1Photo: UC Div. of Ag. & Nat. Res.

Groundwater

Sierra Water Workgroup WorkshopAugust 10, 2015

Andy SawyerState Water Resources Control Board

Rob SawyerRemy Moose Manley LLP

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The Nature of California’s Aquifers

Valley Fill Aquifers – Most of California’s Aquifers• Loose or Semi-consolidated Sediments• Filling Valleys between Mountains or Hills• Bounded by Less Permeable Rock

Valley Fill Sediments

Underlying Bedrock

Groundwater(Water-saturated Sediments)

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High Groundwater LevelsGroundwater Maintains Stream Flow

“Gaining Stream”

Groundwater – Surface Water Connection

Pumping Lowers Groundwater LevelsStream Loses Flow to Groundwater

“Losing Stream”

Groundwater – Surface Water Connection

Pumping Lowers Groundwater LevelsStream Loses Flow to Groundwater

Groundwater Levels Below Stream Channel

“Losing Stream”

Groundwater – Surface Water Connection

Pumping Lowers Groundwater LevelsStream Loses Flow to Groundwater

Seepage to Groundwater Exceeds Stream FlowDry Stream Channel (Intermittently or Year-round)

Dry Stream

Groundwater – Surface Water Connection

Supply

About 15 MAF pumped per year

A third of California’s total supply in average year, greater during drought

80% of Californians rely on groundwater

CA pumps more groundwater in a single year than the rest of the nation combined

Net Stream Gain or Loss by Central Valley RegionHistorical and Status Quo Future Conditions

Change in Central Valley Groundwater Storage

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Photos: USGS

Seawater Intrusion

Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems

Image: https://ceprofs.civil.tamu.edu/gmiller/research.ht

ml

Groundwater Rights

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Source: USGS

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English Common Law—Absolute Ownership

 

“Each owner has an equal and complete right to the use of his land, and to the water which is in it. . . . [Groundwater] influences “are so secret, changeable and uncontroulable [sic], we cannot subject them to the regulations of law, nor build upon them a system of rules, as has been done with streams upon the surface.” (Roath v. Driscoll (1850) 20 Conn. 532, 540 [emphasis in original].) “The rule is well established that the principles of law which govern the right to waters flowing upon the surface of the earth are inapplicable to waters which are beneath its surface and percolate through the soil. The water which is held by the soil is a portion of the soil itself, and belongs to the owner of the land.” (Gould v. Eaton (1896) 111 Cal. 639, 644.)

Katz v. Walkinshaw (1903) 141 Cal. 116

Recognizing common law overlying and appropriative water rights

18Justice Lucien Shaw.Photo: Los Angeles County Bar Association

Hudson v. Dailey (1909) 156 Cal. 617, 627

Adopting the “common source” doctrine

19Justice Lucien Shaw.Photo: Los Angeles County Bar Association

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21Images: NASA

Paso Robles Groundwater Conflict

Change in Paso Robles Groundwater Levels

1997 - 2013

Source: Paso Robles Groundwater Management Plan

USGS, 2013

Poland, 1977

CWF, 2014

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Source: KCRA

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Sustainable Groundwater Management Act

Requires local basin plans for high- and medium- priority basins

Provides local management tools

Allows state review and intervention

Sets goals and deadlines

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Bulletin 118 Groundwater Basins

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High- and Medium- Priority Basins

Establishing Groundwater Sustainability Agencies

Local agency, or combination of agencies with coordination agreement

Local agency election: Listed agencies with groundwater

management powers get first dibs, but can elect not to.

Counties are presumptively the agencies for “white spot” areas not within the area of another local agency that elects to manage, but the county may opt out

CEQA applies to local agency formation

New Local Management Tools Aligns local groundwater agencies

with basin boundaries Authorizes agencies to:

Register wells Measure extractions Require reports Manage extractions Assess Fees

Local plans are exempt from CEQA

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Monetization

• Authorizes agencies to:

• Regulate and limit pumping allocations

• Authorize leasing of pumping rights

• Authorize sales of pumping rights

• (Provided leases and sales are consistent with the sustainability plan.)

• Water Code § 10726.4(a)(3)

Key dates for local agencies

What is sustainable groundwater management?

Managing groundwater during the 50-year planning horizon without causing “significant and unreasonable”:•Chronic lowering of groundwater levels•Reductions in storage•Seawater intrusion•Degradation of groundwater quality•Land subsidence•Surface water depletions

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The State Role

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State Intervention

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Follow-up Legislation?o S.B. 13; A.B.

617o S.B. 20; S.B.

83o Adjudication

Reform S.B. 220; A.B. 1390

o Underground Storage A.B. 647

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What About Areas Not Subject to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act?

40Photo: UC Div. of Ag. & Nat. Res.

Groundwater

Sierra Water Workgroup WorkshopAugust 10, 2015

Andy SawyerState Water Resources Control Board

Rob SawyerRemy Moose Manley LLP

41

Questions?

Pumped Groundwater BasinInitial Level of Use

Ground Surface

Recharge/Leakage from River

River

Domestic Wells

High Capacity Wells

Groundwater Level

Pumped Groundwater BasinIncreased Level of Use

Ground Surface

Increased Leakage

from River

River

Stranded Domestic Wells

Groundwater Level

New High Capacity Wells

Pumped Groundwater BasinIncreased Level of Use

Ground Surface

Increased Leakage

from River

River

New Domestic WellsMust be Deeper

Groundwater Level

Ground SurfaceRiver

Even More Leakage

from River

Pumped Groundwater BasinEven More Use

More New Wells

Groundwater Level

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Does the Public Trust Apply to Groundwater?

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Source: UCD

Scott River

Photo: Felice Pace

ELF v. State Water Board

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In the Matter of the Water Use Permit Applications, Petitions for Interim Instream Flow Standard Amendments, and Petitions for Water

Reservations for the Waiāhole Ditch Combined Contested Case Hearing (2000) 94 Hawai’i 97 [9 P.3d 409].

50Waiāhole StreamPhoto: Hawai’I Commission on Water Resource Management

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Santa Teresa Citizen Action Group v. City of San Jose (2003) 114 Cal.App.4th 689, 709 [The public trust doctrine has no application to groundwater where there is no threat to surface waterways.]

Metcalf Energy Center. Photo: Calpine

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National Audubon Society v. Superior Court (1983) 33 Cal.3d 419

Justice Allen E. Broussard. Photo: California Supreme Court Historical Society

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A variant of the public trust doctrine applies to fish in non-navigable streams (California Trout, Inc. v. State Water Resources Control Board (1989) 207 Cal.App.3d 585)

Fishing in lower Rush Creek (1948) Photo: Elden Vestel