By: Jim Mayer, Chair, Groundwater Management Task Force
This week the California Department of Water Resources commemorated the ten-year anniversary of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Since the legislation was passed in 2014, there has been hard work and significant progress towards groundwater sustainability in the Sacramento Valley and the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) are poised to implement SGMA to achieve sustainability as we look to the future.
The leaders in our region have coalesced around a Pathway for the Future that offer a path forward for groundwater sustainability in the Sacramento Valley that calls upon our water resources managers to utilize our extensive and valuable natural infrastructure, including the groundwater aquifers and recharge areas, as part of a healthy landscape necessary for a functional Sacramento Valley and greater water supply resilience.
As part of ongoing efforts to achieve regional water sustainability, the leadership in the Sacramento Valley is dedicated to address all the undesirable results described in SGMA. With the past decade dedicated to organizing GSAs and developing the foundational Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs), there is a now a concerted effort to bring the region together to actively manage our water resources—both surface and groundwater—for multiple benefits that ensure sustainable water supplies for cities and rural communities, farms, fish, birds, recreation, and hydropower. In managing water from the ridgetop to the river mouth, we fully appreciate and embrace the Sacramento Valley’s natural infrastructure, including our groundwater aquifer systems and their relation to both our rivers and creeks and the landscape that supports these vital rivers and creeks.
The Pathway for the Future is the roadmap for the region and contains six priorities:
- ensure safe drinking water for communities;
- advance groundwater recharge opportunities;
- prevent subsidence;
- better understand and manage surface water and groundwater interaction;
- help coordinate effective well permitting programs across the region; and
- align state and federal priorities with local and regional needs.
For more information, we encourage you to review the Pathway for the Future by clicking below.
The DWR commemoration can be seen here.
The Road to Sustainability: Ten Years of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA)
Click on the image above or here to watch this video about 10 Years of SGMA.
