April UPDATE:
Zone 7 submitted the 5-year periodic evaluation (update) for the Livermore Valley Basin Alternative GSP to DWR. DWR posted the document for a 75-day formal public comment period. The comment period was closed on March 23, and no comments were received regarding Zone 7’s 2021 Alternative GSP.
Cool News
DWR (California Dept. of Water Resources) has scheduled the airborne electromagnetic (AEM) survey for the Livermore Valley groundwater basin in April. DWR will be sending a notification letter to parcel owners in a defined buffer zone beneath the flight path and provide a press release to local media approximately 7 days prior to the survey starting. In addition, DWR will announce the surveys on their social media accounts the day before the surveys start. This AEM survey will enhance Zone 7’s understanding of local hydrogeology and groundwater resources as well as the sustainable groundwater management. These surveys are funded through Proposition 68, and there is no additional cost to Zone 7.
https://water.ca.gov/Programs/Groundwater-Management/Data-and-Tools/AEM
What is SGMA?
The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) requires local agencies throughout California to sustainably manage groundwater basins. Basins ranked as medium- or high-priority are required to develop groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs) or submit an alternative to a GSP by the applicable statutory deadline. Alternatives should demonstrate how water managers have already achieved or will achieve sustainable groundwater management.
An alternative, per Water Code Section 10733.6 (b), may be any of the following:
- An existing groundwater management plan.
- Groundwater management pursuant to an adjudication.
- An analysis of basin conditions that demonstrates that the basin has operated within its sustainable yield over a period of at least 10 years.
Zone 7 qualified early on in the process as a GSA due to a long history of managing our groundwater basin (We have a lot of data nerds on staff!)
https://water.ca.gov/Programs/Groundwater-Management/SGMA-Groundwater-Management/Alternatives