On December 23, 2016, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) released an interim update of Bulletin 118, DWR’s compendium of information regarding the occurrence, characteristics, and management of groundwater in California. DWR released the interim update to foster timely implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA); a full update of Bulletin 118 is not due until 2020. The interim update identifies basins in critical conditions of overdraft, and reflects recently approved changes to basin boundaries. DWR has indicated it will amend the interim update in 2017 with the results of a still ongoing assessment of the prioritization of California’s groundwater basins, an assessment that will reflect recent boundary adjustments and include consideration of local habitat and local streamflows.
The state has been collecting and reporting information on California’s groundwater resources since at least the 1950s. In 1978, in Water Code § 12924, the Legislature directed DWR to investigate and report on California’s groundwater basins, and to “identify basins that are subject to critical conditions of overdraft.” Bulletin 118 is DWR’s compendium of groundwater information. DWR reported on statewide groundwater conditions in 1980 in Bulletin 118-80, and defined and listed basins in conditions of critical overdraft. DWR did a comprehensive update in 2003, in Bulletin 118-03, but did not revisit its list of basins in critical overdraft.
When the California Legislature adopted SGMA in 2014, it expressly relied upon the classifications and information in Bulletin 118. Under SGMA, all basins that are identified in Bulletin 118 as of high or medium-priority, and are listed in Bulletin as subject to critical conditions of overdraft, must be covered by a groundwater sustainability plan, or an equivalent, by January 31, 2020.
The interim update to Bulletin 118 will aid local agencies in understanding and implementing their duties under SGMA, by confirming which basins are deemed in conditions of critical overdraft, and showing all basin boundary adjustments. DWR’s update of basin priority classifications is still pending, however. If more basins are moved into the high and medium priority classifications, local agencies in those basins may have to undertake SGMA duties they are not anticipating today. If some basins drop out of the high and medium priority classifications, local agencies in those basins may avoid SGMA obligations. The interim update to Bulletin 118 is available online at: http://www.water.ca.gov/groundwater/bulletin118/update.cfm
(Daniel O’Hanlon)
