Sustainable Groundwater Management Act Recap
The California legislature passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (“SGMA”) nearly six years ago and its impacts are finally beginning to take shape. Until the SGMA, there was no statewide governance plan regulating sustainable groundwater pumping.
Here’s what you need to know about SGMA in 2020
SGMA defines “sustainable groundwater management” as the “management and use of groundwater in a manner that can be maintained during the planning and implementation horizon without causing undesirable results.”
Loosely speaking, a “maintained” groundwater source will have a water budget for the inflows and outflows, and a plan to encourage sustainability and reduce undesirable conditions. These undesirable conditions include lowering groundwater levels, seawater intrusion, reduction of storage, degraded quality, land subsidence, and surface water depletion.
SGMA tasked local water agencies to develop Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) for the 94 basins and sub-basins that supply water to millions of people, farms, and businesses. Each plan will establish the “water budget” and “sustainability goal” that may limit future groundwater use. These plans will…
