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The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 (SGMA) is a suite of bills (e.g. Senate Bills 1168 and 1319, and Assembly Bill 1739) passed by the California Legislature and signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown on September 16, 2014. The SGMA establishes a Statewide comprehensive groundwater management program with the overarching goal of achieving sustainable groundwater basins over the next 20 years.
The SGMA requires all high-priority and medium-priority groundwater basins, as designated by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), be managed by a Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA). A local public agency, or combination of local public agencies overlying a designated basin, may become a GSA if the agency(ies) has(ve) water supply, water management or land use responsibilities within a groundwater basin. A combination of local public agencies may form a GSA by way of a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA), a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or other legal agreement.
The SGMA sets deadlines for the formation of GSA's and the adoption of Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP's), which if not met, will allow for State intervention. By June 30, 2017, all high-priority or medium- priority subbasins are required to have a single GSA or multiple GSA's that cover the entire subbasin. All high-priority or medium-priority subbasins must adopt a single GSP or a coordinated set of GSP's by January 31, 2022. The SGMA requires coordination among GSA's both within and across delineated subbasin boundaries.
Within Contra Costa County there are three medium-priority subbasins. The Eastbay Plain Subbasin (west county), Livermore Valley Subbasin (southern central county) and the Tracy Subbasin (east county). At this time, the focus of this report is specifically on the Tracy Subbasin.
As depicted in the attached Draft GSA Maps, the County lies within the northwest portion of the Tracy Subbasin. The draft maps show cities, communities and water-related agencies in the portion of the Tracy Subbasin within Contra Costa County. Alameda and San Joaquin Counties overlie the eastern/southern portion of the Tracy Subbasin. Each County's overlying areas also include numerous local public agencies eligible to become a GSA within their jurisdictional boundaries.
The SGMA provides that if no local public agency becomes the GSA for a portion of the underlying basin, the County is then assumed to be the GSA by default. SGMA allows Counties to opt out, which then places the uncovered area into probationary status thus triggering intervention by the State Water Resources Control Board (State Water Board) to manage groundwater in the area not covered by a GSA. Additionally, the State Water Board may intervene and assume groundwater management responsibilities if:
•a GSA does not adopt a GSP by the statutory deadline,
•the State deems the adopted GSP to be inadequate, or
•a GSA is not implementing the adopted GSP as promised.
When the decision to establish a GSA is made by the local agency(ies) it must provide notice to DWR, the clearinghouse for GSA designation. The GSA designation process is prescribed in Chapter 4 of SGMA. The DWR may designate a GSA, provided a qualified petitioning agency has decided to become the GSA in accordance with statutory requirements and has also filed the necessary submittals to DWR. If no competing petitioner decides to become a GSA in the same area within 90 days after notice is posted, the DWR will presume the petitioning agency(ies) will be the GSA within the requested area.
Within the County, there are numerous overlapping jurisdictional boundaries among the local public agencies eligible to be a GSA. The SGMA provides that if a competing petitioner files for GSA designation within the 90-day noticing period, the DWR will deem both competing GSA requests to be incomplete requiring the submittals to be withdrawn and/or modified to eliminate any overlap. Once the DWR approves the designation of a GSA, the agency(ies) will be presumed to be the exclusive GSA within the area described in the approved submittals. A GSA may, at any time, withdraw its election to be a GSA, which would trigger the County to be the default GSA unless the County opts out of such designation.
The County is collaborating with several local agencies that are in the portion of the Tracy Subbasin within Contra Costa County. The agencies are Byron-Bethany Irrigation District, Cities of Antioch and Brentwood, Contra Costa Water District, Diablo Water District, East Contra Costa Irrigation District and the Town of Discovery Bay. The Committee should discuss becoming a member of a GSA with the aforementioned districts/agencies.
Upon formation of the GSA, SGMA requires that entity adopt a GSP that results in sustainable groundwater management which avoids the following undesirable results:
1. Chronic lowering of groundwater levels indicating a significant and unreasonable depletion of supply if continued over the planning and implementation horizon.*
2. Significant and unreasonable reduction of groundwater storage.
3. Significant and unreasonable seawater intrusion.
4. Significant and unreasonable degraded water quality, including the migration of contaminant plumes that impair water supplies.
5. Significant and unreasonable land subsidence that substantially interferes with surface land uses.
6. Depletions of interconnected surface water that have significant and unreasonable adverse impacts on beneficial uses of the surface water.
*Overdraft during a period of drought is not deemed sufficient to establish a chronic lowering of groundwater levels if extractions and groundwater recharge are managed as necessary to ensure that reductions in groundwater levels or storage during a period of drought are offset by increases in groundwater levels or storage during other periods.
Why the County should consider becoming a member of the East Contra Costa County GSA:
1. To cover all areas not currently covered by a local agency/district GSA;
2. To affirm the County's role set forth in the SGMA as the default GSA before State intervention;
3. To recognize existing County authorities which may be required to implement the SGMA, including powers unique to Counties that cannot be delegated (such as land use, police powers, and environmental protection); and
4. To continue to collaborate with local agencies, who have elected to or may elect to become GSA's to continue discussions regarding basin-wide coordination of GSA's and GSP's as required by the SGMA.
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