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Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act
Indian Wells Valley - Cooperative Groundwater Management Group Meeting
October 23, 2014 – 1 to 4PM - SpringHill Suites by Marriott, Ridgecrest
Presented by Tim Parker, Parker Groundwater
Indian Wells Valley Water District Contract Hydrogeologist
2014 : The Year of Water
!! Historic Drought
!! Governor’s Water Action Plan
!! $7.5 B Water Bond Approved for Ballot
!! Historic Groundwater Legislation
!! What does it Mean for Indian Wells Valley
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The Drought Has Worsened A
Growing Groundwater Crisis
!! The groundwater crisis
just won’t go away
!! Groundwater regulation is
by far the most
controversial water issue
in California today
Problems with Overdraft
•! Subsidence threatens
infrastructure
•! Reduced water for species
•! Reduced surface supplies
•! Water quality degradation
•! Increased drilling/pumping costs
•! Increased costs for taxpayers,
business, farmers
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California Groundwater Crisis:
Some Inconvenient Truths
!! The chronic groundwater
overdraft crisis is real
!! The Administration and
Legislature and many other
stakeholders felt the need to
act now
!! Legislation appeared to be
inevitable
!! Groundwater industry
leadership (ACWA, CWF)
believed if they did not control
it, others would
Change in Groundwater Storage
for the Central Valley
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Statewide Challenges
!! Uncertain water supplies
!! Water scarcity/drought
!! Declining groundwater supplies
!! Poor water quality
!! Declining native fish species
and wildlife habitat loss
!! Floods
!! Supply disruptions
!! Population growth and climate
change further increase the
severity of these risks
Three Broad Goals
1.! More reliable water supplies
2.! The restoration of important
species and habitat
3.! Sustainably managed water
resources system (water supply,
water quality, flood protection,
and environment)
F i v e y e a r a c t i o n s w i l l m ov e
California toward more sustainable
water management by providing a
more reliable water supply for farms
and communities, restoring
impor tant wildlife habitat and
species, and helping the state’s
water system and environment
become more resilient.
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Statewide Actions
1.! Make conservation way of life
2.! Increase regional self-reliance and
integrated water management
3.! Achieve Delta co-equal goals
4.! Protect and restore important
ecosystems
5.! Manage and prepare for dry periods
6.! Expand water storage capacity and
improve groundwater management
7.! Provide safe water for all communities
8.! Increase flood protection
9.! Increase operational and regulatory
efficiency
10.! Identify sustainable and integrated
financing opportunities
!! Proposition 1, a legislatively referred bond
!! Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement
Act of 2014
!! Would authorize $7.12 B in general obligation bonds
!! Would reallocate $425M in unused bond funds from
prior water bond acts
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2014 Water Bond
Spending Proposals
!! $900 M for competitive grants and loans for plans and projects
for sustainable groundwater management ($100M) and for
groundwater cleanup ($800M)
!! $2.7B for surface water and groundwater storage projects to be
overseen by the State Water Commission
!! $1.495B for competitive grants for multi-benefit ecosystem and
watershed protection and restoration projects
!! $810M for integrated regional water management plan projects
!! $725M for water recycling and advanced treatment
!! $520M to improve drinking water quality
!! $395M for statewide flood management projects and programs
Groundwater Policy
!! 1961 Legislative Report
!! 1978 Commission Report
!! ACWA 2011 Report
!! ACWA 2014 Recommendations
!! CWF Steering Committee Outreach
!! CWF Recommendations
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Legislation Development
!! Technical Investments & Partnerships
!! Reframing the Debate & Compelling
Information
!! New Coalitions
!! Labor, Business, and Tribes
!! Ag Leaders and Water Agencies
!! E.J. and Conservation Groups
The Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act of 2014
!! Astonishing this
legislation was
created in the last
nine months and
signed into law
!! Most controversial
issue in California
water today
!! “Groundwater
management is best
accomplished
locally”
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Three Bills
!! AB 1739 Dickinson
!! SB 1168 Pavley
!! SB 1319 Pavley
!! Statewide sustainable groundwater management
commitment
!! Continues to recognize and promote local
management and control
Legislative Intent
!! To enhance local management of groundwater consistent with rights to use
or store groundwater and Section 2 of Article X of the California
Constitution.
!! To preserve the security of water rights in the state to the greatest extent
possible consistent with the sustainable management of groundwater.
