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 Underground 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 Underground 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

Learn more about groundwater, SGMA, what it means, and who it covers. Learn More

Practitioner Resources

Resources for Groundwater Sustainability Plan development. Learn More

Public Involvement

Guidance for engaging in local groundwater management. Learn More

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Online mapping tools and data sources. Learn More

Basin Pages

Click here to discover models, publications, and information organized by basin or subbasin.

SGMA Articles from Maven’s Notebook

Notebook SGMA Implementation Posts

STORY MAP: Floodplain Restoration and Recharge Pilot Studies: Evaluating the multiple benefits of increasing floodplain inundation

COURTHOUSE NEWS SERVICE: California ponies up $300 million to prepare groundwater infrastructure for climate changeThe Golden State says the large investment in improving infrastructure for water and carbon capture are key to addressing climate change impacts. By Natalie Hanson, Courthouse News Service California will spend about $300 million to prepare a vast groundwater and farming infrastructure system for the growing impacts of climate change. California Department of Water Resources announced Tuesday that it has awarded $187 million to 32 groundwater sub-basins, which store water for future use that mainly flows from valuable snowmelt, through […]

COURTHOUSE NEWS: Heralded winemaker sues Napa County over water wellsNapa County denied Jayson Woodbridge water well permits for four of his vineyards. By Bob Leal, Courthouse News Service A lauded winemaker in California’s most famous wine region has filed a lawsuit against Napa County after the county refused to issue permits for water wells on land owned by the winemaker. Plaintiff Jayson Woodbridge, founder and owner of Hundred Acre Wine Group, says in his lawsuit that Napa County is overstepping its authority. The county has denied water well permits […]

NOW AVAILABLE: New Groundwater Recharge Guidance Documents from DWR and Sustainable ConservationThe Department of Water Resources and Sustainable Conservation have released new guidance documents for groundwater recharge: On-Farm Recharge Methods Manual The On-Farm Recharge Methods Manual gathers observations and lessons learned from over a decade of Sustainable Conservation working directly with growers and irrigation districts to implement on-farm recharge, including methods to enhance recharge, avoid crop health problems, manage recharge events, and minimize nutrient leaching. This document summarizes in-field practices with 10 grower case studies to provide practical information about on-farm […]

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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"