DATE: May 14, 2019
TO: Board of Supervisors
SUBMITTED BY: Steven E. White, Director
Department of Public Works and Planning
SUBJECT: Presentation Regarding Implementation of Sustainable Groundwater Management Act within Fresno County
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
TITLE
Receive presentation by the Department of Public Works and Planning regarding the status of implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act within Fresno County.
REPORT
The presentation will provide a status update regarding implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) within the four subbasins that underlie Fresno County. This item is countywide.
ALTERNATIVE ACTION(S):
There is no alternative action as this is a presentation requiring no action from your Board.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no Net County Cost associated with the recommended action.
DISCUSSION:
SGMA, signed into law in September of 2014, established for the first time in California history, a framework for managing California's groundwater resources at the local level by local agencies. SGMA allows local public agencies to form Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) in the State's higher priority and critically over drafted groundwater basins. Local public agencies that qualify to form GSAs are defined by SGMA as those agencies with water supply, water management, or land use responsibilities within the groundwater basin. Per SGMA land that is located within a groundwater basin subject to SGMA that is outside of the service area of a local public agency is considered "unmanaged areas" whereby which the County is presumed to be the GSA. The County may undertake that management by service as a separate GSA, or by joining with other agencies to form a GSA. Each GSA is required to develop and implement a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) to meet the sustainability goal of the basin to ensure operation within its sustainable yield, without causing undesirable results identified by SGMA, by ...
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