Concern over deteriorating quality of groundwater in Riverside and San Bemardino counties has led to dairy waste disposal regulations in California's largest Grade A milk-producing region, the Santa Ana River Basin (SARB). A study has been conducted to determine the effect of these regulations on the SARB dairy industry and to examine possible alternatives for dairies. The study concludes that milk production may be maintained in the near future if sufficient credit is available to dairymen; otherwise, the dairy industry may eventually leave the SARB unless new waste disposal technology can be implemented.

This report is part of ongoing research conducted by economists in the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Giannini Foundation, in cooperation with S. E. Bishop, Farm Advisor, Riverside County, and W. W. Wood, Jr., Economist, U.C., Riverside