Welcome to San Diego Region Irrigated Lands Group

Administered by the San Diego County Farm Bureau.

Growers Working Together to Comply With Clean Water Regulations

About Us

On November 9, 2016 the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board (San Diego Water Board) adopted the General Waste Discharge Requirements for Discharges of Waste from Commercial Agricultural and Nursery Operations within the San Diego Region (Ag Order). The Ag Order puts in place the State of California’s rules and regulations that commercial agricultural producers must follow in order to be law compliant. Any producer who files a Schedule F with their tax return, has or is required to have a Site I.D. number issued by the county, or who receives an agricultural water rate is required to comply. To obtain compliance, producers may join a San Diego Water Board recognized Third-Party Monitoring Group and submit a Notice of Intent (NOI), or they can enroll as an individual and have a direct regulatory relationship with the San Diego Water Board. The San Diego County Farm Bureau carefully studied the regulations and decided to provide Farm Bureau members in San Diego, southern Riverside, and Orange Counties (Region 9) with the option of group compliance through the San Diego Region Irrigated Lands Group, a non-profit organization.

San Diego Region Irrigated Lands Group By-Laws

The regulations allow for two options:

Act individually to submit plans and testing results directly to the Regional Board

The San Diego County Farm Bureau is providing members with the collective testing and reporting option through the San Diego Region Irrigated Lands Group (SDRILG)

Board of Directors

  • Andy Lyall - Pauma Valley
  • Mary Matava - Oceanside
  • Ed Embly - Escondido
  • Derek Davis - Valley Center
  • Enrico Ferro - Valley Center
  • Deborah Haydis - Fallbrook
  • Burnet Wohlford - Escondido

Frequently Asked Questions

General Waste Discharge Requirement (GWDR)

[ Download the Fact Sheet ]

The California Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Diego Region (San Diego Water Board) is responsible for making certain that state water runoff regulations for irrigated agriculture are implemented locally. For commercial agriculture this is done through the General Waste Discharge Requirement for Agriculture (Ag Order), adopted in 2016.

Meeting any one of several tests requires Ag Order compliance:
  • Intent to make a profit (commercial sale of ag ).
  • Owner or operator files an IRS Form 1040 Schedule F Profit or Loss from Farming.
  • Owner or operator is required to have an Operator Identification Number for pesticide use reporting.
  • Operator receives agricultural water pricing (residential/ag meters may be exempt if there is no commercial production)

    • The state law makes no provisions based on farm size. If your operation meets one of the tests, compliance is required.

    State runoff regulations do not contain compliance exemptions and the Ag Order applies to all farms that have irrigated crops, regardless of production technique.

    The source of irrigation water is not a factor. Any type of irrigation, regardless of water source, triggers compliance.

    The state clean water rules for agriculture make the assumption that even if there is no irrigation runoff from a farm there will be storm events when all properties experience runoff.

    The Ag Order covers the San Mateo Watershed in southern Orange County, the Upper Santa Margarita Watershed in southern Riverside County, and all watersheds in San Diego County that drain to the Pacific Ocean.

    August 7, 2017 was the deadline to have all documents submitted to the San Diego Water Board. Any commercial agricultural operator who did not meet that deadline is currently subject to fines and possible enforcement actions by the San Diego Water Board.

    The San Diego Water Board gives you the option of compliance through a third-party group or as an individual. The San Diego Regional Irrigated Lands Group (SDRILG) was formed as a third-party group so Farm Bureau members would have the easiest path to compliance.

    Each participant must submit a Notice of Intent that gives details on the farming operation such as location, ownership, and crops grown. Also, a Water Quality Protection Plan will have to be prepared for each farm. SDRILG has developed online software to make the documentation easy for members. For those without internet access, Farm Bureau staff can complete the documents with a telephone interview or in-person meeting.

    SDRILG is affiliated with the Farm Bureau and was created to be a third-party group solely as a benefit for Farm Bureau members by offering an easy path to compliance for runoff regulations. It is not a reasonable expectation that a membership organization would provide services to non-members.

    Individual compliance is an option by establishing a direct regulatory relationship with the San Diego Water Board.

    These regulations are not unique to San Diego. Farmers across the state and nation face similar, and often more onerous, runoff compliance regulations.

    In addition to the annual Farm Bureau membership dues, the following fees apply:
    • SDRILG’s one-time enrollment fee calculated based on the number of irrigated acres.
      • 1 acre – $325
      • 2 acres – $650
      • 3 acres – $975
      • 4 acres – $1,300
      • 5 acres – $1,600
      • >5-10 acres – $1,700
      • >10-25 acres – $1,800
      • 25+ acres – $1,900
    • $50 enrollment fee collected on behalf of the State of California
    • $200 penalty enrollment fee collected on behalf of the State of California for producers who receive an official “directive” letter from the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board for failure to comply with the Ag Order
    • SDRILG’s annual acreage fee to cover administrative and water monitoring costs.
      • 2024 fees:
      • $75.00 admin fee
      • $11.00 per irrigated acre
      • $1.42 State of California fee, per irrigated acre

    The San Diego Water Board has GIS maps of the region that show which agricultural properties are in compliance. An effort has been launched by the San Diego Water Board to send Directive letters to several producers each week stating that compliance is required and failure to act can lead to substantial daily fines.
     

    Contact Us

    We look forward to hearing from you.

    Get in touch

    Location:

    420 S.Broadway Suite 200
    Escondido, CA 92025

    Email:

    info@sdirrigatedlandsgroup.org

    Call:

    (760) 745 2215