(1) Existing law, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, requires all groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins by the Department of Water Resources to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans, except as specified. Existing law defines various terms for purposes of the act.

This bill would add various defined terms for purposes of the act, including the terms “managed wetland” and “small community water system.”

(2) Existing law authorizes any local agency or combination of local agencies overlying a groundwater basin to decide to become a groundwater sustainability agency for that basin and imposes specified duties upon that agency or combination of agencies, as provided. Existing law grants a groundwater sustainability agency specified authority and authorizes a groundwater sustainability agency to regulate groundwater extraction using that authority.

This bill would prohibit a groundwater sustainability agency from using that authority regarding the establishment of groundwater extraction allocations for small community water systems serving disadvantaged communities from permitted public water supply wells and to managed wetland extractors, except as specified. The bill would repeal this provision on January 1, 2029.

(3) Existing law requires a groundwater sustainability plan, where appropriate and in collaboration with the appropriate local agencies, to contain certain information, including control of saline water intrusion, wellhead protection areas and recharge areas, a well abandonment and well destruction program, well construction policies, and impacts on groundwater-dependent ecosystems.

This bill would additionally require the information regarding a groundwater sustainability plan to include, among other things, the plan’s water supply and economic impacts on managed wetlands, managed wetland extractors, and small community water systems serving disadvantaged communities. The bill would repeal this provision on January 1, 2029.

(4) Existing law authorizes a groundwater sustainability agency that adopts a groundwater sustainability plan to impose fees on the extraction of groundwater from the basin to fund costs of groundwater management, as specified.

This bill would prohibit a groundwater sustainability agency from imposing a fee upon a small community water system serving a disadvantaged community or imposing a fee for managed wetland purposes, provided the water use for each user does not increase above what was historically required to support the small community water system or the managed wetland. If a small community water system or a managed wetland extractor increases its extraction of groundwater above what was historically required to support the small community water system or annually flood the managed wetland, the bill would authorize a groundwater sustainability agency to impose a fee for the usage above the historical amount. The bill would repeal this provision on January 1, 2029.