The Measure
The State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) reports to the Delta Stewardship Council (Council) on proposed actions to address groundwater basins in critical overdraft.
Measure Details
The 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) addresses chronic groundwater overdraft in California. SGMA mandates that Groundwater Sustainability Plans are adopted by local Groundwater Sustainability Agencies in 2020 for groundwater basins identified as basins of critical overdraft, and in 2022 for basins of medium or high priority. Implementation progress by responsible agencies under SGMA is tracked in the Sustainable Groundwater performance measure. Reporting actions to address critical groundwater basins as this performance measure defines it is complete.
Before the passage of SGMA in 2014, the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) presented to the Delta Stewardship Council on actions addressing groundwater basins in critical overdraft.
Delta Plan Strategy
Improve Groundwater Management
Delta Plan Recommendation
WR R11. Recover and Manage Critically Overdrafted Groundwater Basins. Local and regional agencies in groundwater basins that have been identified by the California Department of Water Resources as being in a critical condition of overdraft should develop and implement a sustainable groundwater management plan, consistent with both the required and recommended components of local groundwater management plans identified by the California Department of Water Resources Bulletin 118 (Update 2003), by December 31, 2014. If local or regional agencies fail to develop and implement these plans, the State Water Resources Control Board should take action to determine if the continued overuse of a groundwater basin constitutes a violation of the State’s Constitution Article X, Section 2, prohibition on unreasonable use of water and whether a groundwater adjudication is necessary to prevent the destruction of or irreparable injury to the quality of the groundwater, consistent with Water Code sections 2100 and 2101.
Related Output/Outcome Performance Measure
PM 3.8 Sustainable Groundwater