This week, the California Water Commission (CWC) unanimously approved the emergency regulations that will guide the Local Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSP) as required under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 (SGMA).
Department of Water Resources (DWR) staff worked openly and collaboratively with the RCRC/CSAC SGMA Working Group and other SGMA Advisory Groups over the last year to meet the June 1, 2016 deadline to establish the emergency regulations for evaluating GSPs that were adopted this week by the CWC. Virtually all public comment, as well as that expressed by the CWC during the two hours the item was discussed, entailed the appreciation for the openness and diligence of the DWR staff for their efforts in developing these regulations.
Under the SGMA, by June 30, 2017, a local agency/agencies in each high or medium priority groundwater basin must have officially formed one or more Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSA) for the entire basin. By January 31, 2020, each high or medium priority groundwater basin that is subject to critical conditions of overdraft must be managed under a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP), and by January 31, 2022 all remaining high or medium priority groundwater basins must be managed under a GSP with a final review by the Department of Water Resources (DWR) by January 31, 2024.
The emergency regulations, accessed here, will go to the Office of Administrative Law for final review and will go into effect June 2016. Additional information about groundwater may be accessed here.