The California Water Boards sent at least 270 letters to farmers in the Emerald Triangle, warning them to come into compliance with regulations or face possible fines and even the loss of their cultivation licenses.
The agency posted on Twitter that its Division of Water Rights’ Cannabis Enforcement Section sent the letters to “residents in Trinity, Humboldt and Mendocino counties today notifying them they lack the appropriate permits for commercial cannabis cultivation.”
Marijuana Business Daily obtained one example of the letters, which were sent to landowners whose properties “appear … to be used for cannabis cultivation or associated activities.
The letters warn recipients that they need to obtain proper permission from the agency for water rights used in marijuana growing.
If they do not, they could be fined or lose any state cannabis cultivation permit for their properties.
Last year, more than 2,300 licenses were issued in Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity counties, the three areas that make up the Emerald Triangle.
To read the water division’s tweet, click here.
For more on this story, click here.
John Schroyer can be reached at johns@mjbizdaily.com.