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Central Coast board says nitrate loading from irrigated agriculture remains 'ongoing and severe'
Summary
Central Coast regional staff told the expert panel they have years of farm-level data and concluded nitrate loading is excessive in many areas; the region has adopted fertilizer application targets and a 50-pound-per-ranch-acre groundwater protection limit in Ag Order 4.
Elaine Sals, the irrigated lands program manager for the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board, told the expert panel that nitrate-related groundwater contamination in the Central Coast is widespread and persistent and that the region’s data show continued excessive nitrogen loading from irrigated agriculture.
The nut graf: Sals said the Central Coast has been regulating irrigated agriculture for more than 20 years, has a large set of farm-level and well data and adopted fertilizer application targets and nitrogen-discharge (A−R) targets in Ag Order 4 to address over‑application and protect groundwater.
Sals said the Central Coast has about 3,800 ranches enrolled under the order, representing more than 400,000 irrigated acres. She said the region has been collecting Total Nitrogen Applied (TNA) data since 2014 and INMP summaries since the order update in 2021. “Nitrogen loading from irrigated ag activities on Region 3 is ongoing and severe,” she said, summarizing her office’s finding.
Sals explained her board’s approach includes fertilizer application targets based on the AFIR (synthetic fertilizer) distribution; targets focused on the 80th–90th percentiles were used to identify and prioritize the largest applicators for outreach and enforcement. She also described the board’s nitrogen-discharge metric (A−R) and the 50‑pounds-per-ranch-acre final groundwater protection limit written into Ag Order 4. As an example of observed loading, Sals showed lettuce A−R data that she said translates to about 347 pounds of nitrogen per ranch acre per year based on grower‑reported values for a subset of fields.
Sals and Central Coast staff emphasized the region’s data tools, including a public ILP dashboard and regional guidance and tutorials for growers. She said the region will continue to assist growers, conduct outreach, and run audits of applied/removed reporting as needed to improve data quality. Ending: Sals asked the panel to recognize regional differences across California and to allow flexibility in any regulatory approach so that targets and credits can reflect local cropping patterns, irrigation sources and groundwater vulnerability.
