set by the Regional Water Quality Control Board is to reduce the amount of silt and minerals in the system by 50% over the course of 12 years.

Within three years of implementation, the Farm Bureau’s TMDL program achieved its goal for reducing silt and minerals being carried into the New River. The program has also seen a significant reduction at the Alamo River well ahead of the 12-year implementation schedule.

For more information about the TMDL program, or to RSVP for one of the upcoming drainshed meetings, contact Candace Nelson, TMDL Program Manager at Imperial County Farm Bureau – 760-352-3831 or info@ivtmdl.com.