SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California will no longer be the only western state with a pump-as-you-please approach to groundwater.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation on Tuesday overhauling the state’s management of its groundwater supply, bringing it in line with other states that have long regulated their wells.
Groundwater makes up nearly 60 percent of the state’s water use during dry years but is not monitored and managed the same way as water from reservoirs and rivers.
Supporters of the legislation say the worst drought in a generation inspired them to rethink California’s pump-as-you-please approach, which has led to sinking land and billions of dollars in damage to aquifers, roads and canals.
“This is a big deal,” Brown said at the signing ceremony in his office. “It has been known about for decades that underground water has to be managed in some way.”
The package signed into law requires some local governments and water districts to begin managing their wells, and authorizes state water agencies to intervene if necessary. It also allows for water metering and fines to monitor and enforce restrictions.
SB1168, SB1319 and AB1739 by Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, D-Sacramento, and Sen. Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills, passed in the final days of the legislative session over objections from Republican lawmakers and Central Valley Democrats.
The opposition was driven by agricultural interests that are increasingly dependent on pumping from wells as reservoirs dry up and government water allocations plunge in the drought. They say the legislation was rushed and punishes well-managed agencies while infringing on property rights.
Unlike other states that treat groundwater as a shared resource, California property owners have been entitled to tap water beneath their land since the Gold Rush days.
Lawmakers supporting the groundwater overhaul say the existing system pits farmers against each other in a costly race to dig the deepest wells, resulting in depleted aquifers.
The new laws, which take effect in January, specifically target areas where groundwater basins are being depleted faster than they are being replenished. It gives local land planners two years to create a groundwater sustainability agency, which in turn has up to five years to develop a plan for managing wells and pumping.
The state Water Resources Control Board would step in and develop plans for communities that fail to abide by these rules.
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