Department of water resources completes its initial evaluation of remaining groundwater sustainability plans in California
June 2025
California Water Law & Policy Reporter, Volume 35, Number 9
On April 29, 2025, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) issued its final batch of initial determinations for Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSP) in eight low- and very low-priority basins. This release marks a historic milestone in implementing the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), as DWR has now completed its initial review of all GSPs submitted by Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSA) across California. Of the eight remaining GSPs reviewed, DWR approved those for the Arroyo Santa Rosa Valley, Atascadero Area, Bear Valley, and Bedford-Coldwater basins. It issued incomplete determinations for the Castac Lake Valley, Owens Valley, Riverside-Arlington, and San Gabriel Valley basins.
Background
Enacted in 2014, SGMA established California’s first comprehensive framework for managing groundwater. The statute emphasizes local control but permits state intervention if the local management within a particular basin proves inadequate. SGMA requires that all groundwater basins be managed sustainably within 20 years to prevent defined undesirable results, including: (1) chronic lowering of groundwater levels; (2) significant and unreasonable reduction in groundwater storage; (3) significant and unreasonable seawater intrusion; (4) significant and unreasonable degradation of water quality; (5) significant and unreasonable land subsidence; and (6) depletion of interconnected surface waters (Wat. Code, § 10721(x)(1)-(6).)
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