Story by Susan Meeker
MAXWELL, CA (MPG) – Sacramento regulators have told the Colusa and Glenn groundwater authorities they need a more rigorous strategy over the next 20 years to sustain groundwater in the Colusa Subbasin.
In a joint meeting on Jan. 26, in Maxwell, the board of directors for the two agencies approved to extend their contract with Davids Engineering to revise their Groundwater Sustainability Plan to prevent domestic wells from drying up and land surfaces from caving in from over pumping.
The Department of Water Resources in October deemed Colusa’s GSP incomplete because the plan did not include a reasonable assessment of current overdraft conditions – following a multi-year drought – and reasonable means to mitigate overdraft and ground subsidence in the future.
Local officials said the incomplete determination came after the state “moved the goalpost” for the plan to incorporate data from the recent drought, which was not available when the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act first required agencies to develop sustainability criteria, well monitoring networks, data management systems, and projects and management actions to achieve sustainability.
Colusa’s GSP used hydrology data from 1966 to 2015, said Katie Klug, of Davids Engineering.
“DWR recognizes that the GSP certainly did have a need to look at historical conditions but, ultimately, what we are here for now is managing the subbasin for future and ongoing sustainability,” she said.
Krug said that while GSP’s 2013 and 2015 groundwater data was the best information available at the time, the state now wants the Groundwater Agencies to incorporate more recent land use changes and groundwater demand.
The local regulatory agencies have until April to make revisions the state will approve.
Over the next few months, the two groundwater authorities will be working with Davids Engineering and the Department of Water Resources to develop a plan that will prevent overdraft from groundwater pumping and to set minimum aquifer levels to sustain groundwater through 2040.
The two boards approved an extended agreement with Davids Engineering at a cost not to exceed $186,221, with the agencies splitting the cost 50/50.
In a separate action, the Colusa Groundwater Authority approved a draft proposal from Thad Bettner, Water Ecology LLC, to provide support for the GSP revision, at a cost of about $9,000 a month through April 2024.
The matter had been scheduled for the Colusa Groundwater Authority’s Jan. 23 meeting but was postponed after Williams representative Alfred Sellers left the meeting, toppling the quorum.
Bettner proposed forming a GSP small group strike team to meet with DWR on a bi-weekly basis to identify policy and technical solutions, among other tasks.
Although Bettner’s proposal included a longer role to ensure all commitments made to the state are being met, along with helping the board with a new Proposition 218 rate analysis, the board agreed, at this time, to utilize only those consulting services needed for the GSP revision.
The Colusa Groundwater Authority board, also on Jan. 23, voted to keep their current leadership intact, with private pumper, Darrin Williams, serving as chairman of the board through 2024.