This page is meant to focus on organic farming as it relates to irrigation water. I expected this to be a fairly complex topic. It turned out to be just the opposite. A good portion of the information presented here came from the Colorado Ag Site and Casey Palmer (303-239-4143) who is one of the organic certifiers. Organic farming programs are run from the Federal level with cooperation and assistance from local State officials. Certifiers can be associated with the state or they can be independent. Casey reported there are approximately 150 independent certifiers besides the Colorado State certifiers. The rules and regulations that everyone follows are detailed in the Federal Register.

Because of food safety issues, I expected to find fairly rigorous regulations dealing with the purity of irrigation water. Based on my own research and as reported by Casey, there is very little in the area of water quality control. Casey reported that if they suspect something is wrong with a crop or product, they will then initiate water quality testing as well as other testing. In my view, this amounts to an after-the-fact action that really doesn't protect consumers from initial problems. I'm not an attorney but, in my view, this does not excuse a canal operator from exercising reasonable control over the purity of irrigation water that is under their jurisdiction.

- Herbicide Page -- Trees Page -- Irrigation Page -- Invasives

• NOP Main Page
• NOP Program Handbook
• 7 CFR 205 (Organic)

• Colorado Organics Page
• Colorado Organics Pubs.
• Area Organic Producers
• State Organic Certifiers

• North Fork VOGA
• Organic Magazine
• Local Water Organization
• Water Quality Page
• EPA Drinking Water Site
• Hydraulic Frac Site