HomeMy WebLinkAbout07.23.21 Board Correspondence - FW_ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Colusa Subbasin - Drought and SGMA Op-Ed
From:Paulsen, Shaina
To:Alpert, Bruce;Bennett, Robin;Clerk of the Board;Connelly, Bill;Cook, Holly;Cook, Robin;Hironimus, Patrizia;
Kimmelshue, Tod;Lucero, Debra;Paulsen, Shaina;Pickett, Andy;Reaster, Kayla;Ring, Brian;Ritter, Tami;
Sweeney, Kathleen;Teeter, Doug
Cc:Buck, Christina;Jessee, Meegan
Subject:Board Correspondence - FW: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Colusa Subbasin - Drought and SGMA Op-Ed
Date:Monday, July 26, 2021 8:21:44 AM
Attachments:SGMA and Drought - Colusa Subbasin Op-Ed FINAL.pdf
Please see Board Correspondence below.
Shaina Paulsen
Administrative Assistant, Senior
Butte County Administration
25 County Center Drive, Suite 200
Oroville, CA 95965
T: 530.552.3304 | F: 530.538.7120
From: Lisa Hunter <LHunter@countyofglenn.net>
Sent: Friday, July 23, 2021 1:54 PM
Subject: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Colusa Subbasin - Drought and SGMA Op-Ed
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attachments, clicking on links, or replying.
Please see attached opinion/editorial article authored by the Chairs of the Glenn Groundwater
Authority and Colusa Groundwater Authority on behalf of their respective Boards relating to SGMA,
drought, and the upcoming public meetings scheduled for July 28 and July 29.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Lisa Hunter
Program Manager
Glenn Groundwater Authority
(530) 934-6540 (office)
(530) 624-1074 (cell)
Drought has returned. Severe. Unrelenting. Undiscriminating.
As we face a long, frustrating summer and fall in the Sacramento Valley, everyone…farmer, homeowner,
rancher, environmental advocate, businessperson, water deliverer, etc. will be profoundly affected by
our current and pending drought conditions. In the immediate, there are no easy answers. Scarce
resources inevitably create conflict. However, such conditions can also create uncommon partnerships
and with the right tools, powerful solutions. In 2014, the State Legislature passed the Sustainable
Groundwater Management Act (SGMA); a sweeping law that foundationally changes how groundwater
is and will be managed. Our part of California is unique and we need groundwater management
methods that will work for us and for our communities. We have answered the call and the
requirements of SGMA and are finalizing a locally driven, locally focused Groundwater Sustainability
Plan for the Colusa Groundwater Subbasin (covering most of Colusa and Glenn Counties).
SGMA is hard. It is cumbersome, expensive, complicated, intrusive and far reaching. Few people,
regardless of where they sit on the ideological spectrum, like it when legislation is created that
dramatically affects them. As water users in this region we are no exception. But it is undeniable that
SGMA was written for just this circumstance. It forces us to build local solutions and partnerships to
achieve and maintain sustainable groundwater conditions for the future, particularly during droughts. In
an era of water uncertainty, it is an uncomfortable reality that being forced to be more resilient to
drought may not be what we wanted; but it is what we need.
Think about why we live in this region. Why our relatives settled here and put down roots. Why we
stayed or came, raising families, building homes, businesses and futures. Whether it is the productivity
of the soils, the charm of our communities, the beauty of our natural resources, we hope to pass these
attributes on to the next generations. Then think about this region without a resilient water supply.
We need to think about “sustainability” not as a title forced on us from people in Sacramento but
instead, as a way of life that protects what we hold dear. Like it or not, SGMA helps or will help us do
what we have not been able to do on our own across the State. It created new, regulating groundwater
agencies, vested with powerful authorities to guarantee that groundwater is protected. It gives us the
ability to manage these resources locally and to bring a diverse collection of affected parties together to
make this happen. In our case, SGMA led us to create the Glenn Groundwater Authority (GGA) and
Colusa Groundwater Authority (CGA). Multi-organization, multi-person public agencies represented by
your neighbors, colleagues and friends. We shop in the same stores, send our kids to the same schools,
and love the same communities and natural resources that you do. And we are dedicated to building
the necessary solutions that in time, can help protect us from drought.
We have a robust surface water supply in the Sacramento Valley. One that has historically supported
water needs and the groundwater beneath us. But we know all too well that some of these sources are
being challenged and have proved legally uncertain and beyond our control to protect. Within the
groundwater aquifers lies a safety net. That safety net however, is only as good as the tools we create to
support it. In the case of SGMA, this comes in the form of the aforementioned Groundwater
Sustainability Plan that the GGA and CGA are jointly preparing. The Plan defines our current
groundwater situation, and describes what we will do in the future to better understand and protect
these resources. The Plan describes the conditions we are obligated to address. Important factors like
preserving and enhancing groundwater levels, minimizing potentially damaging subsidence, avoiding
adverse water quality impacts and protecting natural resources that depend on the connection between
groundwater and surface water. Once the Plan is adopted and submitted to the State, the GSAs will then
have the authority to implement the actions in the Plan.
By State law, we are nearing the end of the period to prepare the Plan. In the coming weeks and
months, the CGA and GGA will host and encourage you to attend, public meetings to discuss the draft
Plan and provide written comments to us. The CGA and GGA will consider comments received and then
finalize and adopt the Plan by January 2022. The projects and management actions described in the
Plan won’t be easy to achieve. They may require new investments, an unfailing commitment to
collaboration, uncomfortable options we haven’t wanted to discuss in the past, and potential sacrifice in
the future. They will reflect a continued commitment to work collaboratively for the common good of
our region, rather than as individual water users and organizations competing for limited resources. The
Plan will not be ready in time to help us through the current drought. We won’t even be able to begin to
implement aspects of the Plan until February 2022 at the earliest. But we will learn from the current
and recent water crises and that will inform our Plan and actions. Over time, SGMA will live up to its
promise, warts and all, to support resilience as best we can locally and to ensure that we work together
to achieve successful outcomes.
In closing, on July 28 and 29 from 6 – 8 p.m, the CGA and GGA will hold the next round of public
meetings in our “SGMA-Series”.
The meeting on the 28th will be held virtually. See the following websites for more information:
o https://colusagroundwater.org
o https://www.countyofglenn.net/dept/planning-community-development-
services/water-resources/glenn-groundwater-authority/gga
th
The meeting on the 29 will be held at:
Sites Project Authority Office - 122 Old Highway 99W, Maxwell, CA 95955.
These meetings will focus on the sustainability conditions we have been studying for the Plan, and the
potential projects and management actions that we refer to above. We encourage you to attend these
meetings and to visit our websites and related social media to learn more about SGMA and the GGA and
CGA. We need you to participate in upcoming meetings, to embrace the need for these collaborative
changes and to work with us to forge a new resilient groundwater future in the Sacramento Valley.
On behalf of the Colusa Groundwater Authority Board and Glenn Groundwater Authority Board
Signed,
Ms. Denise Carter Mr. John Amaro
Chair Chair
Colusa Groundwater AuthorityGlenn Groundwater Authority