4 Lessons from New California Groundwater Regulations. Hello TXHNRC Interim Charges 1,6,8.

In 2014 and 2015 California enacted new groundwater regulations. Now that regulations are moving, tensions are rising. 

4 lessons from California’s new groundwater regulations:

• When King’s County considered imposing restrictions on drilling new wells and selling groundwater to other counties, a county supervisor was told to get a body guard
• Agricultural crop values rose during California’s drought, making farm land very protective of  its groundwater
• In farm lands where groundwater basins are critically overdrawn, lawsuits over groundwater regulation are front and center
• Depleted aquifers, from unlimited groundwater pumping, have led to sinking lands, including sinking state highways.

California Groundwater Facts:

• Groundwater makes up 60% of all fresh water consumed during drought years
• Groundwater is  40% of water consumption in average rainfall years
• New groundwater legislation affects 127 basins that regulators have deemed to be medium or high priority because of their importance to the state’s water supplies
• Groundwater adjudication cases often take 10, 15, 20 years to resolve

   

  Sacramento Bee | Tensions, threats as California’s new groundwater law takes shape