More than 122,500 acres of San Luis Obispo County land could
open to oil and gas leasing if the Bureau of Land Management
revives a management plan developed during President Donald
Trump’s first term. On June 23, the bureau published a notice
in the Federal Registrar announcing plans to prepare a
supplemental environmental impact statement and a resource
management plan that would evaluate the impact of allowing oil
and gas leasing on land and mineral estate managed by its
Bakersfield Field Office. … In 2019, the bureau
published a new supplemental environmental impact statement for
the project. The Center for Biological Diversity and Los Padres
ForestWatch sued again, arguing that the bureau still failed to
address the impact of fracking on air and water
quality and the health of nearby communities. The
State of California filed a related lawsuit against the plan in
2020. … [T]he bureau is developing a supplemental
environmental impact statement to yet again review the impact
of expanded oil and gas production.
On Wednesday, July 9, 2025, Paso Robles Area Groundwater
Authority (PRAGA) held an open house to discuss the possibility
of implementing a new fee for commercial groundwater users.
This added charge will be used to fund the county’s Groundwater
Sustainability Plan in the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin area.
The meeting was held to inform the public of the upcoming
changes while also encouraging questions from them ahead of the
formal hearing scheduled on August 1. … The agency says
the fee will help fund the implementation of the Groundwater
Sustainability Plan, a requirement under California’s
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). The collected
revenue will contribute to the management of the basin to
achieve long-term water balance in the region. As per a press
release, this fee will not be applicable to domestic well
owners who use less than two acre-feet of water per year.
San Lucas residents, who have been without clean drinking water
for nearly 14 years, may soon see a resolution as local leaders
approve a plan to bring affordable water to the community. In
the small, rural town of San Lucas, with a population of a
little over 400 people, residents struggle with a basic
essential: water. They have lived without proper drinking
water for over a decade, with the cost of clean drinking water
being their biggest obstacle. Now, county leaders, along with
the San Lucas Water District, have a solution. ”We were
able to bring in a partner, CalWater, to be able to be that
water provider, and in doing so the average monthly bill in the
community is expected to be around 90 dollars. But the benefit
beyond that is anybody who is low-income, which we know 90% of
that community is, will only pay about 60% of that bill, so
they are going to average around 50 to 60 dollars a month. As a
water bill, that is doable,” said Monterey County Supervisor
Chris Lopez.
… Having reported on water on the Monterey Peninsula for the
better part of the last decade, it’s remarkable to reflect on
what has transpired in that time: A political movement for
public water, a political movement to stop Cal Am’s
desal project in Marina, an innovative
recycled water project and its expansion, and
a conditional approval for Cal Am’s desal project, which is
still being litigated on multiple fronts. … How much
supply there is, and how much demand there will be by 2050, are
among the things still being debated regarding Cal Am’s desal
project (per a condition of approval from the California
Coastal Commission). It was finally scheduled to be voted upon
by the California Public Utilities Commission at a meeting in
Sacramento tomorrow, June 12. Late yesterday, Commissioner
Darcie Houck, who’s presiding over the proceeding, pulled it
from tomorrow’s meeting and rescheduled it for June
26. … The whole purpose behind these efforts has
been to lift the state’s cease-and-desist order that prohibits
Cal Am from setting new water meters. But it’s the State Water
Control Board that decides that. –Written by Monterey County Now columnist David
Schmalz.
A pilot program in the Salinas Valley run remotely out of Los Angeles is offering a test case for how California could provide clean drinking water for isolated rural communities plagued by contaminated groundwater that lack the financial means or expertise to connect to a larger water system.
Innovative efforts to accelerate
restoration of headwater forests and to improve a river for the
benefit of both farmers and fish. Hard-earned lessons for water
agencies from a string of devastating California wildfires.
Efforts to drought-proof a chronically water-short region of
California. And a broad debate surrounding how best to address
persistent challenges facing the Colorado River.
These were among the issues Western Water explored in
2019, and are still worth taking a look at in case you missed
them.
To survive the next drought and meet
the looming demands of the state’s groundwater sustainability
law, California is going to have to put more water back in the
ground. But as other Western states have found, recharging
overpumped aquifers is no easy task.
Successfully recharging aquifers could bring multiple benefits
for farms and wildlife and help restore the vital interconnection
between groundwater and rivers or streams. As local areas around
California draft their groundwater sustainability plans, though,
landowners in the hardest hit regions of the state know they will
have to reduce pumping to address the chronic overdraft in which
millions of acre-feet more are withdrawn than are naturally
recharged.
The southern part of California’s Central Coast from San Luis Obispo County to Ventura County, home to about 1.5 million people, is blessed with a pleasing Mediterranean climate and a picturesque terrain. Yet while its unique geography abounds in beauty, the area perpetually struggles with drought.
Indeed, while the rest of California breathed a sigh of relief with the return of wet weather after the severe drought of 2012–2016, places such as Santa Barbara still grappled with dry conditions.
New to this year’s slate of water
tours, our Edge of
Drought Tour Aug. 27-29 will venture into the Santa
Barbara area to learn about the challenges of limited local
surface and groundwater supplies and the solutions being
implemented to address them.
Despite Santa Barbara County’s decision to lift a drought
emergency declaration after this winter’s storms replenished
local reservoirs, the region’s hydrologic recovery often has
lagged behind much of the rest of the state.
This 2-day, 1-night tour offered participants the opportunity to
learn about water issues affecting California’s scenic Central
Coast and efforts to solve some of the challenges of a region
struggling to be sustainable with limited local supplies that
have potential applications statewide.
There’s going to be a new governor
in California next year – and a host of challenges both old and
new involving the state’s most vital natural resource, water.
So what should be the next governor’s water priorities?
That was one of the questions put to more than 150 participants
during a wrap-up session at the end of the Water Education
Foundation’s Sept. 20 Water Summit in Sacramento.
Spurred by drought and a major
policy shift, groundwater management has assumed an unprecedented
mantle of importance in California. Local agencies in the
hardest-hit areas of groundwater depletion are drawing plans to
halt overdraft and bring stressed aquifers to the road of
recovery.
Along the way, an army of experts has been enlisted to help
characterize the extent of the problem and how the Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act of 2014 is implemented in a manner
that reflects its original intent.
ARkStorm stands for an atmospheric
river (“AR”) that carries precipitation levels expected to occur
once every 1,000 years (“k”). The concept was presented in a 2011
report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) intended to elevate
the visibility of the very real threats to human life, property
and ecosystems posed by extreme storms on the West Coast.
Mired in drought, expectations are high that new storage funded
by Prop. 1 will be constructed to help California weather the
adverse conditions and keep water flowing to homes and farms.
At the same time, there are some dams in the state eyed for
removal because they are obsolete – choked by accumulated
sediment, seismically vulnerable and out of compliance with
federal regulations that require environmental balance.
A new era of groundwater management
began in 2014 with the passage of the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA), which aims for local and regional agencies
to develop and implement sustainable groundwater management
plans with the state as the backstop.
SGMA defines “sustainable groundwater management” as the
“management and use of groundwater in a manner that can be
maintained during the planning and implementation horizon without
causing undesirable results.”
This handbook provides crucial
background information on the Sustainable Groundwater Management
Act, signed into law in 2014 by Gov. Jerry Brown. The handbook
also includes a section on options for new governance.
