In a move that activists hope could shift how water regulators statewide manage dwindling groundwater basins, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors this week banned the drilling of all new wells for six months countywide while they draft a set of longer-lasting rules on using groundwater. … California’s dearth of regulations on groundwater use creates a jarring regulatory dissonance when coupled with the tight, and often contentious, rules on using surface water. In August, state officials adopted emergency restrictions on diverting water from the Russian River … [A]llocations of water from the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers were stiffly curtailed this summer. Environmental advocates think groundwater resources should be treated with similar rigor.

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• California Department of Water Resources: Blog: DWR’s groundwater program key to long-term water resilience