CWC advocates for policies and practices at the state and regional level that prevent fertilizers, manure, and pesticides from contaminating the drinking water supplies of San Joaquin Valley communities. The Center is a strong voice for effective and enforceable regulatory programs that will inform the relationship between best practices and groundwater quality, allow regulators to distinguish between good and bad actors in the agriculture industry, and provide funding mechanisms to help pay for remediation of drinking water contamination in low-income rural communities. CWC conducts much of its groundwater protection work primarily through a collaborative project with the Clean Water Fund and Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability.
Sustainable Groundwater Management
In 2014, the California legislature passed a new law known as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 (SGMA). This law identifies 515 groundwater basins and requires local agencies in each of those basins to form Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) to manage the groundwater within their boundaries in a sustainable manner. To achieve the goal of sustainability, SGMA gives these agencies new powers including the ability to regulate, suspend, and impose fees on groundwater pumping. As a result, the formation of Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) is an important process that will greatly affect all groundwater users.
Community Water Center has been working diligently to help educate stakeholders about the Sustainable Groundwater Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) of 2014. Working with partners throughout the valley we have hosted a series of workshops for regional stakeholders and have also visited many of our local water boards to conduct individual informational sessions.
More SGMA resources can be found here.
