From the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC):
Efforts to find solutions to the state’s groundwater depletion issues took a new turn when groundwater agencies for the state’s 21 “critically overdrafted” basins submitted their first groundwater plans in January. Last week the PPIC Water Policy Center held a webinar to summarize our in-depth review of plans for 11 of these basins in the San Joaquin Valley—California’s largest farming region, where excess pumping is a major challenge.
“Our goal is to help build a shared understanding of how well these plans tackle core objectives, and to help further a conversation about how everyone can work together to achieve success and manage water resources in a way that’s going to build a strong foundation for the future,” said center director Ellen Hanak in her opening remarks.
PPIC research associate Jelena Jezdimirovic laid out important context and summarized key findings of the review. She began by describing the costs to the agricultural sector of ending overdraft in the valley—and how these costs can be mitigated by flexible water management and cost-effective new supplies.