For decades, drilling a well in the Salinas Valley and its outlying rural communities has required only one bureaucratic step – applying to the county’s Environmental Health Bureau for a ministerial permit and paying a one-time fee. But with the advent of the Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency (SVBGSA) in 2017, that paradigm was no longer sustainable. In the years since forming following California’s 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, SVBGSA has been collecting data and creating reports to send to the state Department of Water Resources to show proof the region is on track to meet SGMA’s requirements to achieve groundwater sustainability by 2040. If the Department of Water Resources doesn’t think a GSA is effectively doing that, it is empowered to step in and take over the process, which is the worst-case scenario for stakeholders who want to retain local control over managing their groundwater.

Other groundwater news:

• KSBW (Salinas, Calif.): Monterey County agencies unite to protect Salinas Valley groundwater
• SJV Water: Appellate court readies for next step on injunction that paused state groundwater sanctions in Kings County
• Arizona Daily Star (Tucson): Arizona’s governor blasts Republicans on rural groundwater bills