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Regular-Affiliated Agencies # 22.
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| Board of Supervisors |
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| Subject |
| Receive a presentation on implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act in Yolo County. (No general fund impact) (Blacklock/Sabatini) |
| Recommended Action |
| Receive a presentation from Tim O'Halloran, General Manger of the Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District (District), Secretary to the Board for the Water Resources Association (WRA) of Yolo County and Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) Coordinator for the WRA, and Elisa Sabatini, Manager of Natural Resources for the County, Chair of the WRA Technical Committee, and voting member of the Westside Sacramento Integrated Water Management Plan Coordinating Committee (Westside IRWM). |
| Strategic Plan Goal(s) |
Operational Excellence
Thriving Residents
Sustainable Environment
Flourishing Agriculture |
| Reason for Recommended Action/Background |
Background
The legislative intent of the September 16, 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) is for groundwater to be managed sustainably in California’s groundwater basins by local public agencies and newly formed Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs). For the first time in California history, the SGMA empowers local agencies to adopt groundwater management plans that are tailored to the resources and needs of their communities. Good groundwater management will provide a buffer against drought and climate change, and contribute to reliable water supplies regardless of weather patterns. California depends on groundwater for a major portion of its annual water supply and sustainable groundwater management is essential to a reliable and resilient water system.
On February 24, 2015, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors endorsed the Water Resources Association of Yolo County as the lead agency for the development and formation of the Yolo County GSA (see Attachment A). On October 18, 2016, the Department of Water Resources approved the consolidation of four groundwater sub-basins into a single sub-basin within the existing Yolo County boundaries for the purposes of developing a single GSA. This sub-basin is called the Yolo Sub-basin. This greatly simplified the management of the 790 square-mile sub-basin and the 23 eligible agencies currently existing within the sub-basin boundaries. The Yolo Sub-basin is considered to be a "High Priority" basin by the Department of Water Resources, and as such, is required to develop and implement a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) and manage all aspects of the SGMA.
There are four steps, or phases, to developing and implementing the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act:
- Formation of a Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) - Involves realignment of basins and establishment of basin governance through formation of GSA’s. Must be complete by June 30, 2017.
- Develop a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) for the GSA Basin - Involves the development and adoption of a GSP by the GSA within the statutory 5-year milestone date. Must be complete by June 30, 2022.
- Review and evaluation of the GSP by the Department of Water Resources (DWR). The DWR staff will review and evaluate the GSP to determine adequacy.
- Implement the GSP and provide required reports over 20 years with Annual and 5-year updates. This is a locally-driven activity that provides annual reports and a GSP assessment every 5 years to the DWR.
Since May of 2014, there have been over 145 Yolo County GSA/SGMA public outreach and educational activities that have included multiple private and public venues across the Sub-Basin. (See Attachment B.) Over 50 of these events have been held in Woodland including several presentations to the Water Resources Association of Yolo County (WRA).
Discussion
This presentation is intended to provide the Board of Supervisors with background information on the SGMA and provide an update with respect to the ongoing efforts to introduce and establish a Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) for the now-approved consolidated Yolo Sub-basin. It should be noted that all the documents, charts and outlines in the presentation are only drafts at this time. They are intended for discussion and use in forming a positional interpretation. These drafts have been developed over several years of public and professional input and have a broad spectrum of participation in their current form.
SGMA lays out a regulatory process and timeline for local agencies to comply with specified sustainability goals. This presentation will give the immediate and long-term milestones for achieving both a GSA and the GSP. A glossary of groundwater related terms is provided as Attachment C.
One of the first requirements a SGMA management entity will need to satisfy is to form a Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA). SGMA defines a GSA as one or more local agencies that implement SGMA’s provisions. A local agency is defined as any local public agency that has water supply, water management or land use responsibilities within a groundwater basin. Any local agency or combination of local agencies overlying a groundwater basin can elect to be a GSA.
