Salt and Nutrient Management Plans (SNMPs) are mandated by the State of California’s Recycled Water Policy, adopted in 2009 and amended in 2018. The Recycled Water Policy encourages the use of recycled water from municipal wastewater sources as it becomes an increasingly important source of water for California and here in the Coachella Valley. However, recycled water contains salts and nutrients that must be managed on a basin-wide scale to protect the quality of the state’s groundwater. Therefore, SNMPs are required to evaluate current and future recycled water projects and ensure that groundwater basins are adequately managed to maintain water quality.
Salt and Nutrient Management Plans
In June 2015, the Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD), Desert Water Agency (DWA), and Indio Water Authority (IWA) created an SNMP for the Coachella Valley Groundwater Basin. The 2015 Coachella Valley SNMP and appendices are available below.
In February 2020, the Colorado River Basin Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Board) provided a letter to the agencies with an assessment and recommendations regarding the 2015 Coachella Valley SNMP and encouraged the agencies to restart the SNMP development process. The Coachella Valley water and wastewater agencies, including Mission Springs Water District (MSWD), CVWD, DWA, IWA, Coachella Water Authority, Coachella Sanitary District, Myoma Dunes Mutual Water Company, Valley Sanitary District, and City of Palm Springs (collectively, the SNMP Agencies), agreed to prepare a Coachella Valley SNMP Development Workplan to describe a scope of work to update the 2015 Coachella Valley SNMP. The SNMP Agencies also agreed to prepare a Coachella Valley SNMP Groundwater Monitoring Program Workplan to define an updated SNMP monitoring network.
The SNMP Agencies submitted the Coachella Valley SNMP Groundwater Monitoring Program Workplan to the Regional Board in December 2020, and the Regional Board approved it in February 2021. Find out more in the 2020 Coachella Valley SNMP Groundwater Monitoring Program Workplan.
The SNMP Agencies submitted the Coachella Valley SNMP Development Workplan to the Regional Board in May 2021 and the Regional Board approved it in October 2021. Find out more in the 2021 Coachella Valley SNMP Development Workplan.