Stanislaus farmers avoid state groundwater intervention with board decision
A groundwater subbasin in western Stanislaus and nearby counties is no longer threatened with state probation, thanks to a water board decision Tuesday.
The state Water Resources Control Board took action to move the Delta-Mendota Subbasin back to the jurisdiction of the California Department of Water Resources.
Under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, groundwater agencies are referred for “state intervention” if they’re not showing they can manage groundwater sustainably.
Twenty-three agencies, including the cities of Patterson and Los Banos and many water districts, are in the Delta-Mendota Subbasin, which was referred to the state Water Resources Control Board in 2023 for intervention because their sustainability plans were inconsistent and would not result in stable groundwater levels.
Faced with state fees and well monitoring, the local agencies adopted a unified plan that included improvements and a mitigation program for drinking water wells.
A staff assessment prepared for Tuesday’s board meeting found the agencies made significant progress and eliminated many deficiencies in a 2022 groundwater plan. “Through the 2024 (plan), the (agencies) show greater commitment to protecting drinking water users and improved groundwater management,” the staff assessment said.
Board chairman E. Joaquin Esquivel praised the effort in a State Water Resources Control Board news release: “Delta-Mendota is the fourth subbasin to exit state intervention after groundwater agencies came together and coalesced around the common goal of achieving sustainability. I congratulate the agencies on their cooperation and partnership, which will be key to managing the subbasin’s groundwater in the future.”
In October 2024, Stanislaus County supervisors approved a groundwater pumping reduction plan for the West Side of the county in hopes of alleviating the threat of state intervention. The state has considered the groundwater subbasin to be critically overdrafted.
The 2024 plan included monitoring, mitigations to prevent overdraft and measures to prevent ground subsidence. The agencies agreed to a plan that aims to reduce pumping from a deep aquifer by 9,000 acre feet annually until 2030.
The Delta-Mendota Subbasin is one of four groundwater basins in Stanislaus County subject to state regulation under SGMA, a law signed by former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2014. The others are the Modesto, Turlock and Eastern San Joaquin sustainability areas.
