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[4] [11] The California Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 was the first to specify how to manage groundwater in a way that would not harm or endanger future access to clean groundwater. [2] Before this act, no regulations governed groundwater management other than the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and Clean Water Act. These acts ...
California has had a long history of complex water rights dealing with the ownership and management of surface water. Groundwater has stayed under the regulation radar, which led to the overdraft of vital basins and the subsidence of land taking place throughout the Central Valley. The SGMA gives responsibility to both state authority and local ...
When groundwater is extracted from an aquifer, a cone of depression is created around the well.As the drafting of water continues, the cone increases in radius. Extracting too much water (overdrafting) can lead to negative impacts such as a drop of the water table, land subsidence, and loss of surface water reaching the streams.
Estimates suggest up to 900,000 acres of farmland in the San Joaquin Valley alone might need to be fallowed to reduce the drawdown of groundwater and balance supply and demand.
California passed its landmark groundwater law in 2014. The goals of sustainable management remain a long way off. Despite California groundwater law, aquifers keep dropping in a 'race to the bottom'
Excessive groundwater pumping has long been depleting aquifers in California's Central Valley. Now, scientists say the depletion is accelerating.
In California, groundwater accounts for around 41% of the state's total water supply, [1] although this number varies between wet and dry years. During years of greater than average rainfall, less groundwater is used to allow for reserves to be available during dry years. Up to 60% of all water can be sourced from groundwater during dry years.
The Porter-Cologne Act (California Water Code, Section 7) was created in 1969 and is the law that governs water quality regulation in California. The legislation bears the names of legislators Carley V. Porter and Gordon Cologne. [1] It was established to be a program to protect water quality as well as beneficial uses of water.