Once formed, one of a GSA’s primary responsibilities is to develop and implement a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) for their basin or portion of the basin they are managing. A GSP is a plan developed and implemented by a GSA that is developed and adopted pursuant to SGMA’s requirements.
The current task of the WRA is the formation of a GSA through the development of a Joint Powers Agency (JPA) agreement between all eligible entities within the Sub-Basin. The real driver behind this process is the regulatory timeline that requires completion of the Agency formation by June 30, 2017. Failure to accomplish this task prior to July 2017 would result in the State Water Resources Control Board initiating probationary status for the Sub-Basin; which could then lead to the State assuming responsibility for the Sub-Basin in the future. This would signify the loss of local control of the groundwater resource.
While the formal formation of a GSA is accomplished by the eligible entities throughout the basin, it must also include input from other key stakeholders within the basin. Such stakeholders include individual landowners (agricultural and domestic) that have private wells, environmental users of groundwater, tribes, private water companies and disadvantaged communities.
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are not eligible to be on the actual governance board of a GSA or become a GSA, but it is important to engage them since they are affected by the governance decisions and future management of the basin. And while these NGO’s may not be able to form their own GSA, they may be able to vote on the Board through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), delegation of voting rights, or other legal arrangements made with one or more of the eligible entities. The WRA has teamed with the Yolo County Farm Bureau since 2015 to provide outreach and education on the SGMA throughout the County.
To date, all public discussions and eligible entity meetings have been open to key stakeholders. In addition, there have been several open and advertised public meetings held to help inform and educate the general public on this process. Two additional meetings are planned this month: February 8 (6:00 p.m., Yolo County Fairgrounds, Waite Hall) and February 22 (3:00 p.m., Winters Community Center).
The Water Resources Association of Yolo County (WRA) has been using its over 20 years of water forum experience to lead and guide the formation of an active and representative GSA, the Yolo Sub-Basin is already months ahead of other basins that are struggling through this governance formation phase. It should be noted that we must first agree to the formation of a GSA by June 30 of this year and then we have 5 years to work out a plan of how the GSA will function.
This presentation is intended to give an overview of the process going forward with a draft agreement coming back to the Board for review in the near future. For now, governance will closely follow the historically successful WRA framework. However, the formation agreement will have several stipulations requiring further clarification on significant portions of the agreement within the next year to be voted on by the GSA Board (of which the County will be a member). Voting rights and a fee structure are examples of the types of issues that will require stipulations for further exploration and decisions over the next year.
Staff supports forming a GSA with a basic governance structure similar to the WRA and plans to bring a DRAFT JPA document back to Board in the next two months, with the goal of formally establishing the Yolo Sub-Basin GSA prior to the June 30, 2017 deadline. The basic governance structure proposed by the WRA and the Farm Bureau is provided as Attachment D and will be discussed at length in staff's presentation.
Included in JPA formation document will likely be several stipulations that will require some elements of the GSA/JPA governance document be reopened for detailed clarification and resolution during the first 6 months of the 5-year planning stage.
Staff recommends that the Board receive this presentation on current formation of the Yolo Sub-Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency and gives staff feedback and direction as needed. |
| Collaborations (including Board advisory groups and external partner agencies) |
| County staff, through the WRA forum, has collaborated with over 22 local agencies, the Yolo County Farm Bureau, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, the State Department of Water Resources, Colusa, Sacramento, and Solano Counties, the Solano County Water Agency and hundreds of landowners and growers. |
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| Fiscal Impact |
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| Source of Funds for this Expenditure |
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Explanation (Expenditure and/or Revenue) |
| Further explanation as needed: |
| Staff is not requesting any funding at this time. The fiscal impact is estimated. The County currently expends $33,000 per year on WRA dues and groundwater monitoring fees ($25,000 general fund and $8,000 from gravel mining fees revenue). It is anticipated that the County's contribution for funding the first two years of SGMA implementation will not exceed $40,000 per year. After the first two years it is expected that the Yolo Groundwater Sustainability Agency will collect fees through an independent Prop 218 process. |
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