David Schmalz here, with an interesting update on how the Salinas Valley can stabilize its groundwater levels, a critical problem to solve in order to halt the inland march of seawater intrusion into aquifers, which fouls wells and makes water unsuitable for drinking and irrigation.
Areas around the coast by the Salinas River, from Marina to Elkhorn Slough, have seen seawater intrusion as early as 1944, as growers have pumped more water out of the aquifers than their rate of recharge, which creates a pressure differential that causes seawater to get pulled into aquifers to fill the vacuum.
Efforts to halt that intrusion, like the rubber dam in the Salinas River northeast of the landfill in Marina, have so far failed.
Enter a new acronym to put in the soup—the Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program (MLRP), a state-funded initiative to reduce reliance on overdrafted groundwater basins. Through a $10 million state grant awarded to the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation, a consortium of partners, including the Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency, have launched the Recharge Work Group, which had its first meeting Oct. 23.
The idea behind the program is to take the least productive, most flood-prone land out of production with the hope it can help stabilize groundwater levels, and the bulk of the $10 million is earmarked for land acquisition.
Read more in the article by Monterey County Now.