State Water Board convenes second agricultural expert panel to review irrigated‑lands program

The State Water Resources Control Board convened the first meeting of its second agricultural expert panel on Aug. 8 in Sacramento to review five years of irrigated‑lands reporting and to advise the board on whether and how to use “nitrogen applied” and “nitrogen removed” metrics in statewide regulation.

The panel was formed after the board’s 2023 petition order remanded portions of the Central Coast’s 2021 general waste discharge requirements and directed staff to convene another expert panel before the board considers new statewide regulatory approaches. “Our board’s charge is to have a long‑term irrigated lands regulatory program that both protects water quality as well as provides for a sustainable agricultural industry in California,” Chief Deputy Director Karen Mogus said at the meeting.

Why it matters: The panel will assess whether data collected by regional coalitions and other parties supports new tools such as multiyear A/R (applied divided by removed) targets or A–R (applied minus removed) limits intended to reduce nitrate loading to groundwater. The central question is whether the state now has enough reliable, regionally relevant data and practical methods to translate those numbers into enforceable regulation that will protect drinking water without unduly disrupting farming operations.

State staff framed the issue with a brief history. Darren Palamas of the State…