California readies landmark water rules for cannabis cultivators
By Bart Schaneman
California is preparing landmark water regulationsfor the states marijuana growers to safeguard the environment and encourage conservation.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture is drafting the water-use rules, which are expected to increase growers paperwork and costs in areas such as water storage.
Nevertheless, industry officials welcome the move, which is expected to require up to 50,000 growers to get permits to use irrigation water.
The regulationsrepresent one of the first times a state has attempted to oversee water used for legal marijuana cultivation, which is expected to grow in California in coming years particularly if voters approve adult-use cannabis next month.
Casey ONeill,acting board chair for the California Growers Association, saidencouraging farmers to store more water and limit their use is a step in the right direction.
Nobodys a fan of regulation. But at the end of the day, industrial agriculture has not worked on the landscape. Its damaging. Its denigrating, ONeill added.As they draft new rules for this industry, theyre sort of getting a crack at what theyd really like to do to Big Ag.
Part of the licensing process
The rules, which stem from a law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in June, will be released in 2017 and incorporated into the state food and agriculture departments licensing process for marijuana growers in January 2018.
In addition to managing growers use of irrigation water, the new law, SB 837, is intended to protect the states water quality and wildlife habitat.
The measure which fleshes out Californias 2015medical marijuana regulatory act also will allow cannabis growers tostore water for the first time.Initial indications suggest cultivators will have to spend money on water storage equipment such as tanks, as well as regulatory red tape, among other things. The exact costs will depend on the wording of the final rules.
Under SB 837, growers will be able to get small irrigation permits. The permits will allow cultivators to store up to 6 acre-feet of water during high stream flows for use when supplies are scarce. An acre-foot is equivalent to one foot of water covering an acre of land, or about 326,000 gallons.
Water use in the West
Water use will be an ongoingissue inthe marijuana industry particularly in the West, where supplies are limited in states such as Arizona, California, Colorado and Nevada. A mature marijuana plant consumes an estimated six gallons of water per day.
In California, some large-scale marijuana operations have dried up streams and decimated wildlife populations, according to a 2015 report from the states Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The new rules will direct the State Water Resources Control Board and Department of Fish and Wildlife to create a task force to assess environmental damage from marijuana cultivation.
In addition, applicants for cultivation licenses will need to identify the source of their water, among other requirements, and apply for a permit from Californias new Bureau of Medical Marijuana Regulation.
The permitting process wont apply to individual patients growing medical marijuana for their own use on 100 square feet or less, or caregivers growing for five patients or less on no more than 500 square feet.
The states food and agriculture department, meanwhile, is preparing an environmental impact report to give local and state government agencies information about the potential environmental effects linked to new statewide MMJ cultivation regulations.
New model for agriculture
Were going to have to figure out more efficient and effective methodologies for interacting with the ecosystem, said ONeill, of the California Growers Association. I would definitely see this as a model, or a new paradigm, for 21st century agriculture.
Matt Cohen, founder and CEO of TriQ Systems an Oregon-based industrial greenhouse engineering firm serving cannabis growers has operated many different MMJ businesses in California. He said he sees a lot more water being used ...
