Environmentalists' lawsuit targets water board's 'ag waiver'

Tens of thousands of farms are illegally exempt from laws requiring the monitoring and reporting of toxic water runoff, environmental groups said in a lawsuit filed Monday.

The lawsuit targets the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board's "ag waiver" program, which allows farmers to join coalitions rather than test their own runoff.

Millions of pounds of pesticides and fertilizers are applied to these farmers' lands, later washing into creeks and streams and, ultimately, into the Delta. There, the toxins imperil threatened fish such as the Delta smelt, environmentalists say.
They first sued in 2003, when the waiver program began. That lawsuit was dismissed. The waivers were extended last year, and a new lawsuit was filed Monday in Sacramento County Superior Court by the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance and San Francisco-based Baykeeper.

Water officials still don't know the answers to basic questions, the lawsuit says, such as how many discharges are taking place, which chemicals and how much of them are released into the environment, and whether the coalitions have made any improvement in water quality.

"These coalitions are not responsible," said Sejal Choksi, program director for Baykeeper. "They're a shield or a cover to (farmers) not being held individually accountable."
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