!! To establish minimum standards for sustainable groundwater
management.
!! To provide local groundwater agencies with the authority and the technical
and financial assistance necessary to sustainably manage groundwater.
!! To avoid or minimize subsidence.
!! To improve data collection and understanding about groundwater.
!! To increase groundwater storage and remove impediments to recharge.
!! To manage groundwater basins through the actions of local governmental
agencies to the greatest extent feasible, while minimizing state intervention
to only when necessary to ensure that local agencies manage groundwater
in a sustainable manner.
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1.! Requires formation of groundwater sustainability
agencies, in high and medium priority basins that
must in turn
2.! Assess local groundwater conditions and develop
“groundwater sustainability plans.”
3.! Provides authority and direction for state review
and intervention.
Requires Groundwater
Sustainability Agencies & Plans
!! Required in high and
medium priority basins
!! Excludes adjudicated
basins except for reporting
!! Creates state “backstop”
!! Sets timeframe for
accomplishing goal of
sustainable groundwater
management
ACWA 2014
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Requires Creation of
Groundwater Sustainability Agencies
!! Any local agency that has water supply,
water management, or land use
responsibility in a groundwater basin
!! Empowers GSAs with new management
tools to:
!! Register groundwater wells
!! Collect data/conduct studies
!! Measure extractions
!! Require reporting
!! Manage extractions
!! Assess fees
!! JPA or MOU legal mechanism
!! Stakeholder involvement required
Sustainable Groundwater
Management Plans
!! Designed to achieve “sustainable groundwater
management”
!! Means the management and use of groundwater in a
manner that can be maintained during the planning and
implementation horizon without causing undesirable
results
!! Plan goal is that groundwater be managed to the
sustainable yield of the basin/subbasin within 20 years
!! Means the maximum quantity of water, calculated over a
base period representative of long-term conditions in the
basin and including any temporary surplus, that can be
withdrawn annually from a groundwater supply without
causing an undesirable result
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Sustainable Groundwater
Management Plans
“Undesirable results” are defined as follows, based on a
“significant and unreasonable” standard:
!! Chronic lowering groundwater levels
!! Seawater intrusion
!! Degraded water quality
!! Land subsidence
!! Depletions of interconnected surface water that have
significant and unreasonable adverse impacts on
beneficial uses
Sustainable Groundwater
Management Plans
!! Physical description and setting including
groundwater level, quality, subsidence, surface
water-groundwater interaction monitoring
!! Demands and supplies
!! Water budget and safe yield
!! Map boundary and recharge
!! Monitoring and management of levels, quality,
subsidence and surface water interaction
!! Measurable objectives and five-year interim
milestones for sustainability in 20 years
!! Fifty-year planning horizon
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What if the Locals Don’t
“Check the Boxes”?
Probationary Basins
Undesirable Results, Based on
“Significant
and Unreasonable”
Undesirable
Results, BasedStandard
on
“Significant
and
Unreasonable”
Standard
• Lowering groundwater level
•• Seawater
intrusion
Lowering groundwater
level
•• Degraded
water quality
Seawater intrusion
•• Land
subsidence
Degraded
water quality
•• Depletions
of interconnected surface
Land subsidence
water
• Depletions of interconnected surface
wateroverdraft
Long-term
Significant depletions of
condition
interconnected surface
waters
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The “Backstop” State Board
Intervention
After
Cause of Intervention
June 30, 2017
No GSA
Jan. 31, 2020
In critically overdrafted basins, no GSP
or GSP is inadequate
Jan. 31, 2022
In other basins, no GSP or GSP is
inadequate and basin is in long-term
overdraft
Jan. 31, 2025
GSP is inadequate and significant
depletions of interconnected surface
waters
In all triggering events, intervention is the result of a
failure by the locals to create a GSA and adopt and
implement a GSP.
State Water Resources Control Board
Intervention “Backstop”
!! Local Agency has 180 days to remedy deficiency
!! Board may appoint mediator to help resolve basin conflicts
!! Board may extend
!! Board may develop interim plan for remedy after
notice and public hearing
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Actions necessary to correct long-term overdraft
Schedule for actions
Monitoring program
Process for Rescission of Interim Plan
May include, physical solution, pumping restrictions and
administration of surface water rights
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QUESTIONS?
How does the Act
Apply to
Indian Wells Valley?
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How Does the Act Apply to
Indian Wells Valley?
