1. SGMA for All Ensuring Equal Access to Clean, Affordable Groundwater
Jennifer Clary
Water Program Manager
February 2, 2019

2. ROUND 1
ABOUT CLEAN WATER ACTION

3. Clean Water Action: Who we Are
Non-profit national citizen’s organization
Working to protect our environment and public health since 1974
Mission: to empower individuals and communities to create change
Protect and restore the nation’s waters

4. Human Right to Water
“It is hereby declared to be the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes….”

5. NGO Groundwater Collaborative
Local, regional and state environmental groups
Environmental Justice organizations
Good Government organizations
Tribes
Small farmers
Academia
Community groups

6. SGMA and the link to Safe and Affordable Drinking Water
Round 2
SGMA and the link to Safe and Affordable Drinking Water

7. Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) 2014
Requires high and medium priority groundwater agencies to be sustainably managed
Emphasizes local control of groundwater
Identifies 6 impacts that must be monitored and addressed
Promotes strong public engagement
Requires basins to be in balance within 20 years of plan completion

8. CWA SGMA Priorities
Ensure that all impacted uses and users are represented in decision-making and implementation
Set measurable objectives that achieve sustainability as soon as possible
Mitigate impacts on disadvantaged communities
Employ sound science and transparent data
JENNIFER

9. Good Plan requirements
Identify wellhead protection areas and recharge areas.
Map migration of contaminated groundwater.
Include a well abandonment and destruction program.
Adopt well construction policies.
Adopt measures addressing groundwater contamination cleanup

10. SGMA challenges: What’s “undesirable” and who decides?
Significant and unreasonable….
Lowering of groundwater levels
Reduction of groundwater storage
Seawater intrusion
Degraded water quality
Land subsidence
Surface water depletions
…so that leads to the key piece of SGMA = groundwater management is determined by the need to avoid undesirable results, but those results have to be determined to be “Significant and unreasonable” it’s not a specific number, it’s a local decision. So looking at nitrate, you can see how a public water system, an ag district and a small water system may have a different view of what is significant and unreasonable

11. Water Quality
Develop water quality triggers that require action before water quality standards are exceeded
Identify unique water quality concerns for shallow groundwater
Identify water quality impacts of GSP actions, such as
Changes in groundwater chemistry that can increase concentration of naturally occurring contaminants
Contaminants transported from vadose zone to groundwater

12. Suggested Water Quality Objectives
Thresholds
Primary and Secondary Drinking Water Standards
Basin plan Objectives
Triggers
Trends
Most sensitive use
Need for treatment

13. Additional trigger – Trends

14. Nitrate, Well Depth, and Land Use USGS domestic well study 2006
Urban
Agriculture
Forest
Grass/shrub/rock
Use this as a foil to show depth differences
Say here that we have info for public supply wells across all the state
we only have information for shallow wells for parts of the state
Derived from GAMA PBP,
GAMA DWP & USGS NWIS data

15. Change in San Joaquin Valley Groundwater levels 2013-2014
Department of Water Resources

16. What does a 20-year path to compliance look like?
Groundwater – source for cities and for farmers when surface supplies fail
Change in water availability, drought and move to permanent high-value crops has stressed groundwater supplies

17. SGMA Requirements: Stakeholder Engagement
The groundwater sustainability agency shall consider the interests of all beneficial uses and users of groundwater
“A list of interested parties [shall be] developed [along with] an explanation of how their interests will be considered”
“The groundwater sustainability agency shall make available to the public and the department a written statement describing the manner in which interested parties may participate in the development and implementation of the groundwater sustainability plan”
“Any federally recognized Indian tribe… may voluntarily agree to participate in the preparation or administration of a groundwater sustainability plan or groundwater management plan … A participating tribe shall be eligible to participate fully in planning, financing, and management under this part”
However, over and above that, the Act requires specific, targeted outreach to parties that will or may be affected by groundwater management activities. This is not the same as a public meeting – this is targeted and specific contact and outreach

18. SGMA Public Participation Requirements:
The groundwater sustainability agency shall encourage the active involvement of diverse social, cultural, and economic elements of the population within the groundwater basin”
Public hearing requirements at multiple junctures – GSA formation, plan adoption or amendment, establishment of fees
SGMA, recognizing how widespread the use and impacts of groundwater might be, provided some requirements for public and stakeholder engagement. I think most of local government representatives on the phone will be pretty familiar with this requirement…

19. SGMA Challenges: How will DWR defend statute?
Stakeholder engagement is often lacking
Transparency takes a back seat to expediency
20-year implementation time-frame creates disproportionate impacts to shallow groundwater users
Data limitations not addressed
Water quality is given short shrift

20. Thank you! For more information, contact: Jennifer Clary
Water Program Manager
Clean Water Action/Clean Water Fund
350 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Suite 200
Oakland, CA 94612
Tel. (415) x344
Our report can be found on the websites of any of our 3 organizations, or you can send me an and I’ll send you a link or a pdf.
Thank you!1