Groundwater/SGMA Educational Videos are available at the links below, from the California Department of Water Resources (Oct. 2021):
Groundwater Video in English | Groundwater Video in Spanish
SGMA Background
On September 16, 2014, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a three-bill legislative package, composed of AB 1739 (Dickinson), SB 1168 (Pavley), and SB 1319 (Pavley), collectively known as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). For the first time in its history, California has a framework for sustainable groundwater management – “management and use of groundwater in a manner that can be maintained during the planning and implementation horizon without causing undesirable results.”
SGMA requires local agencies in high and medium priority basins to maintain or bring groundwater basins into balanced levels of pumping and recharge. Under SGMA, these basins should reach sustainability within 20 years of implementing their sustainability plans. For critically over-drafted basins, that will be 2040. For the remaining high and medium priority basins, including the Colusa and West Butte subbasins, 2042 is the deadline.
In his signing statement, the governor emphasized that “groundwater management in California is best accomplished locally.” SGMA empowers local agencies to form Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) to manage basins sustainably and requires those GSAs to adopt Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) for high and medium priority groundwater basins in California.
Helpful Links:
California Department of Water Resources SGMA Program
State Water Resources Control Board SGMA Page