Reference: Todd Engineers, 2014
How Does the Act Apply to
Indian Wells Valley?
!! CASGEM Basin Prioritization
!! Groundwater Sustainability Formation
!! Groundwater Sustainability Plan
!! Sustainable Groundwater Management
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Indian Wells Valley GW Basin
CASGEM Prioritization
Medium – Score 14.8
1 – Population
Groundwater Reliance
4 - Population growth
1 - Groundwater Use
1 - Public supply wells
5 - Total supply percent
0.75 - Total Wells
3 - Total Groundwater Reliance
0 - Irrigated agriculture
5 - Impacts
0 - Other
Indian Wells Valley GW Basin
CASGEM Prioritization
!! Overdraft has been documented since the 1960’s
!! Water quality issues with respect to overdraft and
mixing of aquifers
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Basins Subject to
Critical Conditions
of Overdraft
DWR Bulletin 118-80
January 1980
Basins Subject to
Critical Conditions of Overdraft
!! Defined by DWR under statute in Bulletin 118-80
“A basin is subject to critical conditions of overdraft
when continuation of present water management
practices would probably result in significant
adverse overdraft-related environmental, social, or
economic impacts.”
!! DWR is mandated to update basin prioritization,
identify and list basins in overdraft and subject to
critical conditions of overdraft through Bulletin 118
updates in years ending in ‘0’ and ‘5’
!! Only DWR can designate or define a basin as
subject to critical conditions of overdraft
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How Does the Act Apply to
Indian Wells Valley?
!! CASGEM Basin Prioritization - Medium
!! Groundwater Sustainability Formation
!! By June 30, 2017
!! Groundwater Sustainability Plan
!! By January 31, 2022
!! Sustainable Groundwater Management
!! By January 31, 2042
Indian Wells Valley - Options for a
Groundwater Sustainability Agency
!! Kern County
!! Kern County Water Agency
!! Inyo County
!! San Bernardino County
!! City of Ridgecrest
!! Indian Wells Valley Water District
!! Inyokern Community Services District
!! Combination of the above
!! Federal government and Indian tribes may voluntarily agree to
participate in preparation or administration of a GSP through
a JPA or other agreement
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Indian Wells Valley - Options for a
Groundwater Sustainability Agency
A combination of local agencies may form a GSA by
using any of the following methods:
!! A joint powers agreement
!! A memorandum of agreement or other legal
agreement
!! A water corporation regulated by the PUC may
participate in a GSA if the local agencies approve
Indian Wells Valley - Options for a
Groundwater Sustainability Agency
Multiple GSA’s could be formed or combinations:
!! IWVWD could form an individual GSA
!! IWVWD and City of Ridgecrest and Inyokern Community
Services District could form a GSA with the Navy as a
participant and the three Counties and / or Kern
Groundwater Authority (?) could form GSAs to cover
other areas of the IWV
!! These separate GSA’s would have additional
requirements specified for data collection and sharing,
and for DWR review and approval of agreements and
progress
!! All the above could form one GSA
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How do you decide about a
GSA in the IWV?
!! Eligible local agency boards need to understand the
Act requirements, responsibilities and authorities
and decide how they might participate
!! Eligible local agencies need to have discussions
amongst one another to figure out what type of
arrangements and agreements might work best
!! Eligible local agencies need to consider the
interests of all beneficial uses and users of
groundwater and receive their input
Interests of all Beneficial Uses
and Users of Groundwater
!! Holders of groundwater
rights:
!! Agricultural users
!! Domestic well owners
!! Municipal well operators
!! Public and private water
systems
!! Local land use planning
agencies
!! Surface water users if a
hydrologic connection to
groundwater
!! Federal government
!! California Native American
tribes
!! Disadvantaged
communities
!! Monitoring entities
!! Environmental users of
groundwater
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Discussion, Questions and
Public Input
Acknowledgements
!! California Water Action Plan
http://resources.ca.gov/california_water_action_plan/
!! Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) for their efforts in
developing the Act, and for some of the slides – more info is available at
http://www.acwa.com/news/groundwater/governor-brown-signssustainable-groundwater-management-act
http://www.acwa.com/news/groundwater/informational-materials-nowavailable-sustainable-groundwater-management-act
!! California Water Foundation for their efforts in developing the Act, and
for some of the slides – more info on CWF is available at
http://www.californiawaterfoundation.org/
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