Lay of the Land
The California Water Commission recently approved new emergency regulations for Groundwater Sustainability Plans (“GSPs”). In addition to substantially affecting groundwater management practices and procedures under California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (“SGMA”), the new regulations are also likely to have a significant economic impact on current businesses and industries, as well as on future development projects.
The new emergency regulations will affect groundwater basins throughout California. SGMA provides a comprehensive approach to the sustainable management of groundwater basins through the development and implementation of GSPs or alternatives to GSPs. The Department of Water Resources has designated 127 groundwater basins as high or medium priority, accounting for approximately 96 percent of groundwater use in California. Although only high- and medium-priority basins are subject to SGMA, agencies overseeing the remaining basins, designated as low or very low priority, are encouraged and authorized to develop GSPs, update existing groundwater management plans, or coordinate with other agencies to develop new groundwater management plans.
The new regulations establish requirements for the development and maintenance of GSPs, such as specific monitoring protocols and standards for data and reporting, including the requirement to develop and maintain a data management system for storage and reporting of relevant information. The regulations outline procedures for submitting, withdrawing, and amending GSPs; notice and public comment requirements; annual reporting requirements to the Department of Water Resources; and initial and ongoing evaluation and assessment of GSPs by the Department. The regulations also authorize two types of interagency agreements: “interbasin agreements,” which allow two or more agencies to establish compatible sustainability goals, and “coordination agreements,” which allow two or more agencies to develop and implement multiple GSPs that utilize the same data and methodologies. Continue reading