Pubdate: Sat, 03 Oct 2015
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Geoffrey Mohan

POT GROWERS RECEIVE WATER WARNING

Central Valley Agency Sets Best-Management Practices for Marijuana Cultivation.

Pot growers have been put on notice by state regulators that they 
will have to follow the same rules as the rest of agriculture in 
protecting the state's droughtstricken water supply.

The Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board issued an 
order Friday that will require medicinal marijuana cultivators to 
obtain permits to divert or store water. It also pushes them to use 
drip irrigation and other conservation measures, and avoid 
vegetation-clearing activities and other practices that add sediment 
and fertilizer to local waterways.

The board was the second to enact tighter regulation aimed at water 
use and land practices by the burgeoning marijuana industry that 
supplies the state's medical marijuana clinics. Last month, the North 
Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board issued an order with 
similar requirements.

The moves come more than three months after the Central Valley board 
and state wildlife officials issued a record-setting $297,000 fine 
against a marijuana cultivator and property owner in Shasta County, 
over illegal grading that jeopardized a local waterway.

It is the first time that the water agency has officially set 
so-called best-management practices for marijuana cultivation.

"Our goal is to protect water quality and the environment from the 
significant impacts that may occur from cannabis cultivation," said 
Pamela Creedon, Central Valley Water Board executive officer.

Illegal marijuana cultivation has increased in areas governed by both 
water boards, and these agencies, along with law enforcement, are cracking down.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom