The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) has finalized two new regulations that take effect on July 1, 2026.

Groundwater Protection List

New regulations will update the list of pesticides that have the potential to pollute groundwater and remove pesticides unlikely to pollute groundwater.

California’s Pesticide Contamination Prevention Act (PCPA) requires DPR to identify and track potential and actual groundwater contaminants. The department determines pesticides that are more likely to pollute groundwater and places these pesticides on our Groundwater Protection List for monitoring. The new regulations also replace the specific numerical values for determining what pesticides have the potential to pollute groundwater with a new multivariate method, and make changes to better align operator identification number and pesticide use reporting requirements.

More information on the groundwater protection list: Groundwater Protection List

Heat Illness and Personal Protective Equipment – Chemical-Resistant Suits

New regulations will update and clarify chemical-resistant suit requirements and remove a duplicative and obsolete heat illness prevention requirement for employees who are required to wear them.

The adopted changes remove a duplicative requirement that a chemical-resistant suit must cover the head when a chemical-resistant suit is required to be worn. As a result, the thermal load on the wearer is decreased by no longer requiring the use of chemical-resistant headwear when it is not required by pesticide product labeling or restricted material permit conditions. To help avoid any current or future conflicts with Cal/OSHA’s heat illness prevention regulations, DPR’s new rulemaking will also remove an obsolete heat illness prevention requirement when a chemical-resistant suit is required.

More information on heat illness and chemical-resistant suit requirements: Heat Illness and Personal Protective Equipment