Groundwater Exchange

DWR Releases Decisions for Groundwater Management Plans in Critically Overdrafted Basins

By Maven / March 6, 2023

Department of Water Resources Will Transmit Six Basin Determinations to State Water Board, Beginning State Intervention Process From the Department...

DWR Releases Decisions for Groundwater Management Plans in Critically Overdrafted Basins

DWR Awards $25 Million in LandFlex Grants to Protect Drinking Water Wells

By Maven / March 6, 2023

The Department of Water Resources (DWR), in coordination with the California Department of Food and Agriculture, today awarded $25 million...

DWR Awards $25 Million in LandFlex Grants to Protect Drinking Water Wells

The Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program: Envisioning the social, economic, and environmental possibilities of fallowed lands

By Maven / March 6, 2023

At the January meeting of the California Water Commission, Keali’i Bright, Assistant Director of the Department of Conservation’s Division of...

The Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program: Envisioning the social, economic, and environmental possibilities of fallowed lands

California Water Agencies Hoped A Deluge Would Recharge Their Aquifers. But When It Came, Some Couldn’t Use It

By Maven / March 6, 2023

It was exactly the sort of deluge California groundwater agencies have been counting on to replenish their overworked aquifers. The...

California Water Agencies Hoped A Deluge Would Recharge Their Aquifers. But When It Came, Some Couldn’t Use It

Did winter storms replenish California’s depleted groundwater supplies? Here’s what data shows

By Maven / March 6, 2023

Winter storms have filled California’s reservoirs and built up a colossal Sierra snowpack that’s nearly twice its normal size for...

Did winter storms replenish California’s depleted groundwater supplies? Here’s what data shows

Amid well-drilling and pumping, calls grow for stronger California water regulation

By Maven / March 6, 2023

In 2014, California adopted a landmark law aimed at combating excessive groundwater pumping, especially in farming areas of the San...

Amid well-drilling and pumping, calls grow for stronger California water regulation

SGMA in the news

By Maven / March 6, 2023

Anger showed at Tehama County well registration program workshop “A workshop on Tehama County’s well registration program drew many residents...

DWR’s Innovative Underground Aquifer Mapping Project Reaches Major Milestone: Data Now Available for Entire Central Valley

By Maven / February 9, 2023

The Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) innovative Statewide Airborne Electromagnetic (AEM) Survey Project has now released AEM data for the...

DWR’s Innovative Underground Aquifer Mapping Project Reaches Major Milestone: Data Now Available for Entire Central Valley

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Basin Pages

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SGMA Articles from Maven’s Notebook

Notebook SGMA Implementation Posts

THIS JUST IN … DWR Approves Sustainability Plans for 12 Groundwater Basins as Efforts Continue to Protect Critical Water ResourcesFrom the Department of Water Resources: The Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced today the approval of groundwater sustainability plans for 12 non-critically overdrafted groundwater basins located across California. The approved basins include Big Valley, Shasta Valley, Scott River Valley, East Side Aquifer, Forebay Aquifer, Langley Area, Monterey, Upper Valley Aquifer, San Jacinto, Upper Ventura River, San Luis Obispo Valley and Santa Margarita. “We are impressed with the effort that local agencies have put into their groundwater sustainability plans. Since […]

MEETING: State Water Board discusses intervention options for groundwater basins with inadequate plansIn March 2023, the Department of Water Resources issued final determinations on groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs) submitted by the groundwater basins in January of 2022 that were ultimately determined to be incomplete. After the groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) were given 180 days to correct the deficiencies and revise their plans, six of the twelve basin plans were determined to be inadequate, triggering possible intervention by the State Water Board. At the April 4 meeting of the State Water Resources Control […]

NOTICE: Public Comment Period Opens for Resubmitted Madera Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Plans with ‘Incomplete’ DeterminationsFrom the Department of Water Resources: On September 22, 2022, the Department of Water Resources (Department) released an Incomplete determination on groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs) developed by local agencies for the San Joaquin Valley – Madera Subbasin to meet the requirements of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). The local agencies for this Subbasin were given 180 days to address deficiencies and resubmit their revised GSPs to the Department for review. In response to the Incomplete determination, the revised GSPs […]

GUEST COMMENTARY: SGMA is Failing. Time to Fix ItGuest commentary by Michael DeLapa, executive director of LandWatch Monterey County, and Chelsea Tu, executive director of Monterey Waterkeeper In 2014 California finally joined other western states by enacting groundwater management legislation. The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) requires local governments to produce plans to bring overdrafted groundwater basins into balance within 20 years. But in Monterey County, SMGA is failing. Over-pumping continues to degrade aquifers essential to agriculture and thousands of urban users. Three times since 2017, public agency […]

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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"

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