Statewide General National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit for the Discharge of Aquatic Pesticides for Aquatic Weed Control in Waters of the United States was approved by the SWRCB on the afternoon of May 20 by a 5-0 vote.

The Board adopted the permit with a number of technical changes/corrections listed on an Errata Sheet . Many of these changes were proposed by ACWA and/or water agencies.

The Board's motion also included explicit direction to staff to provide timely processing and scheduling for permit re-opener requests by agencies that seek exceptions to receiving water limitations under Section 5.3 of the State Implementation Plan (SIP).

Staff was also directed by the Board to explore cooperative regional monitoring alternatives that may involve third-party compliance monitoring and reporting.

Finally, staff was directed to prepare a proposal to amend the SIP to broaden the section 5.3 exception to apply to non-public entities (such as private mutual water companies) and to bring this back to the board for consideration. The time frame was not specified, but the intent seemed to be focused on removing obstacles for compliance for privates in months, not years.

This permit approval is a significant victory for water agencies who have sought a reasonably viable and legally defensible NPDES permit for use of aquatic pesticides in California in light of the Talent decision.

For more information, please contact ACWA's Regulatory Specialist Dave Bolland at daveb@acwa.com or 202.434.4760.