AGENDA TITLE:
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Receive Update on Sustainable Groundwater Management Act and Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Authority (PW)
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MEETING DATE:
October 22, 2024
PREPARED BY:
Public Works Director
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RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Receive update on Sustainable Groundwater Management Act and Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Authority.
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BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
On August 29, 2014, the California Legislature passed comprehensive groundwater legislation enacting the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Governor Brown signed the legislation on September 16, 2014 and it became effective on January 1, 2015.
SGMA requires the formation of groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) and the development and implementation of one or more groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs) for each groundwater basin categorized by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) as high- or medium-priority. Lodi is within a basin that is categorized as a high-priority basin.
The Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Authority (Authority) is a collaboration of agencies (including Lodi) within San Joaquin County working to achieve groundwater pumping sustainability in accordance with the SGMA. The Authority submitted a GSP in January of 2020 to DWR, and completed the first 5-year update to the plan, which is due for submission in January of 2025.
The Lodi GSA and the Authority's GSP complies with the SGMA requirements, however additional work will be necessary to achieve groundwater sustainability (county-wide) by 2040. In the past 15 years, Lodi invested nearly $80 million to reduce reliance on groundwater. This investment came in the form of agreements with the Woodbridge Irrigation District (WID), a multi-phase water meter program implementation, and the construction of the City Surface Water Treatment Facility in 2012. Lodi currently operates on approximately 50% groundwater and 50% surface water. Prior to 2012, the City operated on 100% grou...
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