Department of Water Resources Warns 27 Groundwater Sustainability Plans Inadequately Protect Domestic Well Users Among Other Issues
For Immediate Release
December 9, 2021
Contact:
Jennifer Clary, Clean Water Action, jclary@cleanwater.org
Kyle Jones, Community Water Center, (916) 539-0133, kyle.jones@communitywatercenter.org
Lesly Figueroa, Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability, lfigueroa@leadershipcounsel.org
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Today, the Department of Water Resources (DWR) took another important step toward protecting drinking water supplies by issuing correspondence letters to 27 Groundwater Sustainability Agencies(GSAs), warning GSAs that these plans will be deemed incomplete when final assessments are issued at the end of January. DWR cited previously issued consultation letters that identified a lack of information and required justification of sustainability goals that would jeopardize the water supplies of thousands of Californians.
Over 30 million Californians rely on groundwater and over-pumping is impacting and will continue to impact drinking water needs. The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) of 2014 establishes “significant groundwater-level declines” and “water-quality degradation” as two of the six undesirable results that GSPs must avoid.
The letters released by DWR today cover basins deemed to be in a “state of critical overdraft” meaning that groundwater levels have been dropping for decades. In these basins, tens of thousands of residents reliant on shallow wells — domestic well owners and residents of small communities — are at risk of losing their water supply if overdraft continues at its current rates. SGMA was intended to reverse that continuing decline.
“More than 10,000 San Joaquin Valley residents lost their water supplies in the last drought, and nearly 1,000 wells have gone dry in 2021,” said Justine Massey, Policy Manager & Attorney of Community Water Center. “Domestic well owners and small communities should no longer be forced to bear the brunt of unsustainable groundwater management.”
“The Department of Water Resources has taken an important step towards protecting the water supplies of those who rely on groundwater in California,” says Jennifer Clary, California Director for Clean Water Action. “Although there is more work to be done to ensure GSPs are adequately addressing all user needs in their basin, this sends a clear signal that the status quo of overlooking domestic well users is no longer accepted.”
While applauding the prioritization of domestic water user needs in GSP review by DWR, advocates also emphasized that more needs to be done to ensure these plans are protective of the Human Right to Water.
“Now is the time for GSAs to prioritize protecting all groundwater users in their basin,” says Michael Claiborne, directing attorney for Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, “first by addressing the revisions directed by DWR, then by listening to what communities have been asking for since SGMA was established: immediate reductions in groundwater pumping to end overdraft and protect access to drinking water, and well mitigation plans to address water quantity and quality issues for those dependent on this critical resource.”
###
Community Water Center (CWC) works to ensure that all communities have reliable access to safe, clean, and affordable water. Founded in 2006, CWC is a not-for-profit environmental justice organization, whose mission is to act as a catalyst for community-driven water solutions through education, organizing, and advocacy.
Web: www.communitywatercenter.org.
Twitter: @CWaterC
Facebook: @CommunityWaterCenter
Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability works alongside the most impacted communities to advocate for sound policy and eradicate injustice to secure equal access to opportunity regardless of wealth, race, income and place. We work with community leaders throughout the San Joaquin Valley and Eastern Coachella Valley on such issues as safe affordable drinking water, basic transit services, wastewater services, decent affordable housing, and the right to live free from industrial pollution with infrastructure that supports healthy lifestyles. Through co-powerment, organizing, litigation, policy advocacy, and research, we confront California's stark inequalities manifest in too many of California's low income communities and communities of color. Twitter: LCJandA FB: @lcjacalifornia IG: @leadership_counsel Web: leadershipcounsel.org
Clean Water Action is a national nonprofit founded in 1972 to promote citizen engagement and action to protect our environment, health, economic well-being and community quality of life. Clean Water Action organizes strong grassroots groups, coalitions and campaigns to solve environmental and community problems. For more information, visit our website at www.cleanwater.org or follow us on Twitter @cleanh2oca.
