November 14, 2022
Category: News
Montgomery & Associates (M&A) is pleased to announce that the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (CVRWQCB) recently approved the California Rice Commission’s (CRC) Nitrate Control Program Initial Assessment for Rice in the Sacramento Valley. M&A, in collaboration with Jacobs Engineering and with legal support from Kahn Soares & Conway, provided technical, regulatory, and strategic support for a successful outcome. Our staff also developed a web-based Story Map to summarize and showcase the program’s approach and results to stakeholders.
Project Manager Lisa Porta, P.E., senior water resources engineer at M&A, has worked with the CRC for more than a decade on their Water Quality Program implementation. “It’s been rewarding to work with CRC over the years and assist them with technical solutions to meet regulatory requirements of the ILRP,” Porta said. “The approval of the Nitrate Assessment is a culmination of the CRC’s sound scientific analysis, dedication, and foresight, along with excellent water quality data and collaboration with the UC Davis Cooperative Extension program.”
The CRC is a statutory, third-party organization/coalition representing approximately 2,500 rice farmers who cultivate approximately 525,000 acres of Sacramento Valley farmland. The CRC helps growers ensure that conditions of the rice-specific Waste Discharge Requirements (WDR) are followed, and they implement compliant surface water and groundwater quality monitoring and reporting activities.
Compliance of the CVRWQB’s 2018 updates to the Water Quality Control Plan required development of the Nitrate Initial Assessment which included an initial assessment and characterization of nitrate discharge to the shallow groundwater zone. CRC was the first coalition to develop such a report to meet these new regulatory requirements.
For more information about M&A’s work with agricultural clients in California, visit our website or contact Lisa Porta.
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