Guidance Document for Groundwater Sustainability Plan Stakeholder Communicaton and Engagement, June 2017 (Draft)

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | June 1st, 2017

The objectve of this guidance document is to provide Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) information to aid with stakeholder communication and engage

The objectve of this guidance document is to provide Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) information to aid with stakeholder communication and engagement for Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) preparation and to provide examples and existing resources related to public engagement and effective communication for Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) implementation. Limitation and use of this guidance information This guidance document is not intended to prescribe specifc outreach and communications methods for GSAs or local agencies to follow, but to provide resources and various examples for consideration. This guidance document also summarizes the public notfcation requirements that GSAs must adhere to in order to comply with SGMA and the GSP regulations. Other than what is required by statute or regulation, GSAs have discretion on how they communicate and engage with the beneficial uses and users of groundwater within a basin.

Guidance Document for the Sustainable Management of Groundwater Engagement with Tribal Governments June 2017 (Draft)

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | June 1st, 2017

The objective of this guidance document is to convey information, as provided by California’s Tribal governments, by which local agencies can engage Tribal gove

The objective of this guidance document is to convey information, as provided by California’s Tribal governments, by which local agencies can engage Tribal governments as part of an effort to identify interested persons, and consider the interests of beneficial users of groundwater; including those users on Tribal lands not subject to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). This guidance document can also be used to help local agencies engage with a Tribal government in the planning, financing, and management of a Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA), or help with the development and implementation of a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) pursuant to SGMA.

Guidance for Climate Change Data Use During Groundwater Sustainability Plan Development

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | April 12th, 2018

This Guidance Document was developed to help Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) incorporate California Department of Water Resources (DWR)-provided climate change

This Guidance Document was developed to help Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) incorporate California Department of Water Resources (DWR)-provided climate change and related data into their Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs). The purpose of this Guidance Document is as follows: • Provide relevant data and tools for GSAs to incorporate climate change into their GSPs. • Provide an analysis approach using the provided data and tools that incorporates the best available science and best available information to date. This Guidance Document focuses on the use of DWR-provided climate change data and provides documentation about the following: • Climate change data development approach • Climate change data development methods and processes • Applications for using the provided climate change data • Climate change data assumptions and limitations This Guidance Document provides a process for using DWR-provided climate change data for computing projected water budgets and serves as a companion document to the water budget best management practices (BMPs)2 and the modeling BMP3. For Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) implementation purposes, the use of climate change data can help with the following: • Developing projected water budgets • Long-term planning of groundwater basin sustainability • Assessing projects and management actions by performing sensitivity analyses of projected conditions • Adaptive Management

Henry Miller Water District Revised Groundwater Sustainability Plan, Kern County Subbasin

Henry Miller Water District | July 21st, 2022

This Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) for the Henry Miller Water District (HMWD) Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) has been prepared pursuant to Water Code §1

This Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) for the Henry Miller Water District (HMWD) Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) has been prepared pursuant to Water Code §10727. HMWD is located in the Kern County Subbasin (Basin 5-22.14) as defined by the Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) Bulletin 118. The Kern Subbasin is considered to be in a condition of critical overdraft and has been designated as a high priority basin. This GSP is one of the five GSPs being prepared in the Subbasin, which collectively has and will coordinate to avoid, to the best of their abilities, any and all Undesirable Results as a result of unsustainable groundwater management practices. HMWD formed its own GSA on March 15, 2017; it is the only Water District located within the GSA. HMWD GSA is one of five GSAs that are preparing a GSP within the Subbasin. This GSP, in coordination with the four other GSPs within the Subbasin, will provide a path to sustainability and the preservation of groundwater resources for all beneficial users of groundwater. Because the Subbasin has multiple GSPs, the GSPs are prepared under a coordination agreement. This Coordination Agreement exemplifies the ways that the various GSPs were able to work together to achieve a common goal: groundwater sustainability for the Subbasin. For example, the entire Subbasin has utilized Todd Groundwater’s services to analyze historic, current, and future groundwater conditions with a C2VSIM model. This Plan includes a description of the historic groundwater conditions in the Subbasin, a Subbasin water budget, sustainable management criteria for future monitoring, and projects and/or management actions that may be implemented to ensure groundwater sustainability is achieved by 2040 and maintained through 2070. Due to size, the file has been divided. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

How can we support the development of robust groundwater sustainability plans?

California Agriculture (UCANR) | March 13th, 2018

Three years after California passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SMGA), groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) are now preparing to develop their groun

Three years after California passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SMGA), groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) are now preparing to develop their groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs), the blueprints that will outline each basin’s road to sustainability. Successful GSPs will require an effective participatory decision-making process. We tested a participatory process with the Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, a water-limited irrigation district in the Central Valley. First, we worked with district stakeholders to outline the parts of the plan and set measureable objectives for sustainability. The district defined seven management strategies, which the research team evaluated against climate, land use and regulatory uncertainties using a water resources model. Together, we explored model results using customized interactive graphics. We found that the business-as-usual strategy was the most unlikely to meet sustainability objectives; and that a conjunctive use strategy, with winter groundwater recharge and periphery ponds storage, achieved acceptable measures of sustainability under multiple uncertainties, including a hypothetical pumping curtailment. The process developed a shared understanding of the vulnerabilities of the local groundwater situation and proved valuable in evaluating strategies to overcome them.

