Millions awarded to Central Valley groundwater agencies

23ABC News

Efforts to preserve groundwater supplies for communities continue in the Central Valley as the Department of Water Resources has awarded millions of dollars to groundwater sustainability agencies through a new program.

Transcript

00:00 All right, thank you Tomas. We begin this hour with the latest effort to preserve

00:03 groundwater supplies for communities in the Central Valley as the Department of

00:07 Water Resources has awarded millions to groundwater sustainability agencies

00:12 through a new program. Here's 23 ABC's Brianna Polk with a breakdown of this

00:17 recent initiative. The Department of Water Resources developed the Landflex

00:21 grant program to provide immediate drought relief and limit unsustainable

00:25 groundwater pumping and critically overdrought basins right here in the

00:29 Central Valley. Landflex big picture is providing a connection between

00:34 water management, successful implementation of SGMA and then

00:38 human rights to water. So making sure that all lands enrolled in these

00:43 critically overdrafted basins are in compliance with SGMA from here until

00:47 2040 but also providing relief to domestic drinking water wells. The

00:53 state's Department of Water Resources says the grants that are awarded to

00:56 groundwater sustainability agencies not only allow them to work directly with

01:01 interested growers, the funding can also be used to help permanently eliminate

01:05 groundwater over pumping. Teji Sandhu, Landflex program manager with the

01:09 Department of Water Resources says when the program launched there were seven

01:13 critically overdrafted basins that qualified. During the program's first

01:17 phase there were three groundwater agencies or GSA's awarded and during the

01:21 second phase the remaining agencies will be awarded. With the remaining funds we

01:26 opened up a phase two and offered it to the four remaining eligible GSA's which

01:32 were lower Thule, Pixley GSA, Westlands and Mid Coahuila. Sandhu says a lot of

01:39 critically overdrafted basins are supposed to be under the Sustainable

01:43 Groundwater Management Act compliance by 2040 which is why the department is

01:47 asking them to do so 18 years early. According to the Department of Water

01:51 Resources the act requires local agencies to form groundwater

01:55 sustainability agencies for high and medium priority basins. From there the

02:00 agencies develop and implement groundwater sustainability plans or GSP's

02:05 to mitigate overdraft within 20 years. That could go one of two ways with them

02:10 depending on their business needs but either they're okay doing that but I

02:15 think at this point with some of the GSP's that are coming out inadequate for

02:20 some of these basins that they're wanting to get their growers and their

02:24 basins into compliance sooner. And if you'd like to learn more information

02:27 about the LandFlex program here in the Central Valley you can visit our website

02:31 turn to 23.com. In studio I'm Brianna Polk 23 ABC News connecting you.

02:38 All right Brianna taking a deeper look into the LandFlex program which provides

02:42 a total of 25 million dollars in grant funds for groundwater sustainability

02:47 agencies. Phase one was launched in January and provided funds for the three

02:51 highest ranking GSA's Madera County, Greater Cahuilla and Eastern Thule. Phase

02:57 two began last month opening up ten million dollars to the lower Thule

03:01 River Irrigation District, the Pixley Irrigation District as well as the Mid

03:06 Cahuilla and Westside Water Districts. Growers with land in these GSA's can

03:11 apply for those funds by going to LandFlex.org

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended