Groundwater Legislation

The extensive drought that has plagued California for the last several years has finally resulted in reform in regards to groundwater management legislation. On Tuesday, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed a trio of bills that will strengthen the management of groundwater basins, which are extremely critical for the state’s water needs.  This is the first time in California’s history to have its water supply managed on a larger scale, and has been the only Western state without existing legislation to determine that in spite of the fact that it has faced record breaking droughts and water shortages. Previously, water was considered a property right and landowners were able to pump as much water as they needed from the ground, which led to the emptying of basins faster than they could be filled naturally.

Even with this new management structure, it could still be decades before the state’s most depleted basins recover all the water used. The bills aim to speed up this process in three parts. The first, SB 1168 by Senator Fran Pavely instructs local agencies to create management plans. The second measure by Assemblyman Roger Dickinson establishes when the state government can intervene if the local groups cannot sufficiently do their job of managing the water supply.   Finally, the third bill also by Pavely aims to alleviate some of the concerns of farmers by postponing the state’s action in certain places where surface water has been affected by ground water pumping. In spite of this effort to appease California farmers who are most affected by the water supply shortage, many are still upset by the bill and the limitation of water use. The president of the California Farm Bureau Federation went as far as to t say that “the bills may come to be seen as ‘historic’ for all the wrong reasons” by harming food production capabilities.

In a signing statement, Brown declared that he would also allow for legislative adjustments in following sessions to help reorganize the process in which courts determine groundwater rights.