Expert panel leans toward area-based nitrogen targets, not crop-specific limits

Dr. Daniel Geisler, chair of the expert panel convened by the State Water Resources Control Board, said the groupwas focused on whether the scientific evidence supports developing numeric limits and how those numbers could be produced and implemented. "The questions aren't asking the panel to necessarily come up with the number," he said, describing the panel's charge as assessing whether and how to get to defensible limits.

Panelists repeatedly raised practical challenges with crop-specific numeric limits and urged an area‑based approach measured over time. "There's no crop‑specific nitrogen limit that makes sense in this context," said Thomas (panelist),…