DWR awards $150 million to communities that rely on groundwater

The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) selected 20 regional groundwater agencies to receive a combined $150 million in funding from the Sustainable Groundwater Management Grant Program. Funding is for 119 projects focused on water efficiency, groundwater recharge, feasibility studies for alternative water supplies, and the installation of monitoring wells.

“Groundwater is a critical lifeline for millions of Californians and that is especially true during severe droughts like the one we’re experiencing right now,” said DWR Director Karla Nemeth. “We are dealing with the real-time impacts of a warming climate, and we know that less snowpack, precipitation, and surface water supply will lead to an increased reliance on groundwater. This first round of grant funding will help strengthen groundwater management, improve the reliability of those supplies statewide and ensure access to safe and clean water for all Californians.”

A few of the projects to receive funding are:

• The Mid-Kings River Groundwater Sustainability Agency’s Corcoran Irrigation District’s North Reservoir Project will construct new reservoirs for water storage and recharge basins. The project will directly benefit the Tulare Lake Subbasin by increasing groundwater availability and stability by recharging the aquifer, reducing groundwater pumping, and increasing groundwater quality.
• The North San Joaquin Water Conservation District’s North System Improvement Project will direct excess surface water, when available, to recharge the subbasin through an approach known as Flood-Managed Aquifer Recharge (Flood-MAR).
• The Lower Tule River Irrigation District’s Allensworth Project will divert flood waters in wet years from the White River to an 80-acre recharge basin, while also creating wildlife habitat and a recreational park.
• The Del Puerto Water District will conduct three projects: the Los Baños Creek Recharge and Recovery Project, the Flood Water Capture Project, and the Cottonwood Creek Recharge Project, that will capture and recharge stormwater to support basin sustainability. The projects will capture peak flows while creating a seasonal habitat during known periods of migration along the Pacific Flyway.
• The Santa Cruz Mid-County Groundwater Agency’s Aquifer Storage and Recovery, Beltz Well 10 Project which will store surface water, treated to drinking water standards, into the Santa Cruz Mid County Groundwater Basin for use as an underground storage reservoir.
• The Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Authority will identify and destroy up to 10 wells in the Oxnard Subbasin to reduce cross-contamination between two aquifer systems that serve multiple underrepresented communities in the area.

In addition to developing projects in these communities, the grant funding will help groundwater sustainability agencies revise their existing groundwater sustainability plans or plan alternatives. A full list of projects awarded funding can be found here.