Law Firm Wendel Rosen Post Article On CA Water Permits For Licensed Cannabis Growers

Cannabis Cultivators Get Help with State Regulations
by Wendel Rosen

State Water Quality Permit
Cannabis Cultivators Get Help with State Regulations

In 2017, the State Water Resources Control Board (State Board) issued a general permit for all cannabis cultivation to protect water quality (State Permit). Cannabis cultivation is broadly defined as “any activity involving or necessary for the planting, growing, pruning, harvesting, drying, curing, or trimming of cannabis,” including water diversions, preparing a cultivation site, or activities otherwise to support cannabis cultivation, and which discharge or could discharge waste to waters of the state. “Waste” includes any kind of pollutant that might reach surface waters or groundwater, such as nutrients in irrigation tail water and hydroponic wastewater. The State Permit is potentially far reaching, to include even indoor operations unless they meet certain conditions and file for a Waiver. See the State Permit here.
Conditional Exemption
To be “Conditionally Exempt,” an indoor cannabis operation must occur
in a structure with a permanent roof and a permanent, relatively impermeable floor
(e.g., concrete or asphalt); discharge all wastewaters to the sanitary sewer in
accordance with sanitary sewer system requirements; and implement “best
practical treatment or control” measures or “BPTC,” which consist of numerous
restrictions and express requirements for cultivation site development,
fertilizer and pesticide use, activities in and around riparian areas and
wetlands, water storage and conservation, among other things. Conditionally
Exempt dischargers are also required to obtain the “Waiver.” In other words,
“Conditionally Exempt” doesn’t mean you don’t have to do anything.
Outdoor cultivators who do not qualify for a Waiver as Conditionally Exempt are designated as either “Tier 1” (operations disturbing 2,000 square feet to one acre (43,560 square feet), or “Tier 2” (cultivating outdoors on more than one acre. In addition to BPTC, permittees must implement a monitoring and reporting program.
Upcoming Workshops
Everyone in Cannabis cultivation, including indoor operators, should determine how the State Permit may affect their operations. Those planning to establish a new growing operation should examine the State Permit as early as possible, since site development and road building are subject to the State Permit, and there are numerous opportunities to organize the operation to minimize the costs and complications of implementing the BPTC measures. Those subject to the regional permits issued by the North Coast and Central Valley Regional Water Boards are expected to be transitioned to the State Permit this year.
Staff from the State Water Board will be available to describe the program and assist cultivators with permit applications and questions in two upcoming workshops co-hosted with other entities with oversight of the cannabis industry, including Cal Fish and Wildlife, Cal Department of Food and Agriculture CalCannabis, local planning departments, and CalFire. The workshops are in Laytonville March 26 (Mendocino County) and in Clearlake March 13 (Lake County).
The State Permit is only one piece of the complex regulatory puzzle. For example, conditionally exempt cultivators may still need to apply for a water right to divert and use water.

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