What? Why?
Many landowners and irrigation districts have made great strides toward ensuring their irrigation delivery waters and return flows are clean; the water is low in both turbidity and total suspended solids.

But there are still some areas where high turbidity return flows are frequently seen. These few areas can negate the efforts of so many others. Not only is this unfair, but it puts other irrigators and/or irrigation districts at risk of Ecology enforcement actions.

How it Works
1. Irrigation District/Company 1 whose canal system receives high turbidity return flow (over 300 NTU) will:
a) record the details of the impairment (date, time, location, description and turbidity value);
b) contact designated water quality staff of upgradient District/Company 2 which provides irrigation water to identified source, and;
c) share the details of the situation with District/Company 2.

2. District/Company 2 is to follow steps below, as warranted:
First Violation --
a) Investigate area of water quality impairment and confirm source,
b) If identifiable, contact the landowner who is the identified source of the water quality impairment, share turbidity sampling results;
c) Inform landowner of TMDL requirements and compliance targets, and;
d) Provide educational literature on erosion control practices and programs (with contact numbers) and encourage water user to obtain technical assistance to address causes and remedies.
e) If source is not identifiable or is a common drain, evaluate potential causes and prepare a note to file.

Second Violation --
a) Investigate area of water quality impairment and confirm source,
b) Contact the landowner who is the identified source of the water quality impairment;
c) Inform landowner that they must make improvements and/or engage technical service provider within two weeks of notification, and;
d) Inform landowner that if a third exceedence is recorded within current irrigation season, the water quality violation reports will be forwarded to Ecology.

Third Violation --
a) Contact landowner to see what progress has been made regarding water quality improvements, such as planning or implementation improvements.
b) If insufficient progress has been made, notify the landowner who is the identified source of the water quality impairment that:
1. pertinent water quality data on turbidity will be provided to Ecology, and;
2. random water quality sampling may be performed and results provided to both the landowner and Ecology.

Other Resources:
Water Quality Brochure
Compliance Targets and Schedule
The Full Policy(44 K, Microsoft Word Document)
Reporting Form (26 K, Microsoft Word Document)
Memorandum of Agreement between Ecology and KCCD (soon to come)
2000-2001 Water Quality data (soon to come)
2001-2002 Water Quality data (soon to come)
2002-2003 Water Quality data (soon to come)