Salt and Nutrient Management Planning

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 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.

In June 2015, CVWD, Desert Water Agency (DWA), and Indio Water Authority (IWA) created an SNMP for the Coachella Valley Groundwater Basin.  The 2015 SNMP and appendices are available below:

2015 Coachella Valley Salt and Nutrient Management Plan
2015 Coachella Valley Salt and Nutrient Management Plan Appendices

In February 2020, the Regional Board provided a letter to the agencies with an assessment and recommendations regarding the 2015 SNMP, and encouraged the agencies to restart the SNMP development process. The Coachella Valley water and wastewater agencies, including CVWD, DWA, IWA, Coachella Water Authority and Coachella Sanitary District, Myoma Dunes Mutual Water Company, Valley Sanitary District, Mission Springs Water District, and City of Palm Springs (collectively, the SNMP Agencies), agreed to prepare a CV-SNMP Development Workplan to describe a scope of work to update the 2015 SNMP. The SNMP Agencies also agreed to prepare a CV-SNMP Groundwater Monitoring Program Workplan to define an updated SNMP monitoring network.

The SNMP Agencies submitted the Groundwater Monitoring Program Workplan to the Regional Board in December 2020, and the Regional Board approved it in February 2021. The Groundwater Monitoring Program Workplan is available below:

CV-SNMP Groundwater Monitoring Program Workplan

The SNMP Agencies submitted the draft CV-SNMP Development Workplan to the Regional Board in May 2021 and the Regional Board accepted it in October 2021. The CV-SNMP Development Workplan is available below:

CV-SNMP Development Workplan

Implementation of the Workplan to update the CV-SNMP began in 2022. To stay informed about the update to the CV-SNMP or to join our listserv to receive updates and meeting information, please visit the Coachella Valley Salt and Nutrient Management Plan website.

For more information contact:
Zoe Rodriguez del Rey, Water Resources Manager at ZRodriguezdelRey@cvwd.org