A member of the State Water Resources Control Board told Farm Bureau leaders last week that groundwater management is crucial and California needs to move on developing regulations and management strategies. DeeDee D’Adamo spoke to the California Farm Bureau Federation Leaders Conference in Sacramento, noting that water tables throughout the state are dropping rapidly as the drought deepens.
She said surface water supplies have been cut and acres planted to permanent crops have increased. But the availability of groundwater is at risk, she said, as water tables drop and land subsides.
D’Adamo said the state water board will hold workshops on the Governor’s Water Action Plan March 24 and April 16 in Sacramento.
The plan describes groundwater as a critical buffer to the impacts of prolonged dry periods and climate change on California’s water system. It calls for government cooperation to ensure local and regional agencies have incentives, tools, authority and guidance to develop and enforce local and regional groundwater management plans.
The statewide water plan also calls for supporting distributed groundwater storage and increased groundwater recharge. It says the administration will work with the Legislature to discourage actions that cause groundwater basin overdraft and provide incentives that increase recharge.
The plan also calls for accelerating groundwater cleanup and establishing protections for the resource in the future. The water board will continue to address groundwater problems through its water quality permitting authority, the plan says.
D’Adamo said she favors the coalition approach to groundwater monitoring, such as the approach used in the Irrigated Lands Regulatory Program, a cooperative water quality monitoring program.
She outlined five components to successful groundwater management:
- Establishing thresholds.
- Monitoring water quality and water levels.
- Creating governance structures.
- Funding to support monitoring, management and control actions.
- Maintaining oversight and enforcement.
D’Adamo said the water board will use "carrots" to achieve improvements to groundwater through support of local and regional groundwater actions, and "sticks" where the state could step in when local action isn’t working.
(Kate Campbell is an assistant editor of Ag Alert. She may be contacted at kcampbell@cfbf.com.)