Water Used For Weed Cultivation Faces New California Rules

California has plans to regulate the water used by marijuana growers since their notoriously thirsty crop has long fallen outside the scope of regulatory oversight.

“Within less than a year, as many as 50,000 marijuana growers in California could be required to obtain state permits for the irrigation water they consume. It is an unprecedented step aimed at preventing harm to the environment and other water users resulting from the rapid growth of marijuana cultivation in the state,” News Deeply reported.

“The new program starts by directing the State Water Resources Control Board and Department of Fish and Wildlife to set up a task force to assess environmental damages from marijuana growing. This task force is also empowered to collect fees and penalties from growers to pay for programs to correct the damage,” the report said.

Cris Carrigan, chief of enforcement at the State Water Resources Control Board, explained the motivation behind this policy change.

“Most of them are operating below the radar,” Carrigan said, per the report. “As a result, we’ve gotten ourselves into an acute problem with streamflow and pollution associated with these activities.”

A new state law paves the way for the regulatory scaleup, permitting authorities to oversee water used in cannabis farming for the first time, according to the report.

“It’s a huge new water management effort that has never been attempted in the United States, not even among states that are already regulating marijuana cultivation,” the report said.

The aim is to crack down on unregulated cannabis irrigation, “which has dried up some streams, starved endangered fish of water and contributed to water quality problems caused by erosion, pesticides and herbicides,” the report said.

Established marijuana growers are welcoming the oversight. Hezekiah Allen, executive director of the California Growers Association, explained why. “This community is ready to be part of the mainstream,” Allen said, per the report. “What we are trying to do is move people into the regulated class. Lots absolutely want that legitimacy.”

The program follows up on pilot efforts to regulate marijuana irrigation. A project in Northern California, for instance, aimed to produce guidelines for state water regulators as they navigated this terrain.

In that project, a Watershed Enforcement Team was “put together as a joint program of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife with the State Water Resources Control Board to participate in regulating the marijuana industry and to protect the public trust. In the Humboldt County area, [officials worked] to get people in compliance with existing state laws," The Willits News reported.

Unregulated marijuana irrigation became a growing concern in California amid pressure on resources due to the drought.

“Illegal marijuana cultivation has increased in areas governed by water boards. These agencies, along with law enforcement, have taken a lead role in cracking down on their water-use practices,” the Los Angeles Times reported.

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