California To Impose Statewide Rules For Winery Wastewater

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Hundreds of California wineries will for the first time be governed by statewide wastewater processing rules, a change from the long-held, regional approach that could increase production costs for wineries and protections for waterways while providing consistency for vintners across the state.

The move toward a statewide regulatory framework, a five-year effort championed by industry leaders, was finalized this week by the State Water Resources Control Board, which approved an order setting up guidelines for wastewater processing at most of the more than 3,600 bonded wineries in the state.

State water regulators have provided a three-year window for permitting and another five years for wineries to come into compliance with the order, something industry officials praised.

As the new state rule takes effect, just 589 of the state’s 3,612 bonded wineries have permits or waivers to dispose of winery wastewater. The order groups wineries into four tiers based on size, exempting the roughly 1,500 in the smallest tier — wineries that produce less than 10,000 gallons of processed water per year.

By Tyler Silvy
01-22-2021
Source and complete article by: pressdemocrat.com