Three bills, Senate Bill 1168 (“SB 1168”), Senate Bill 1319 (“SB 1319”) and Assembly Bill 1739 (“AB 1739”) that will establish a comprehensive groundwater management system in California, were just passed by the California Legislature and they now await the Governor’s signature to become law. SB 1168 and AB 1739 are companion bills that create a system to manage groundwater at a local level while providing the state with the power to oversee and assist with the local management process. SB 1168 establishes the system local agencies will use to regulate groundwater while AB 1739 focuses on the coordination between those local agencies and state agencies to create a comprehensive groundwater management landscape. SB 1319 was passed after SB 1168 and AB 1739 and makes amendments to AB 1739 limiting the State Water Resources Control Board’s (the “SWRCB”) power in administering groundwater plans.

SB 1168

SB 1168 establishes a groundwater sustainability agency (“GSA”) in each groundwater basin in the state to create and administer a groundwater sustainability plan (“GSP”) for the groundwater basin the GSA monitors.

A local agency or a combination of local agencies may form a GSA. SB 1168 establishes a public hearing process to form a GSA and a final notice of formation requirement through the Department of Water Resources (“DWR”). Once a GSA is formed, it is empowered to collect information regarding the condition of the basin, to acquire land and water rights to carry out the GSP, monitor the GSA’s jurisdiction for compliance with any limitation on groundwater extractions included in the GSP, and to propose, collect, and enforce fees under the GSP.

GSAs are formed around the groundwater basins that are identified in the DWR Bulletin No. 118. Using those basins, DWR must prioritize each basin as either high, medium, low, or very low priority by January 31, 2015. The factors used to evaluate each basin’s priority are based on California Statewide Groundwater Elevation Monitoring (CASGEM) program and include, but are not limited to, population, the extent of public wells, the overlying irrigated acreage, reliance on groundwater, any documented impacts upon the basin from overdraft, subsidence, saline intrusion, and other water quality degradation. Where a basin is identified as either high or medium priority, it must be sustainably managed through a GSP. However, a basin, or a portion of a basin, that is subject to a groundwater adjudication or a basin that a local agency can demonstrate is being sustainably managed are not subject to the GSP requirement even if the basin is identified as high or medium priority.

In order to ensure that groundwater management proceeds quickly and smoothly, SB 1168 requires that DWR develop regulations regarding GSP components, coordination of multiple GSPs for a single basin, and alternative compliance other than a GSP where a basin demonstrates that is already sustainably managed by June 1, 2016. SB 1168 further provides that by January 31, 2020 high and medium priority basins that are subject to critical overdraft must adopt a GSP and submit it to DWR and by January 31, 2022 all other high and medium priority basins must adopt and submit a GSP to DWR. A GSP must encompass an entire basin or subbasin and be designed to achieve sustainable groundwater management within twenty (20) years from the adoption of the plan with a five (5) year progress reporting requirement. In addition, GSAs must annually report to DWR groundwater elevation data, aggregated extraction data, use or availability of surface water for recharge or in-lieu supplies, total water use, and change in groundwater storage.

AB 1739 and SB 1319

While SB 1168 focuses on the management of groundwater at a local level through GSAs, AB 1739 provides DWR and the SWRCB with powers to assist the GSAs with groundwater management. First, DWR is required to provide best management practices regarding sustainable management of groundwater basins by January 1, 2017. These best management practices will assist GSAs and other local agencies with developing GSPs.

DWR is also granted the power to assess an administrative fee on GSAs for the review of the GSPs. These funds are held in the Groundwater Sustainability Plan Administration Fund that supports DWR in receiving, evaluating, assessing, and making determinations about the adequacy of GSPs. Where a GSA through its GSP is not successfully managing a groundwater basin, the SWRCB has the power to designate a basin as probationary and establish an interim plan to manage the groundwater basin itself. SB 1319 delays the SWRCB from exercising this power until January 1, 2025 and requires that any portion of a basin in probationary status that is sustainably managed be excluded from SWRCB management. In addition, the SWRCB must include any element from the GSP that helps meet the goal of sustainable management in its probationary plan. The SWRCB is also granted the power to require individuals extracting groundwater outside of a GSP to report their use to the SWRCB.

AB 1739 also establishes groundwater management requirements for local planning activities. Prior to adopting or amending a general plan, a local planning agency must review and consider a GSP that is part of the planning area. In addition, the local planning agency must submit a general plan adoption or amendment to a GSA for review and the GSA must provide the local planning agency with information regarding the impact of that plan on the GSP. This ensures that groundwater sustainability is achieved through both the GSP and the area’s general plan.

The Future of Local Groundwater Management

SB 1168 and AB 1739 create a framework to sustainably manage groundwater in the state through cooperation between state and local agencies. The main tool to achieve the goal of statewide sustainable groundwater management is the GSP each GSA is responsible for creating and administering with guidance and assistance from DWR. The process of creating GSAs and GSPs will be an ongoing program for several years to come.

For more information on these bills or other matters related to groundwater management, please contact Barbara A. Brenner.