2021

New Report Addresses Findings That Most California Groundwater Sustainability Plans Fail to Protect Vulnerable Communities and the Environment

By Maven / August 10, 2023

A new report, authored by experts from organizations including The Nature Conservancy, the Union of Concerned Scientists, Audubon California, and...

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New Report Addresses Findings That Most California Groundwater Sustainability Plans Fail to Protect Vulnerable Communities and the Environment

UPCOMING WEBINAR: SGMA Review: Achieving Groundwater Access for All & Visual Data Tool Demonstration, plus Office Hours returns

By Maven / August 10, 2023

CivicWell and the Groundwater Exchange are excited to announce a webinar event to share the Groundwater Leadership Forum’s comprehensive review...

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UPCOMING WEBINAR: SGMA Review: Achieving Groundwater Access for All & Visual Data Tool Demonstration, plus Office Hours returns

How Farmers Used California’s Floods to Revive Aquifers

By Maven / August 10, 2023

As an onslaught of storms soaked California with record-breaking rain last winter, Christine Gemperle found herself crisscrossing her almond orchards...

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How Farmers Used California’s Floods to Revive Aquifers

SGMA Inadequate Subbasins Update

By Maven / August 10, 2023

By Geoff Vanden Heuvel, Director of Regulatory and Economic Affairs at the Milk Producers Council: There is intense activity going...

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SGMA Inadequate Subbasins Update

RESEARCH ARTICLE: From Drought to Deluge: Designing Groundwater Pricing Policies to Cope With California’s Water Woes

By Maven / August 10, 2023

Groundwater pricing presents a promising tool for managing groundwater demand under California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. We use data from...

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RESEARCH ARTICLE: From Drought to Deluge: Designing Groundwater Pricing Policies to Cope With California’s Water Woes

RESEARCH ARTICLE: How Is Demand Management Developing in SGMA Groundwater Sustainability Plans

By Maven / August 10, 2023

Demand management will play a critical role in both reaching groundwater sustainability under SGMA and determining the economic costs of...

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RESEARCH ARTICLE: How Is Demand Management Developing in SGMA Groundwater Sustainability Plans

RESEARCH ARTICLE: Recycled water could recharge aquifers in the Central Valley

By Maven / August 10, 2023

Drawing out too much groundwater, or overdrafting, is a serious problem in California. As a result, groundwater sustainability agencies are...

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RESEARCH ARTICLE: Recycled water could recharge aquifers in the Central Valley

SGMA in the news …

By Maven / August 10, 2023

Can California cropland be repurposed for community solar? “When you think of solar power, California undoubtedly comes to mind. The...

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SGMA in the news …

GW Basics

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SGMA Articles from Maven’s Notebook

Notebook SGMA Implementation Posts

NEW RESOURCE: DWR Releases a Resource Guide for Funding SGMA ImplementationFrom the Department of Water Resources: The Department of Water Resources (DWR) today released its Resource Guide for Funding Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) Implementation. The purpose of this high-level funding resource guide is to provide Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) with information that will support the selection and development of self-funding streams for funding Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) implementation. This funding primer outlines common funding mechanisms available to GSAs and provides a general approach that agencies can consider when developing a funding mechanism. Those […] The post NEW RESOURCE: DWR Releases a Resource Guide for Funding SGMA Implementation appeared first on MAVEN'S NOTEBOOK | California Water News Central.

AG ALERT: 2024 marks a decade of SGMA regulationsBy Christine Souza, Ag Alert California’s landmark 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, which requires local agencies in affected basins to develop and implement plans that identify a roadmap to protect groundwater for generations to come, turns 10 this year. “If you think of the last 10 years when SGMA was first passed, a lot has happened,” said E. Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the California State Water Resources Control Board, during a webinar kicking off National Groundwater Awareness Week last week. […] The post AG ALERT: 2024 marks a decade of SGMA regulations appeared first on MAVEN'S NOTEBOOK | California Water News Central.

SJV WATER: “We’re finished”: Some small Kings County farmers fear state’s groundwater law being used against themBy Lisa McEwen, SJV Water Last-ditch revisions being considered for the groundwater plan covering Kings County are not only “too little, too late” to avoid state intervention, according to one observer, they could be a death knell for smaller farmers. “We’re finished,” small farmer Doug Freitas said, of how the proposed revisions would affect his farm. The heart of Freitas’ fear involves how pumping from the various aquifers beneath Kings County, designated as the Tulare Lake subbasin, may be divvied […] The post SJV WATER: “We’re finished”: Some small Kings County farmers fear state’s groundwater law being used against them appeared first on MAVEN'S NOTEBOOK | California Water News Central.

PRESS RELEASE: Friant Water Authority (FWA) seeks more money from local groundwater pumping, while demanding that land subsidence ceasePress release from the Eastern Tule Groundwater Sustainability Agency (ETGSA) FWA and Arvin Edison Water Storage District have filed a complaint against the Eastern Tule Groundwater Sustainability Agency (ETGSA) for breach of contract in the Tulare County Superior Court. The complaint seeks damages from ETGSA, along with a declaration from the Court that ETGSA must collect and pay funds to FWA for subsidence along the Middle Reach of the Friant-Kern Canal, while also avoiding or minimizing additional subsidence. The ETGSA […] The post PRESS RELEASE: Friant Water Authority (FWA) seeks more money from local groundwater pumping, while demanding that land subsidence cease appeared first on MAVEN'S NOTEBOOK | California Water News Central.

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Groundwater Documents

CWL Groundwater Docs

Modern groundwater reaches deeper depths in heavily pumped aquifer systemsDeep groundwater is an important source of drinking water, and can be preferable to shallower groundwaters where they are polluted by surface-borne contaminants. Surface-borne contaminants are disproportionately common in ‘modern’ groundwaters that are made up of precipitation that fell since the ~1950s. Some local-scale studies have suggested that groundwater pumping can draw modern groundwater downward … Continue reading "Modern groundwater reaches deeper depths in heavily pumped aquifer systems"

Mapping Structural Control Through Analysis of Land-Surface Deformation for the Rialto-Colton Groundwater Subbasin, San Bernardino County, California, 1992–2010The locations of many faults in and near the Rialto-Colton groundwater subbasin are not precisely known because the spatial density of existing lithologic and hydrologic data used to infer the locations of faults can be sparse. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District, analyzed structural control of groundwater … Continue reading "Mapping Structural Control Through Analysis of Land-Surface Deformation for the Rialto-Colton Groundwater Subbasin, San Bernardino County, California, 1992–2010"

A State Role in Supporting Groundwater Trading with Safeguards for Vulnerable Users: Findings and Next StepsIn those parts of California where groundwater pumping has long exceeded replenishment, people are striving to bring groundwater basins into sustainable conditions within 20 years, between 2040 and 2042, as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) requires. In some areas, groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) – the local agencies tasked with sustainable groundwater management – are … Continue reading "A State Role in Supporting Groundwater Trading with Safeguards for Vulnerable Users: Findings and Next Steps"

Development and Application of a 1D Compaction Model to Understand 65 Years of Subsidence in the San Joaquin ValleyHigh rates of land subsidence, caused by groundwater overdraft, are resulting in millions of dollars of infrastructure damage in California’s San Joaquin Valley (SJV). In recent years, the use of interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) has enabled us to substantially improve our understanding of this subsidence. However, only very occasionally have the InSAR data been … Continue reading "Development and Application of a 1D Compaction Model to Understand 65 Years of Subsidence in the San Joaquin Valley"