Education For Environmental Responsibility

Water Steward Program Targets Orchard Growers

January 7, 2002

By Parry Klassen

The second phase of a campaign to raise grower awareness of pesticide runoff into the Sacramento River watershed was launched today. More than 1500 orchard growers in the Sacramento Valley will receive by mail in early January two booklets outlining pest control and orchard management practices for protecting surface water from dormant orchard spray runoff. The mailing is part of the Water Steward program organized by the Coalition for Urban/Rural Environmental Stewardship (CURES) and the Sacramento River Watershed Program, Organophosphate Focus Group.

Orchard growers in the Sacramento Valley will receive two Water Steward publications:

• Orchard Practices for Protecting Surface Water, a 20-page booklet summarizing pest control and orchard site practices that show the most promise for reducing pesticide runoff from dormant orchard sprays.
• Orchard Air Blast Sprayers, an 8-page booklet covering sprayer mixing/loading and application practices to protect surface water.

Since the early 1990s, Northern California orchard growers have been concerned about pesticide runoff, primarily organophosphate (OP) insecticides such as diazinon, into the Sacramento River and its tributaries. OP runoff after winter rainstorms has been traced to dormant applications in almond, prune and peach orchards.

The Water Steward program, launched in October 2001, is designed to promote awareness of the pesticide runoff problem from dormant orchard sprays. Beginning in October, CURES Executive Director Parry Klassen has made presentations about the program at grower and crop consultant meetings in the Sacramento Valley. The meeting presentations and Water Steward publications outline a menu of practices that orchard growers can adapt to their own farming operations.

Included in the Water Steward mailing is a response form growers are encouraged to return to CURES. "Grower response is critical in helping us prove to state regulators that orchard growers care about protecting water resources and can make a difference," says Klassen. "CURES will compile the total responses only and report back to state agencies who regulate water quality."

Water Steward information packets are also available at Sacramento Valley crop protection product retailers and County Agricultural Commissioner’s offices. The publications can also be ordered on the CURES website.

The Water Steward program originated from activities related to the Sacramento River Watershed Program (SRWP) and its Organophosphate Focus Group. The OPFG is made up of stakeholders from agriculture, the pesticide industry, state and federal agencies and other interested groups who are addressing the diazinon runoff problem in the Sacramento and Feather Rivers. The SRWP provides funding and facilitates the development of management strategies by various stakeholder groups for improving water quality in the Sacramento River watershed.

CURES is a non-profit organization formed to address environmental stewardship issues relating to the safe use of crop protection products. CURES operates by creating coalitions with interested groups in agriculture, industry, academia and government to develop funding and work on solutions to pesticide-related problems.