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Coalition seeks $502,000 in Guadalupe oil funds

By Mike Hodgson/Associate Editor

Up to $502,126 from the Guadalupe oil spill funds could be allocated this week to help pay for a program designed to help clean up 80 percent of the Central Coast’s riparian areas, watersheds and groundwater by 2025.

The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board will consider the funding request from the newly formed Central Coast Agricultural Water Quality Coalition on Friday morning.

“If the board approves the concept, it would direct the staff to negotiate a contract,” said Roger Briggs, executive director of the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

In March, the coalition reminded the board its previous five-year contract would expire this year, and Briggs said board members were interested in considering a new funding proposal.

“They didn’t say they would fund it, but they supported the concept,” he said.

Initially, the coalition proposed to come up with a 46 percent funding match, which would have equaled about $436,356 and come from state, federal and foundation grants.

But the coalition is concerned about meeting that match level because of the state’s budget situation, and has requested a minimum match of 25 percent, according to a board staff report.

Briggs said the board staff will likely recommend a minimum match of 40 percent.

That’s the same percentage required in 2003 when the board granted $658,102 to fund a watershed coordinator’s position for the Southern San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties Agricultural Watershed Coalition, one of the forerunners of the new coalition.

To date, the previous organization has only achieved about 31 percent of its required match, according to the report.

If the new coalition fails to meet its funding goals, it wouldn’t mean some activities would simply be cut back, Briggs said.

“It would be similar to other performance items in the contract,” Briggs said. “If the coalition is not performing in its funding requirement, (the contract) is subject to being canceled.”

He said the coalition will be required to submit monthly reports and more in-depth reviews on a quarterly basis.

“Part of that would include how they’re doing in terms of fundraising,” he said.

If approved by the board, the $502,126 allocation would partly fund a full-time watershed coordinator, fully fund a project assistant and partly fund an executive director for the new coalition.

About 15 tasks are outlined for the coalition staff that will coincide with the Water Quality Control Board’s vision for “healthy functioning watersheds.”

That vision for 2025 calls for 80 percent of riparian systems to be healthy; the health of 80 percent of watershed lands to be protected through management programs; and 80 percent of groundwater to be clean.

The remaining 20 percent of riparian systems, watershed lands and groundwater would show improvement under the water board’s vision.

To help meet that goal, the coalition staff would work to educate agricultural water users about water quality issues, help them implement sound water management practices, provide information through seminars and implement water quality projects.

Part of their efforts would be to reduce pesticide toxicity and nitrates moving from crop root zones, working with Santa Maria to improve stormwater runoff from agricultural lands.

According to the board report, the proposal meets all seven criteria for allocation of Guadalupe Settlement Fund money. Only one of the criteria — a focus on water quality — is mandatory.

The watershed coordinator’s job would primarily focus on the lower Santa Maria and Oso Flaco watersheds, which meets the “geographical nexus” criteria.

In addition, the proposed grant would fund the executive director’s activities from Cuesta Grade, just north of San Luis Obispo, south through all of Santa Barbara County.

The former Southern San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties Agricultural Watershed Coalition consisted of five local agricultural organizations.

It recently merged with the Central Coast Agricultural Water Quality Coalition, which represented the northern area of the water board’s district.

The watershed coordinator for the former San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties coalition — currently Kay Mercer — will become the executive director of the new coalition.

TO ATTEND THE MEETING:

— The Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board will meet at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 4, and 8:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 5. The watershed coalition funding will be considered Friday morning.

— The meeting will take place in the board meeting room, 895 Aerovista Place, Suite 101, San Luis Obispo, off South Broad Street (Highway 227) between the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport and Tank Farm Road.

mhodgson@theadobepress.com