Submitted on
DROUGHT - TAKE CONTROL INTO YOUR OWN HANDS - JOIN THE GROUND WATER SUSTAINABILITY (GSP) DISCUSSIONS AT THE "SM GSP.
https://water.ca.gov/-/media/DWR-Website/Web-Pages/Programs/Groundwater-...
Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs)
The GSP is meant to clarify how the GSA intends to wield their powers. GSAs must consult with water right holders, agricultural operations, and relevant stakeholders as part of the GSP creation process. Failure of the GSA to engage all stakeholders will likely result in a rejection of the GSP by Department of Water Resources (DWR) until proper stakeholder input is gathered. The powers granted to GSAs allow them to restrict groundwater pumping and impose new fees on groundwater extraction.
Drought
No exact definition exists for megadrought, but a drought of this magnitude is one that lasts decades and has not occurred since the Middle Ages. An increase in megadrought conditions will magnify the negative consequences observed in California’s most recent critically dry years that will lead to increases in subsidence, curtailment of surface water, and an unsustainable reliance on groundwater.
SGMA attempts to mitigate some of the worst impacts from the continued dry conditions over the next 20 years.
As climate change increases the average temperatures, the odds we will roll a severe drought are consistently getting worse for agricultural operations. One expert, using the analogy of tossing dice, likened the future scenario to chances of rolling a drought will continue to increase.With the enactment of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), groundwater is no longer a reliable resource for the agricultural industry to count on without innovations in water management and data analysis.
SGMA and Curtailment
The State of California’s response to unsustainable reliance on groundwater is manifested in the 2014 enactment of SGMA. As of 2020, we are at the very beginning of implementation. Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) in critically overdrafted basins were required to submit Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) earlier this year.
- 1168 reads