Category: Media article

California Groundwater Law Means Big Changes Above Ground, Too

From Water Deeply:

“California’s new groundwater management law is not a sports car. It moves more like a wagon train. The rules do not require critically overdrafted aquifers to achieve “sustainability” until 2040. But 22 years from now, once they finally get there, lives will be transformed.

The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), adopted in 2014, will change more than groundwater. The requirement to end overdraft will also transform land use, a massive side effect yet to be widely recognized.

Parts of California will literally look different once the law takes full effect. It could put some farmers out of business. It could change how others farm. … “

Read more from Water Deeply here:  California Groundwater Law Means Big Changes Above Ground, Too

Farmers tap free-market ideas in bid to rescue aquifer

From E&E News:

“A debate has raged for decades over the true price of water in the parched West.  Edgar Terry’s answer: Let the market decide.  The farmer is on the cusp of launching the country’s most robust groundwater trading market: cap and trade for water.

“We all deal in markets every day,” Terry said during a recent tour of his vegetable fields. “What makes water any different than oil? If you have oil under your ground, you get to pump it and sell it. And it becomes an asset on the balance sheet. Why can’t water become an asset?”

His timing couldn’t be better. … “

Continue reading at E&E News here.

Indian Wells Valley Water District discusses future role with Groundwater Authority

From the Ridgecrest Independent:

“When the Indian Wells Valley Water District board of directors held its midyear workshop on Tuesday, one topic took center stage: its role in the IWV Groundwater Authority.

The Water District stands poised to take over leadership of the Groundwater Authority board and general manager in January. Leadership rotates among three of the five member agencies, known as “The Big Three” — the City of Ridgecrest, Kern County, and the Water District.

“Hopefully we will have an opportunity to move ahead in the direction we all see as working for the ratepayers and the district,” said board president Ron Kicinski. … “

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As Soquel wastewater treatment plant study end draws near, public plies district with questions

From the Santa Cruz Sentinel:

“Soquel resident Wayne Stanton wants to know how long it will be before he can go back to having lawns and vegetable gardens.

Stanton was one of a handful of community members on Tuesday at Twin Lakes Church to take up Soquel Creek Water District on their offer to comments on and question a draft environmental study for its proposed Pure Water Soquel project. The water district is in the midst of studying potential impacts of building a new treatment plant that would pump purified wastewater into the area’s groundwater basins. The report highlights treatment plant construction noise, plus well pumping during operations, as the project’s only major environmental impact for which mitigation measures cannot counteract. … “

Continue reading at the Santa Cruz Sentinel by clicking here.

KCBX Two-way: Groundwater in the Cuyama Valley

From KCBX:

“In 2014, state lawmakers passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act or SGMA. It changed everything about how groundwater will be used in the future. But will it work?

Jeremy P. Jacobs is a reporter for E&E News. That’s a non-partisan news service based in Washington DC. Jacobs is one of the news service’s California-based reporters. He recently took a close look at the Cuyama Valley, on the Central Coast. Jacobs wrote about what he found in an article that appeared in Greenwire, a publication of E&E News. His article is part of a series called “When The Wells Run Dry.”

KCBX News spoke with Jacobs about his reporting in the Cuyama Valley, and started by asking him how he got interested in groundwater—and in that particular place. … “

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Indian Wells Valley: Groundwater Authority policy, technical committees meet Thursday

From the Ridgecrest Independent:

“The Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority’s policy and technical advisory committees meet Thursday at the IWV Water District offices, 500 W. Ridgecrest Blvd. The TAC meets at 1 p.m. and the PAC at 6 p.m.

The PAC will review a technical advisory committee memo on recycled water for any policy-related issues. Recycled water is one of many studies the Groundwater Authority is considering as part of its groundwater sustainability plan, or GSP.

With the IWV basin considered to be in critical overdraft, the GSP must provide a roadmap for sustainability of water pumped from the basin over 20 years from the day it is implemented. The plan must be submitted to the California Department of Water Resources by Jan. 31, 2020, for approval. … “

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Butte County: Groundwater management boundaries shifting

From the Chico Enterprise-Record:

“The local effort to manage the water beneath Butte County continues to be tweaked, with the Board of Supervisors Tuesday backing a change for some planning boundaries.

The changes still have to be approved by the state.

Under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, plans have to be prepared to maintain the amount and quality of the water in California’s aquifers. In Butte County’s case, the area of the Sacramento Valley floor is included, but not the foothills. … “

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Indian Wells Valley Water District Committee talks Groundwater Authority

From the Ridgecrest Independent:

“The IWV Water District water management committee touched on a number of items Thursday afternoon, including the results from the July 19 IWV Groundwater Authority meeting.

Both the committee members and the public voiced concerns about the costs associated with studies being conducted for the required groundwater sustainability plan.

Resident Judie Decker noted how Stetson Engineers and its president Steve Johnson, the company retained as the Groundwater Authority’s water resources manager, presented at a technical advisory committee a study of the infrastructure on how to collect wastewater from septic systems for treatment. … “

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Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority mulls over sustainability plan outline and timeline

From the Ridgecrest Independent:

“Stetson Engineers, the firm acting as water resources manager for the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority, outlined progress and a timeline on a required groundwater sustainability plan during a July 19 meeting.

According to Steve Johnson, Stetson Engineers’ president, elements of the plan go to the Groundwater Authority’s technical advisory committee and its policy advisory committee, which is tasked with looking through it and making recommendations to the water resources manager.

Jeff Helsley, with Stetson, said that in the next six to eight weeks, the Groundwater Authority may have an introductory chapter before the committee, followed by more committees later on. … “

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Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority technical advisory committee processes discussed

From the Ridgecrest Independent:

How exactly the IWV Groundwater Authority’s technical advisory committee operates was set clear on Thursday — at least as defined from a legal perspective, according to Keith Lemieux, the Authority’s 2018 legal counsel.

Questions and concerns have been fielded at several Groundwater Authority meetings over the TAC’s function allows, especially whether the committee can vote on items or take action.

Lemieux said he received questions about whether the committee can take action and what tasks it does at its meetings.  “It’s a fair question because unlike the other committee we have in the bylaws, the TAC is a very unusual animal,” Lemieux said.

Continue reading at the Ridgecrest Independent here:  Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority technical advisory committee processes discussed