New regulations from the state of California will unify water discharge rules for wineries and will impact almost half the industry.
The State Water Resources Control Board adopted a general order for how wastewater is processed and discharged at winery locations. Previous standards were under regional discretion but the new rules will unify rules across California. The Wine Institute’s Noelle Cremers said that impacts about half of the industry. “It’s our estimation that about 1500 wineries will be subject to the order,” she said. “So there are about 3000 wineries in California. There are a number of wineries that don’t have to comply with the order…but everyone else will have to.”
Cremers said, of course, everyone wants to safeguard water sources in the industry. The issue is that there is no data that supports the move that could be very costly.
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