Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
[5] Prior to SGMA, groundwater use was under-regulated to a point where many areas of the state faced major depletion, particularly in the San Joaquin Valley and other groundwater basins on the central coast and southern California that have been designated by the State's Department of Water Resources (DWR) as being critically overdrafted.
It has been pumped in excess of the natural rate of replenishment, which in return is lowering the groundwater table, a phenomenon called "overdraft", that can cause severe land subsidence.
[9] AB 1739 also requires DWR to organize and publish an online report with estimates of groundwater replenishment and best practices.
[10] Approved by Governor Jerry Brown on September 16, 2014, Senator Pavley's SB 1319 authorized local agencies to implement a groundwater plan.
Pumping unregulated and mismanaged groundwater can lead to a "tragedy of the commons", with each user maximizing the resource for their own gain with little responsibility for the depleting aquifer.
The SGMA initially set basin boundaries based on a 2003 Department of Water Resources report, Bulletin 118-03.
SB 13 changed DWR's role with respect to reviewing, posting, and tracking GSA formation notices.
As part of its implementation, DWR has developed a Strategic Plan to document its Sustainable Groundwater Management (SGM) Program, which expands on its responsibilities in SGMA.
[20] Support for the act stemmed from the goal of avoiding negative impacts of lowering the water table and subsidence throughout California with implementing specific, measurable objectives.
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 oversight to bring groundwater basins in California to sustainable yields within a given time period.
One of the main arguments in opposition of AB 1739 and SB 1168 was from the California Farm Bureau Federation (CFBF), which was concerned that the bills were rushed and did not allow enough time to address many of the complex issues of groundwater.
[22] The approval of Proposition 1, the Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act, guaranteed $900 million in funding for the development of a Groundwater Sustainability Program.
Full implementation of the SGMA could force 750,000 acres (300,000 ha) of farmland out of production according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
