Background
On February 24, 2015, the Board adopted a resolution supporting the joint efforts of the Water Resources Association of Yolo County (WRA) and the Yolo County Farm Bureau (YCFB) to provide a planning forum for the creation of the Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) pursuant to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. (See Attachment A)
On September 16, 2014, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a three-bill legislative package, comprised of AB 1739 (Dickinson), SB 1168 (Pavley), and SB 1319 (Pavley), collectively known as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). The Governor's signing message states "a central feature of these bills is the recognition that groundwater management in California is best accomplished locally.
The WRA was actively engaged in the SGMA legislation and provided informational briefings for its member agencies and the general public throughout 2014 and 2015. As this the WRA and Farm Bureau have engaged members and the general public there have been conversations in many circles about issues related to groundwater management such as: the conversion of crops to orchards/vineyards, surface water transfers out of the County, and the development of new sources of water. These issues are complex, and involve numerous stakeholders such as the Yolo County Farm Bureau, the YCFCWCD, the County,
the cities, UC Davis, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, landowners, and businesses. It is critical that a
balance is achieved between the interests and viewpoints of this diverse group of stakeholders.
Why the WRA and Farm Bureau?
For over twenty years the Water Resources Association of Yolo County (WRA) has served a critical role in water resource planning in Yolo County, including serving as the lead agency in the development of the 2007 Yolo County Integrated Regional Water Management Plan, and as the region's representative on the Sacramento Westside Integrated Regional Water Management Plan.
WRA membership consists of 10 public agencies (the County of Yolo, the cities of Davis, West Sacramento, Winters and Woodland, Dunnigan Water District, Reclamation Districts 108 and 2035, University of California at Davis, and the Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District) representing both urban and rural interests.
The WRA and its member agencies have long been involved in groundwater management issues, including;
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Serving as the local agency for the State-wide CASGEM groundwater level monitoring program,
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Creation of a county-wide groundwater monitoring network including real-time sensors,
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Establishment and maintenance of a Water Resources Information Database (WRID),
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Development of a county-wide groundwater model (IGSM),
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Funding of a subsidence monitoring network, and
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Engagement at State, Regional and Local levels to advance proactive groundwater management activities and legislation.
The GSA will be required to develop a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) by January 31, 2020, and
will have certain responsibilities and authorities including;
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Defining an appropriate and acceptable definition of local groundwater sustainability and determining the need for groundwater management,
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Preparing and adopting a Groundwater Sustainability Plan along with implementing rules and
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regulations,
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Proposing and updating fees in order to implement the locally adopted Groundwater Sustainability Plan, and
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Monitoring compliance and enforcement of the Groundwater Sustainability Plan.
The WRA and the Yolo County Farm Bureau (YCFB) have been actively engaging stakeholder groups and conducting outreach to the urban, industrial, agricultural and rural water communities on the implementation of the SGMA and the creation of a GSA.
Basin Boundary Adjustment
On behalf of the WRA and YCFB, the YCFCWCD will submit, by March 31st, 2016, an application to the State Department of Water Resources to modify the groundwater subbasins within the County's geopolitical jurisdiction to form one (1) groundwater subbasin that is more contiguous with the County's boundary. (See Attachment B for maps)
The leadership of the WRA and Farm Bureau believes that the most functional and efficient basin boundary for the subbasins overlapping Yolo County would be to simply use the existing County geopolitical borders. The proposed modification would reduce the potential complexities associated with keeping the Bulletin 118-defined subbasins as is; effectively streamlining the processes involved in forming a Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) and developing a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) since only one basin would need to be considered. The proposed Yolo subbasin will promote sustainable groundwater management by building on the existing structure of the WRA and by improving efficiency between land use planning and water resource management in Yolo County.
Additionally, the Yolo subbasin provides the following advantages:
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Utilizes the existing WRA-based water resource planning governance structure, and builds on the existing local agency technical and programmatic relationships in Yolo County;
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Preserves the existing rights and authorities of the WRA’s member agencies, including land use authorities of the County and Cities;
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Ensures the interests of private well owners are considered;
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Serves as the California Statewide Groundwater Elevation Monitoring (CASGEM) Monitoring Entity;
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Incorporates the Yolo County Water Resources Information Database (WRID) monitoring network;
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Utilizes the Integrated Groundwater and Surface water Model (IGSM), Integrated Water Flow Model (IWFM), and Water Evaluation And Planning system (WEAP) surface and groundwater models; and
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Advances the subsidence monitoring network that has served Yolo County for the past 15 years.
The main disadvantage to this boundary model is that, without refinement, it could place some existing special districts into two different Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) planning zones, that would have otherwise been in only one subbasin. To address this, the District proposes to limit the amount of special districts that would be split under the proposed modification.
Adjustments have been made to accommodate various entities including several Reclamation District's (RD's) and the University of California, Davis.
Adopting the attached resolution (Attachment C) will memorialize the County's support for the WRA and the YCFB to continue their joint planning effort.
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