2012 NGWA Ground Water Summit: Innovate and Integrate

California's Central Valley aquifer system provides one-fifth of the nation's groundwater supply to 4 million people and to one of the world’s most diverse and productive irrigated agricultural regions. Emerging groundwater issues include natural occurrence of uranium, arsenic, and chromium; management and regulation of diffuse pollution from agricultural and other sources; broadening of conjunctive use and groundwater banking opportunities; reemergence of land subsidence; and improved aquifer characterization. Effective management of this large aquifer system in the context of California's water landscape is challenging given the range of regulatory and management agencies at the local, regional, state, and federal level—often divided by geographic interest, stakeholder interests, and with strong institutional separation between water quality control and water resources management, as well as separate legal frameworks for surface water and groundwater. This session highlights these issues and provides a forum to discuss lessons learned for and from a national perspective.