Sept. 16 marked the 10-year anniversary of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, (SGMA) which aims to bring severely over pumped aquifers back into balance by 2040.
Even with more than $1 billion already spent, two groundwater subbasins on probation and enforcement actions being challenged in court, some state officials say the hard part is just beginning.
And the San Joaquin Valley is ground zero for what’s coming.
SGMA was passed in 2014 during a devastating drought that left thousands of domestic wells dry in the San Joaquin Valley. The law seeks to regulate groundwater pumping through local control. To that end, it mandated the creation of a new layer of government, groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) to create and impose plans for regulation.
“It was pretty anxious times,” said Paul Gosselin, deputy director of sustainable groundwater management at the state’s Department of Water Resources (DWR.) “The first 10 years, I think for both the department and local agencies, was trying to unravel a very complicated law.”
Years of progress
But everyone has come a long way over the past decade, he added. The state and local agencies have a wealth of data and tools to monitor and understand groundwater far better than was possible 10 years ago, said Gosselin.
Local agencies have also stepped up during drought, committed to fixing dry domestic wells and have met state deadlines for plans and projects, he said.
“The state provided upwards of half a billion dollars to local agencies, which has really increased groundwater recharge projects, land transition to recharge and some other land uses, as well as the start and development of some demand management (pumping reduction) programs in basins that really need that,” said Gosselin. “So, those are really some of the things that position us a lot better, one: for this changing climate. But two: to have the structure and foundation to achieve groundwater sustainability and have groundwater uses not be subjected to undesirable results.”
Undesirable results is SGMA lingo for things like plummeting water tables, wells going dry, water quality issues and subsidence, or land sinking as too much water is pulled out of the ground.
While the challenge was understanding the law in the early days, 10 years in, the new challenge is full implementation, said Gosselin. Trying to get projects started, securing funding, transitioning land out of agriculture and the impacts that could have on the industry, will be difficult, he added.
“It’s been the easy part, believe it or not,” said Gosselin. “It’s going to be increasingly challenging.”
Westside efforts
In August, the 23 Groundwater Sustainability Agencies of the Delta Mendota Subbasin released the subbasin’s single Groundwater Sustainability Plan, a first time for the agencies.
The Delta Mendota Subbasin, encompasses 747,000 acres (1,170 square miles) and traverses Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, and Fresno counties. The basin was one of 21 that the Department of Water Resources classified as being in a “critically overdrafted” condition.
Fifteen census designated places within the Basin include the cities of Gustine, Newman, Patterson, Dos Palos, Los Banos, Firebaugh and Mendota and the communities of Grayson, Westley, Crows Landing, Santa Nella, Volta, Dos Palos Y and Tranquillity.
The plan, which fulfills State requirements for achieving long-term sustainable groundwater management, outlines specific strategies to arrest subsidence and create groundwater security for the region.
The plan offers good news and tough choices. Using best available data and science, technical consultants crafted a plan that achieves sustainability by maintaining 2015 groundwater levels. A Coordination Committee, composed of representatives from GSAs across the entire Subbasin, provided leadership in evaluating the options and sometimes tough choices in order to achieve sustainability. This includes pumping reductions and investments to increase supply such as recharge, recycled water, stormwater capture, construction of new surface water storage, and water exchange, transfers, and purchases. It will also require adaptive management based on conditions in the basin. The Plan includes a domestic well mitigation policy to provide eligible applicants with assistance if a well fails due to a decline in groundwater levels.
Challenges ahead
Another always present concern moving forward, is the unpredictability of climate.
“We have ongoing subsidence challenges that we need to address,” said Karla Nemeth, director of DWR. “If we have a big slug of very, very dry years without these storm events punctuating things, that sort of hastens the acuteness of the problem.”
While many water managers and officials agree that sustainability will be achieved by 2040, Nemeth admitted Mother Nature will have a hand in how on track management stays in the coming years.
Still, the difference between now and a decade ago is drastic, according to Nemeth.
“We know so much more about what’s happening below our feet,” said Nemeth.
Using technology such as airborne electromagnetic surveys to see the composition of the earth beneath the surface, for example, is one tool that has provided data that wasn’t available 10 years ago, said Nemeth.
Nemeth acknowledged SGMA has been difficult for many in agriculture.
“The goal isn’t pain for pain’s sake,” said Nemeth. “The goal is to have a resource that is in good shape and is reliable, because we are going to have deeper droughts and we are going to need to rely on groundwater.”
A “stunted start”
Local water managers have hope moving forward, even those in regions still struggling to develop a groundwater plan that is acceptable by the state.
Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District is part of the Kern subbasin which is set for a probationary hearing in February of 2025 before the Water Resources Control Board. Kern has failed to produce an acceptable plan twice leading to the hearing. Probation is the first step toward a possible state pumping take over.
Kern water managers spent $2 million crafting a new groundwater plan over the past year and are hoping that propels the region toward sustainability.
“After a stunted start we believe that the new 2024 Plan gets us there,” wrote Dan Bartel, general manager of Rosedale-Rio Bravo in an email. “If the new 2024 Plan is accepted by the state we will finally be on the right road by 2040. If the state rejects the new local 2024 plan we will most likely be stuck in a quagmire of regulatory efforts.”
Other ag districts are moving full steam ahead with plans that were approved by the state.
Westlands Water District, for example, has already been enacting its plan for two years to wind down groundwater pumping and bank more water underground. Its plan was approved by the state.
Westlands is on track to reach its sustainable groundwater pumping allotments of 0.6 acre feet per acre by 2030, wrote a spokesperson for the district via email.
Still, the geology of the region poses a challenge for recharge and getting money to build more recharge is difficult, wrote the spokesperson.
Too early to tell
For some of those outside of ag, it’s too early to tell whether sustainability is within reach in less than 20 years.
The culture of groundwater pumping is changing, said Nataly Escobedo Garcia, policy coordinator for nonprofit Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability. But more change is needed, she added.
The state’s probationary processes have already been held up in court, most recently in Kings County, which Escobedo Garcia described as “delay tactics.” It won’t be possible to avoid SGMA, she said. And if that means legislatively giving more teeth to the state to be able to enforce the law, then that’s what might have to happen, she added.
Regardless, the way groundwater was used for the past 20-30 years cannot continue into the figure, said Escobedo Garcia. “Otherwise, we’ll simply be in a race to the bottom.”
SJV Water is an independent, nonprofit news site dedicated to covering water in the San Joaquin Valley.
Westside Connect Editor Sabra Stafford contributed to this article.
