Basins Continued from Page 1
to determine compliance. The plans must show a roadmap for how ground- water basins will achieve long-term sus- tainability by limiting overdraft, land sub- sidence and impacts to drinking water. Local groundwater sustainability plans, or GSAs, must implement near- term actions, such as expanding moni- toring programs, reporting annually on groundwater conditions, implementing aquifer recharge projects and design- ing allocation programs. Once plans are implemented locally, measures must continue even if basins are under state intervention. “With all of the deadlines that have come in on SGMA, agencies by and large have hit every deadline, which I think is a remarkable feat,” said Paul Gosselin, deputy director of DWR’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Office. “These are not easy plans to develop and work on, especially when there’s a lot of uncertainty and data gaps, which are in every basin.” Staff from the water board and DWR discussed the state intervention process by the board, which has the authority to step in to manage a basin if necessary. Stork explained that the board decides whether a probationary hearing is war- ranted. If so, a notice of a public hearing is issued and cities, counties and well
Local agencies in the San Joaquin Valley’s Delta-Mendota subbasin, which features the Delta-Mendota Canal, above, are working to fix deficiencies in state-mandated plans to bring groundwater supplies into balance within 20 years. The basin is one of six under scrutiny by state water officials.
owners are contacted. In the meantime, she said, the board collects data and fees while agencies work to fix deficiencies. “When the board puts a basin on pro- bation, it must identify deficiencies and actions to remedy those deficiencies,”
Stork said, adding that GSAs have time to address issues and continue to im- plement their plans during probation. “Any basin put on probation would have a minimum of one year before the board could (give) notice for the adoption of an interim plan.” One of the basins under scrutiny, the Delta-Mendota subbasin, spans six counties and has 23 groundwater sustainability agencies. “We’re fully committed to getting a groundwater sustainability plan that is not only adequate but that addresses sus- tainability into the future for our com- munities, our ecosystems, our farmers and our businesses,” said Jarrett Martin, chair of the Delta-Mendota subbasin and general manager of the Central California Irrigation District. “We do have a long history in our subbasin of working together, and with time, we will address these deficien- cies,” Martin said. “We’ve gone back to the drawing board, and we’re taking some honest criticism from DWR and making it a strong point for us to be very progressive and very active to get those deficiencies fixed.” Justin Fredrickson, California Farm Bureau environmental policy analyst, told the board he is encouraged by its “re- peated restatement of the board’s goal, recognizing that this (intervention) is a temporary process.” “Hopefully, state intervention in these various basins can be narrowly tailored and can build on the existing plans and work that has been done to date, and can line up as much as possible, so that we’re not wasting expense,” Fredrickson said. “The board and the state really need to be working together with the locals to get this right over the next 20 years.” For agencies put on probation, the board and staff discussed ways to get them back on the path to groundwater
sustainability, including by requir- ing meters on wells for more accurate extraction data. Matt Zidar, water resources manager for San Joaquin County, told the board that metering is not required under the statute. “It is going to be up to the state board to make some determinations based on good engineering evidence and science in terms of what would be appropriate,” he said. “Metering isn’t the only thing, and I get worried that when that is perceived as the hammer that is available to you, you are going to find that everything you encounter is going to need pounding, so I’d counsel on taking a look a little deeper beyond that,” Zidar added. “I think we can accomplish the same ends in terms of accurate volumetric reporting without requiring a meter.” Related to intervention, the board decided to meet again in two months to discuss the issue. E. Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the state water board, said, “There’s been an in- credible amount of progress actually that has been made.” “We need everyone to take these is- sues as seriously as I know everyone feels them to be, given how intense the drought has been these last years and how impactful they’ve been to so many of our communities,” he said. Of a total 94 groundwater basins re- quired to submit plans under SGMA, state water officials in March provided determinations for 24 basins and is re- viewing an additional 61 plans from 59 California high- and medium-priority basins submitted to DWR in January 2022. DWR said it anticipates issuing de- terminations for the remaining basins throughout 2023. (Christine Souza is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at csouza@cfbf.com.)
10 Ag Alert April 12, 2023
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