Section 22920 - SWRCB - Solar Evaporator Design Requirements(a) Registered Professionals -- Solar evaporators shall be designed by a registered civil or agricultural engineer, or a registered geologist or certified engineering geologist.(b) Flooding -- A solar evaporator shall be located outside the 100-year floodplain, or shall be constructed with protective berms/levees sufficient to protect the solar evaporator from overflow and inundation by 100-year floodwaters, or shall be elevated above the maximum elevation of a 100-year flood.(c) Protection of Groundwater Quality -- Solar evaporators shall be immediately underlain by at least 1 meter of soil with a hydraulic conductivity of not more than 1 x 10-6 cm/sec above the zone of shallow groundwater at any time during the year. The surface of the solar evaporator shall be a minimum of five-feet (5 ft.) above the highest anticipated elevation of underlying groundwater. A solar evaporator may be constructed on a site with soils that do not meet the above requirement, with subsurface tile drainage under or directly adjacent to the solar evaporator, a liner, or other engineered alternative, sufficient to provide assurance of the equivalent level of groundwater quality protection of the above soil requirement.(d) Discharge to the Facility -- All discharge to the solar evaporator shall be agricultural drainage water collected from the IFDM system or recirculated from the solar evaporator as a component of the IFDM system. No agricultural drainage water from the IFDM system or the solar evaporator may be discharged outside the boundaries of the solar evaporator(e) Facility Size -- The area of land that makes up the solar evaporator may not exceed 2 percent of the area of land that is managed by the IFDM system.(f) Means of Discharge to the Facility -- Discharge of agricultural drainage water from the IFDM system to the solar evaporator shall be by timed sprinklers or other equipment that allows the discharge rate to be set and adjusted as necessary to avoid standing water in the solar evaporator, outside a water catchment basin. The sprinklers shall be equipped with screens or shields or other devices as necessary to prevent the drift of agricultural drainage water spray outside the boundaries of the solar evaporator.(g) Water Catchment Basin -- A water catchment basin may be required:(1) As a component of a solar evaporator if standing water would otherwise occur within the solar evaporator under reasonably foreseeable operating conditions, or(2) If a solar evaporator is constructed with a liner. In this case, a water catchment basin shall be designed with the capacity to contain the maximum volume of water that the solar evaporator would collect under reasonably forseeable operating conditions. A water catchment basin is not required for a solar evaporator that does not have a liner, if it is demonstrated that standing water will not occur under reasonably foreseeable operating conditions.(h) Avian Wildlife Protection -- The solar evaporator shall be designed to ensure that avian wildlife is adequately protected as set forth in § 22910(a) and (v).Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 27, § 22920
1. New section filed 11-22-2004; effective on filing; pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 25209.16 this section remains in effect until revised by the State Water Resources Control Board (Register 2004, No. 48). Note: Authority cited: Section 25209.12, Health and Safety Code. Reference: Sections 25209.12(a), 25209.12(b), 25209.12(c) and 25209.12(d), Health and Safety Code.
1. New section filed 11-22-2004; effective on filing; pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 25209.16 this section remains in effect until revised by the State Water Resources Control Board (Register 2004, No. 48).