DATE: May 1, 2018
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Steven E. White, Director
Department of Public Works and Planning
SUBJECT: Proposed Modification to Fresno County Sustainable Groundwater Management Act Working Group Membership
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Consider and approve proposed modification to the Fresno County Sustainable Groundwater Management Act Working Group membership.
REPORT
Approval of the recommended action would modify the membership of the Fresno County Sustainable Groundwater Management Act Working Group (SGMA Working Group) to reflect Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) representatives located within Fresno County. This item comes to your Board with a recommendation for approval by the SGMA Working Group. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
Your Board may determine not to approve the recommend action in which case the SGMA Working Group’s membership would remain unchanged.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no additional Net County Cost associated with the recommended action. Sufficient appropriations to fund staff activities associated with the SGMA Working Group are included in the Public Works and Planning, Org 43600200, FY 2017-2018 budget.
DISCUSSION:
On March 10, 2015, the Fresno County Board of Supervisors approved formation of the SGMA Working Group. On March 24, 2015, the Board of Supervisors approved the SGMA Working Group membership as follows:
|
Fresno County |
Consolidated Irrigation District |
|
Fresno County |
Alta Irrigation District |
|
Kings County |
Westlands Water District |
|
Tulare County |
Central California Irrigation District |
|
Merced County |
Panoche Water District |
|
Madera County |
Raisin City Water District |
|
City of Fresno |
Riverdale Public Utilities District |
|
City of Clovis |
Biola Community Services District |
|
City of Reedley |
Mendota Pool Group |
|
Kings River Conservation District |
Fresno Local Agency Formation Commission |
|
Fresno Irrigation District |
|
The SGMA Working Group was formed with the intent of utilizing the group’s expertise to advise regarding items related to SGMA, to provide a forum to discuss and decipher the requirements of SGMA, and to foster the collaboration necessary for successful implementation of SGMA. The group has met 11 times since formation and has made several recommendations to the Board of Supervisors, including approval of Memorandums of Understanding (Kings Subbasin as a whole, East Kings Subbasin, and Lower Kings Subbasin), each with the fundamental purpose of facilitating a cooperative and ongoing working relationship between the parties.
By way of background, under the current Department of Water Resources (DWR) Bulletin 118, the County overlies four groundwater Subbasins of the Tulare Lake and San Joaquin River Hydrologic Regions. Three of the four Subbasins are identified by the Final California Statewide Groundwater Elevation Monitoring (CASGEM) Basin Prioritization report of June 2014, as high priority basins subject to a critical condition of overdraft: Kings, Westside, and Delta Mendota. Although the fourth basin, Pleasant Valley, is identified as a low priority basin, the Pleasant Valley Water District filed as the GSA for the subbasin and will be preparing a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP).
Since the formation of the SGMA Working Group, GSAs have been formed covering all four subbasins within Fresno County as follows:
|
Kings Subbasin |
Westside Subbasin |
Delta Mendota Subbasin |
|
Pleasant Valley Subbasin |
|
North Kings |
Westlands Water District |
Fresno County “A” and “B” |
|
Pleasant Valley Water District |
|
Central Kings |
Fresno County |
Oro Loma Water District |
|
|
|
Kings River East |
|
City of Firebaugh |
|
|
|
James Irrigation District |
|
City of Mendota |
|
|
|
McMullin Area |
|
Widren Water District |
|
|
|
North Fork Kings |
|
Farmers Water District |
|
|
|
South Kings |
|
Central Delta Mendota Regional Multi-Agency |
|
|
|
|
|
San Joaquin River Exchange Contractors Water Authority |
|
|
Since all the required GSAs have now been formed and preparation of the required GSPs are underway, staff is recommending that membership of the Working Group be modified to reflect GSA representatives. As the SGMA Working Group moves forward, one key component of SGMA implementation that will need to be addressed is inter-basin coordination. This SGMA Working Group could provide a forum to discuss and address inter-basin issues including coordination agreements and/or inter-basin GSP review. Staff believes that would be a logical evolution of the SGMA Working Group as it continues to be move forward with SGMA implementation.
On March 1, 2018, the SGMA Working Group voted unanimously to recommend to your Board approval of the proposed modification to the SGMA Working Group membership.
REFERENCE MATERIAL:
BAI #10 March 24, 2015
BAI #8, March 10, 2015
CAO ANALYST:
Sonia M. De La Rosa