California Water News Daily Your Source For Water News in California
The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced Thursday the public comment deadline for its Draft Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) has been extended from March 25 to April 1. Released Feb. 18, the DWR’s Draft GSP Emergency Regulations initiated a formal public review and comment period.
The Groundwater Management Act (GMA) seeks to design and implement a plan to achieve sustainable groundwater management within 20 years of its implementation. The plan must identify when and where groundwater can cause problems; identify specific projects and management practices; and, identify milestones for tracking purposes.
To help facilitate additional comments the DWR will host four public meetings in March on the draft regulations. Scheduled meetings will be held:
- March 21 in Visalia from 4-6 pm at the Visalia Convention Center;
- March 22 in Santa Ana from 1-3 pm at the Delhi Community Center;
- March 24 via webinar for 1-3 pm; register at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/; and
- March 25 in Sacramento from 9-11 am at the Secretary of State Building.
The GMA offers local municipalities the ability to monitor their local groundwater by determining what are their specific threats and how to best handle them.
Under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014, DWR is required to adopt emergency regulations for evaluating and implementing GSPs by June 1 2016. DWR is expected to adopt their final regulations by June 1.
