Salt and Nutrient Management Plans Recycled Water Policy Salt and Nutrient Management Plans Ken Harris Manager, Regulatory Section State Water Resources Control Board ACWA Spring Conference 2010 May 5, 2010

California Water Supply Challenges Limited supply Climate change effects Increasing water demand Residential use Industrial use Agricultural use Aquatic ecosystem needs California is a big state with a large water demand. It has a large agricultural economy, a growing population, and an industrial sector – all of which consume water. The water diversion necessary to support these demands have effects on aquatic ecosystems, creating a tension between environmental protection and delivery of needed water supplies. This tension is not likely to lessen in the future. Climate change will most likely reduce the snow pack in the Sierra, upon which much of the state depends for augmenting surface water reservoirs. California’s population is likely to increase. And agriculture will remain a large industry in California.

Ways to Meet These Challenges Water use efficiency Agriculture Urban Water right transfer Urban runoff management Infiltration of storm water to groundwater Protection of recharge areas Storage/Conveyance/Conjunctive Use Surface water Groundwater Improved conveyance Desalination Water recycling The California Water Plan Update provides a plan for meeting these challenges. The principal methods are water use efficiency; urban runoff management; conjunctive use of surface water storage, groundwater storage, and conveyance systems; desalination, and water recycling.

Recycled Water Use 450 – 580 Thousand Acre-feet Year (2002) In 2002, about half a million acre-feet of recycled water from municipal wastewater treatment plants was recycled. The State Water Board will conduct a survey this year to update this figure. Of this use, about half is used for agricultural irrigation. The rest is used for landscape irrigation, groundwater recharge, and various other uses, such as cooling. 450 – 580 Thousand Acre-feet Year (2002)

Potential Recycled Water Use The 2009 California Water Plan Update estimates that between 1.85 and 2.25 million acre-feet per year of recycled water can be produced and used by 2030. Source: 2009 California Water Plan Update

Challenges to Increasing Recycled Water Use Infrastructure costs Water quality concerns Public perception Policy/Regulatory requirements There are challenges to doing this. Constructing recycled water production facilities is not cheap and distribution systems can be expensive, because they often must be constructed within an existing infrastructure. There are also water quality concerns. Every time water is reused, it becomes degraded. Water imported to southern California often has received discharges from agricultural operations and wastewater treatment plants. This water is used for municipal supply, where it is further degraded. Although recycled water production facilities remove many of the pollutants in the water, salts usually remain, and some constituents are resistant to biological treatment. Hence, recycled water may not be of adequate quality for some crops and landscape plants and it may affect groundwater quality. Recycled water has received a high degree of public acceptance in California. The public is seeing recycled water as necessary for meeting water demands. This acceptance, however, is not universal. Recycled water agencies must be vigilant to ensure that their product is adequately disinfected and that no one becomes sick. A single case could set back the progress made in gaining public acceptance. The agencies that regulate recycled water, principally the Water Boards and the California Department of Public Health, have the responsibility of establishing requirements to ensure that water is recycled in a way that is protective of public health and the quality of surface water and groundwater. Keeping our plans, policies, and regulations up to date, so that these requirements are clear, has been challenge for us to do within our existing resources.

State Water Board Policies and Permits Recycled Water Policy (Feb. 2009) Statewide General Waste Discharge Requirements-Landscape Irrigation Permit (July 2009) But we have been working on this. The State Water Board recently adopted statewide general waste discharge requirements for landscape irrigation uses of municipal recycled water. This fulfilled a requirement of Assembly Bill 1481. The general waste discharge requirements provide a streamlined process for permitting the use of recycled for landscape irrigation. Before that, the State Water Board adopted the Recycled Water Policy. I will discuss the elements of this policy and what the Water Boards are doing to implement it.

Recycled Water Policy Goals and mandates for recycled water use Salt/nutrient management plans Landscape irrigation Groundwater recharge Antidegradation analysis procedures Constituents of emerging concern Incentives The policy establishes some incentives for increasing recycled water and storm water use. 8 8

Salt/Nutrient Management Plans For all groundwater basins Stakeholders prepare the salt/nutrient management plans Regional Boards adopt implementation plans based on the salt/nutrient management plans as basin plan amendments The policy requires that these be prepared for all groundwater basins in California and that they be prepared by local stakeholders within five years from the approval date of the Recycled Water Policy. Once the stakeholders complete the plans, they are to be submitted to the Regional Water Boards. The Regional Water Boards have one year from receipt of the plans to consider adopting the regulatory elements of the plans as basin plan amendments.

Salt/Nutrient Management Plans Plans must include: Implementation plan Monitoring plan, including constituents of emerging concern CEQA analysis Scientific peer review (H&S Code Sec. 57004) Plans must consider: All sources of salts and nutrients Basin hydrogeology Recycled water use and storm water recharge The salt/nutrient management plans must include implementation plans and a monitoring plans, including monitoring for constituents of emerging concern. They must also include a CEQA analyses. While developing the plans, stakeholders must consider all sources of salts and nutrients, basin hydrogeology, recycled water use, and storm water recharge. Scientific Peer review

Salt/Nutrient Management Plans State Water Board staff preparing draft document templates for Regional Boards’ basin planning process (May 10, 2010 draft release) Purpose is to streamline process Documents will create a standardize basin plan framework, but allow for regional flexibility Documents content will be linked to ensure they support next step in basin planning process, and inform Regional Boards and stakeholders

Salt/Nutrient Management Plans Documents designed to accommodate range of basin and salt/nutrient plan complexity Can accommodate additional water quality issues Documents include: Standardized basin plan list of ground water basins and associated beneficial uses Basin plan amendment in table format Environmental analysis with check list Regional Water Board Staff Report Suggested S/N plan table of contents to support the Regional Board’s process.

Salt/Nutrient Management Plans Envision 3 types of basin plan amendments, characteristics include: Individual Plan-basin large in size, complex land-use, heavily used, water quality threatened or currently impaired. High Saline Plan-coastal basins with high TDS not currently used as a source of water, and interior saline basin (SB Policy 88-63) No Threat Plan-basins with minimal or no known current threat to water quality-address all within a Region with single basin plan amendment

Future Activities State Water Board consideration of recommendations from constituents of emerging concern (CEC) advisory panel -planned for Nov 2010 Continue working with DWR to allow Prop 84 funds to be used for development of salt/nutrient management plans Collection of information on recycled water use State Water Board Information Item Planned for July 6, 2010 Implementation of the Recycled Water Policy Status of Salt/Nutrient Management Plans Upcoming activities for the State Water Board this years include consideration of the Scientific Advisory Panel CEC recommendations, once they are finalized. Staff will review the recommendations and provide its own recommendation to the State Water Board for consideration. Stakeholders have initiated efforts to develop salt/nutrient management plans. The State Water Board has been developing templates to assist the stakeholders and the Regional Water Board in this effort. The State Water Board will also be conducting a survey this year to evaluate how much recycled water is being used in California. Water recycling agencies should support this survey by providing the requested information to the State Water Board.

Contact Information Liz Haven, Assistant Deputy Director lhaven@waterboards.ca.gov (916) 341-5457 Ken Harris, Manager kharris@waterboards.ca.gov (916) 341-5500 Jagroop Khela, Water Recycling Ombudsperson jkhela@waterboards.ca.gov (916) 341-5560 Mailing Address: 1001 I Street, 15th Floor Division of Water Quality State Water Resources Control Board Sacramento, CA 95814