New Groundwater Regulations Taking Shape in California

Tim Hearden reports on the "first milestone in carrying out groundwater regulations passed by lawmakers last year." Those new regulations are the result of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, "a package of bills passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last fall."

The milestone of concern a year after the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act was signed: the creation of a mechanism "to resolve discrepancies over the boundaries of basins that will be affected by the new rules." The need for such a mechanism implies just how much work is left to be done in settling the new groundwater regime in this drought-stricken state. Identifying basins and sub-basins was one of the major provisions of the bill.

Hearden also offers more details about the package of bills, including a requirement for "local groundwater management agencies to be set up by 2017, sustainability plans for overdrafted basins to be in place by 2020, plans for other high- and medium-priority basins to be established by 2022 and sustainability in all high- and medium-priority basins to be achieved by 2040…"