Developing a Programmatic Approach to Integrated Groundwater Resources Management

California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (or SGMA) establishes a new structure for the local management of groundwater to ensure long-term sustainability. SGMA requires preparation of Groundwater Sustainability Plans (or GSPs) by Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (or GSAS), which include a definition of basin sustainability and a plan to achieve the desired sustainability goals. GSPs are required to address six ‘undesirable results’ including the long-term stability of groundwater levels, protecting and improving groundwater quality, protecting groundwater-dependent ecosystems and minimizing inelastic land subsidence. Successful programs will require the integrated management of all types of water supplies in addition to a larger programmatic approach to ensuring that significant undesirable results do not occur while minimizing impacts to urban and agricultural land use. At the time this conference occurs, GSPs due in January of 2020 will have been drafted and those due in January of 2022 underway. This presentation will summarize the means and methods developed under SGMA for integrated groundwater basin management and will provide an assessment as to the Plans’ complexity and implementation that will be required to meet the State’s objective of long-term sustainable groundwater basins.