Hydrogeologic characterization of the San Antonio Creek Valley watershed, Santa Barbara County, California

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | January 31st, 2022

Hydrogeology and Simulation of Groundwater Flow in the Lucerne Valley Groundwater Basin, California

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | June 28th, 2022

The Lucerne Valley is in the southwestern part of the Mojave Desert and is about 75 miles northeast of Los Angeles, California. The Lucerne Valley groundwater basin encom

The Lucerne Valley is in the southwestern part of the Mojave Desert and is about 75 miles northeast of Los Angeles, California. The Lucerne Valley groundwater basin encompasses about 230 square miles and is separated from the Upper Mojave Valley groundwater basin by splays of the Helendale Fault. Since its settlement, groundwater has been the primary source of water for agricultural, industrial, municipal, and domestic uses. Groundwater withdrawal from pumping has exceeded the amount of water recharged to the basin, causing groundwater declines of more than 100 feet between 1917 and 2016 in the center of the basin. The continued withdrawal has resulted in an increase in pumping costs, reduced well efficiency, and land subsidence near Lucerne Lake. Although the volume of pumping has declined in recent years, there is concern that new agricultural growth and limits on imported water will continue to strain the sustainability of the groundwater system.

Hydrologic and geochemical characterization of the Petaluma River watershed, Sonoma County, California

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | January 31st, 2022

Principal water agencies in the Petaluma Valley groundwater basin seek to understand the availability of groundwater to meet increasing regional water supply demand cause

Principal water agencies in the Petaluma Valley groundwater basin seek to understand the availability of groundwater to meet increasing regional water supply demand caused by increasing agricultural and urban water demands. Surface water from the Russian River is the primary water supply in the basin, but the future availability of this surface-water supply is uncertain. Groundwater is an important supplemental source of water for the City of Petaluma and the primary supply for agriculture and domestic use by rural property owners. Furthermore, supplies of recycled water are becoming more available. Water managers face the challenge of meeting increasing water demand with a combination of surface water, local groundwater resources, and use of recycled wastewater. In 2014, California adopted legislation to manage groundwater: the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). The SGMA requires the development and implementation of Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) in 127 medium- or high-priority groundwater basins, and the Petaluma Valley groundwater basin was designated as a high-priority basin. Sustainability is defined within the SGMA in terms of avoiding undesirable results: significant and unreasonable groundwater-level declines, reduction in groundwater storage, seawater intrusion, water-quality degradation, land subsidence, and surface-water depletion. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Sonoma County Water Agency (SCWA) and the City of Petaluma, characterized the hydrology of the Petaluma valley watershed (PVW) and developed an integrated hydrologic model that can be used to improve understanding and management of the groundwater system and develop a GSP. The objectives of the study are to (1) develop an updated assessment of the hydrogeology and geochemistry of the PVW and (2) develop an integrated hydrologic model for the PVW. The purpose of this report is to describe the conceptual model of the hydrologic, hydrogeologic, and water-quality characteristics of the PVW and a numerical groundwater-flow model of PVW.

Implementing SGMA: Results from a Stakeholder Survey

University of California, Davis (UC Davis) | August 26th, 2019

The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) of 2014 represents a historic transition to collective groundwater resource management and has the potential to signif

The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) of 2014 represents a historic transition to collective groundwater resource management and has the potential to significantly reduce groundwater overdraft in California. A total of 260 groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) recently formed to collectively manage groundwater resources in the 127 high and medium priority groundwater basins of the state. The simultaneous formation of hundreds of new governing agencies is an unprecedented institutional effort with very few examples to learn from. As GSAs move towards the design and deliberation of their groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs), assessments on the process up until now can directly inform development processes that are still taking place. This report summarizes the results from a state-wide survey that targeted SGMA participants.

Incomplete Determination of the 2020 Eastern San Joaquin Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Plan

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | January 28th, 2022

The Department of Water Resources (Department) has evaluated the groundwater sustainability plan (GSP) submitted for the Eastern San Joaquin Subbasin (Subbasin) and has d

The Department of Water Resources (Department) has evaluated the groundwater sustainability plan (GSP) submitted for the Eastern San Joaquin Subbasin (Subbasin) and has determined that the GSP is incomplete. The Department based its determination on recommendations from the Staff Report, included as an enclosure to the attached Statement of Findings, which describes that the Eastern San Joaquin Subbasin GSP does not satisfy the objectives of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) nor substantially comply with the GSP Regulations. The Staff Report also provides corrective actions which the Department recommends to address the identified deficiencies.