Two New Regulations Take Effect Today to Protect Groundwater and Clarify Protective Equipment Requirements for Pesticide Handlers

Two new regulations that advance DPR’s mission to protect human health and the environment are effective today, July 1, 2026.

Updating DPR’s Groundwater Protection List, Identifying Pesticides with the Potential to Pollute Groundwater

DPR has updated the Groundwater Protection List (GWPL), which consists of active ingredients that, when applied, have the potential to pollute groundwater.

Following approval by the Office of Administrative Law (OAL), DPR is adopting an updated list of pesticides that have the potential to pollute groundwater. Changes to the Groundwater Protection List include:

• Removing pesticides that are unlikely to pollute groundwater.
• Replacing the specific numerical values for determining what pesticides have the potential to pollute groundwater with a new multivariate method.
• Specifying which pesticides have had a hearing as described in Food and Agricultural Code (FAC) section 13150(b).
• Making aligning changes to operator identification number and pesticide use reporting requirements

California’s Pesticide Contamination Prevention Act (PCPA) requires DPR to identify and track potential and actual groundwater contaminants. DPR’s groundwater protection program is part of the department’s work to continuously evaluate pesticides for risks or impacts to public health or the environment. The program collects and samples groundwater for pesticides on the Groundwater Protection List to determine if there is contamination in the groundwater from the agricultural use of pesticides.

Updating the Groundwater Protection List strengthens DPR’s work to protect groundwater that is used for drinking water, especially in vulnerable areas of California.

For more information, visit DPR 25-002 – Groundwater Protection List – Department of Pesticide Regulation

Clarifying Requirements Around Heat Illness and Personal Protective Equipment – Chemical-Resistant Suits

DPR’s proposed regulation on chemical-resistant suit and heat illness prevention requirements update workplace health and safety rules to ensure employees who apply pesticides can do their jobs with appropriate protection.

The proposed changes, approved by OAL on May 20, 2026, update the general safety requirements under Title 3 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR) to clarify chemical-resistant suit requirements and remove a duplicative and obsolete heat illness prevention requirement for employees who are required to wear chemical-resistant suits.

Existing regulations governing personal protective equipment (PPE) for employees who apply pesticides included an incompatible requirement stating that all chemical-resistant suits needed to have headwear incorporated when a full-body chemical-resistant suit is required. However, not all pesticide product labels or restricted material permit conditions that require a chemical-resistant suit require chemical-resistant headwear to also be worn.

The department updated these requirements to address an employee’s risk of heat illness and mitigate the unnecessary heat-trapping effects of chemical-resistant headwear when one would otherwise not be required to wear such equipment. The changes also align DPR requirements with Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) workplace regulations related to preventing heat illness in indoor and outdoor settings.

For more information, visit DPR 25-004 – Heat Illness and Personal Protective Equipment – Chemical-Resistant Suits – Department of Pesticide Regulation