In 2014, California established a framework to begin groundwater management as part of an effort to curb widespread overpumping that has caused aquifer levels to plummet, dried up hundreds of wells and caused land subsidence in parts of the Central Valley.
The law is based on the idea that groundwater is best managed at the local level and calls on newly established local agencies to phase in measures to address chronically declining groundwater levels. The law sets out an implementation schedule over 25 years, requiring many regions to address their depletion issues by 2040.
Currently, experts and state officials say implementation of the Groundwater Level Increase Prevention Act (SGMA) is going mostly as expected. California has made some preliminary progress toward protecting its groundwater, but the toughest tests lie ahead.
“This is a generational shift in water management in our state,” said Joaquin Esquivel, chairman of the State Water Resources Control Board. “What we do over the next few years is going to be important.”
The state has taken some groundbreaking steps, such as establishing local agencies and adopting more than 100 local groundwater plans. The legislation has led to the collection of more data on groundwater, provided nearly $1 billion in state funding, and raised public awareness of groundwater depletion, especially from heavy pumping for agriculture.
But water levels continue to fall in many areas as pumping restrictions are still not fully enforced and local governments continue to push for larger wells. Studies show that parts of California recently recorded some of the world’s wettest rainfall, with some places receiving as much as a foot of precipitation in a single year.
More than 5,000 wells have been destroyed in the past decade, according to state data, and scientists warn the damage could get worse unless stronger measures are taken.
Achieving sustainability goals will be particularly difficult in groundwater basins that are “severely overpumped,” and are expected to require allocations and pumping restrictions that would significantly reduce agricultural water use. The researchers predict that a large portion of irrigated farmland in the Central Valley would comply with the restrictions.
“Now, 10 years later, we have good momentum,” Esquivel said, “but we’re also beginning to realize the implementation phase and the challenges that it brings.”
The early steps toward regulation, including collecting water-use data, collecting fees, implementing water allocations, and enforcing pumping cuts, have been controversial and, in some cases, have led to litigation.
State water department officials have reviewed plans submitted by local agencies and approved many of them, but six areas in the San Joaquin Valley have a measure that allows the state water department to place the areas in interim status and allow them to take stronger measures.
After the commission first deliberated on one area, the Tulare Lake Watershed, farmers sued to overturn the decision, arguing that the state’s requirements were unreasonable, hurt local economies, and “exceeded” the provisions of the law. The lawsuit in Kings County Superior Court effectively put the state’s decision on hold and suspended requirements that farmers begin measuring and reporting the amount of water they pump.
When a judge last week cited uncertainty about the state’s action, Dusty Ference of the Kings County Farm Bureau called it a big win for farmers in the area and for California agriculture.
“We agree that as an industry we need to try to balance groundwater pumping with overdrafting, but it all has to be done in a way that doesn’t devastate our industry and our communities,” Ference said.
He said the state’s intervention would impose an estimated $10 million a year in pumping fees on farmers and result in rapid and “extreme” restrictions on water use. He said farmers are hopeful the court will overturn the state’s decision and allow communities to implement sustainability plans in other ways that support their economies.
State regulators challenged the judge’s tentative ruling, arguing that the water board has clear authority.
“Under SGMA, local agencies are responsible for the sustainable management of groundwater basins,” said State Water Board spokesman Edward Ortiz, “but the responsibility for ensuring that local groundwater management meets the goals of SGMA rests with state agencies — the Department of Water Resources and the State Water Board.”
State officials say the temporary freeze on state regulations only affects the Tulare Lake watershed, and other areas of the San Joaquin Valley are going through a separate process to consider interim measures.
Groundwater typically accounts for about 40 percent of the state’s total water supply, and can account for about 60 percent of the supply during droughts.
The past two wet winters have helped after years of widespread drawdown, and state water managers have also sought to push ahead with stormwater capture efforts to replenish aquifers.
Dry conditions have re-emerged in recent months along with the heat, with 71% of the state reporting abnormally dry or moderate drought conditions as of this week.
Esquivel said the law is meant to help California adapt to droughts that are worsened by global warming.
“Climate change is why the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act was enacted in the first place,” Esquivel said, a decade after rural communities faced hundreds of wells going dry during the 2012-2016 drought.
The recent drought from 2020-2022 set a record for the driest three-year period in California’s history, with more than 2,600 drought wells reported during that period, according to state data.
The state is offering help to low-income residents in rural areas who have run out of water, including paying for them to dig new wells or wait for them to be connected to nearby water systems.
About 95 percent of groundwater withdrawals in California are now subject to locally adopted sustainability plans, according to state agencies.
“We are absolutely confident that we will be successful in achieving groundwater sustainability,” said Paul Gosselin, deputy director for sustainable water management at the Ministry of Water Resources.
The state agency is responsible for reviewing annual reports from local government agencies to determine whether adequate measures have been taken to avoid undesirable consequences, such as a “significant and unreasonable” decline in groundwater levels, deterioration of water quality, land subsidence, saltwater intrusion, and impacts on surface waters and ecosystems.
Gosselin said Water Resources Department officials are also preparing to provide guidance to local agencies on how to manage subsidence and prevent pumping levels that would cause significant surface water depletion.
He and other state officials say big challenges for communities include protecting vulnerable wells during droughts and establishing “demand management” through mandatory pumping cuts, which some areas are beginning to implement.
The state has launched several programs aimed at providing assistance, including one aimed at helping people agree to pumping limits and “recycling,” which helps convert fallow farmland into other uses such as solar farms or habitat restoration areas.
Another challenge is the coordination between different local water management agencies: in some regions, groundwater management agencies have been recently established, increasing the number of organizations that have to work together under a single local plan.
“What I really hope is that coordination happens in the context of really moving the whole region forward, and not fragmenting into smaller and smaller jurisdictions that solve problems at the expense of their neighbors,” Water Resources Director Carla Nemeth said. “If we work together and communicate, these problems are solvable.”
Speaking at a UC Davis conference ahead of the law’s 10th anniversary, Nemeth said state officials “don’t have all the answers” about what steps will ultimately be needed to achieve the law’s goals, but that the state is on track to manage groundwater sustainably.
“We believe we are well-positioned to meet those challenges as they arise,” Nemeth said. “There’s a lot of change that’s going to happen, especially in over-watered areas, but what’s really important is that in 2040, all the people who live in these areas have a more secure water supply than they do today.”
Advocates for rural communities struggling with dry wells and contaminated sources are urging state officials to prioritize measures to protect drinking water and limit overpumping.
“We can’t wait until 2040 to be sustainable. We need to make sure we’re managing demand now,” said Tien Tran, senior policy advocate at the Community Water Center.
Tran said many of the first wave of local plans don’t adequately protect drinking water, small farmers or the environment, and that the agencies that should be working together are too fragmented.
When the moderator asked Tran to rate on a letter scale how well the law had been implemented so far, she said she gave it between a C+ and a B-.
“There’s still a lot of internal conflict because there’s no culture of cooperation,” Tran says. “Fighting over water is driven by a scarcity mentality.”
