FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 14, 2022
Contact:
Donna Meyers, General Manager
Phone: (831) 471-7512 x203
Email: meyersd@svbgsa.org
Salinas Valley Groundwater Sustainability Plans Approved
Plans will be submitted to CA Department of Water Resources for final approval, covering Eastside, Forebay, Langley, Monterey and Upper Valley Subbasins
SALINAS, Calif. — The Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency (SVBGSA) Board of Directors approved five Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) on Thursday, Jan. 13. The GSPs for Eastside, Forebay, Langley, Monterey and Upper Valley Subbasins will be submitted to the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) for review and approval.
A key responsibility of the SVBGSA is to develop six comprehensive groundwater sustainability plans and implement the strategies to achieve groundwater sustainability by 2042. With the board’s acceptance of these five GSPs, the SVBGSA will have successfully submitted all necessary plans to the DWR by their due date of January 2022.
Communities, individuals and stakeholders who rely on the water supply from the subbasins covered by the plans provided input during a two-month public input period after initial drafts were approved by SVBGSA’s Board of Directors in August.
“We appreciate the dedication to groundwater sustainability shown by our local community members and stakeholders as these five GSPs were developed,” said Donna Meyers, general manager for the SVBGSA. “The process involved hundreds of hours of conversation, discussion and debate. The result is five locally-driven plans that will help us reach our goals of achieving groundwater sustainability over the next two decades.”
“We look forward to the review of the Basin’s GSPs by the state,” said SVBGSA Board Chair Colby Pereira. “Today marks another important step to ensuring groundwater sustainability for residents, businesses and farms in the Salinas Valley and we are ready to get to work.”
The 180/400-Foot Aquifer GSP submitted by the SVBGSA was among the first to be approved in the state by the California Department of Water Resources in June 2021.
The California State Legislature passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in 2014 in response to a scientific understanding that groundwater in California is being used faster than it’s being replenished. The act requires designated groundwater basins to form a public agency to develop a groundwater management plan and implement actions that will help local subbasins reach or maintain groundwater sustainability. The Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency was created in 2017.
About the Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency
The SVBGSA was formed to develop comprehensive groundwater sustainability plans and implement the plans to achieve groundwater sustainability by 2042. The Agency’s 11-member Board is comprised of stakeholders who represent diverse interests from across the Salinas Valley. Learn more at www.svbgsa.org and on Facebook and Instagram.