TID Water & Power Podcast

Sustainable Groundwater Management Act

February 09, 2022 Turlock Irrigation District Episode 10
TID Water & Power Podcast
Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
Show Notes Transcript

On Episode 10 of the TID Water & Power Podcast we sit down with TID’s Herb Smart to discuss the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014, better known as SGMA.

Following the third year of a historic drought, the state passed a series of bills that would become SGMA and would become the framework for how groundwater would be managed throughout California.  Over the last several years, TID has been working in concert with local cities and water agencies to develop a plan for how to manage groundwater sustainably in our region.

On this episode we discuss how groundwater is used in our region, the work TID has done to comply with SGMA, and what the future of groundwater sustainability looks like for TID customers. 

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Find out more about TID at https://www.TID.org/podcast

Let’s get social!
Facebook: @TurlockID
Instagram: @TurlockID
Twitter: @TurlockID
LinkedIn: /company/turlockid

Find out more about TID at https://www.TID.org/podcast.

00;00;06;02 - 00;00;21;26
Speaker 1
Hello and welcome to the TID Water and Power Podcast. I'm your host, Constance Anderson. And on this month's episode, we're discussing the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014, also known as SGMA. And we're going to talk about how groundwater is managed in our region.

00;00;22;20 - 00;00;42;01
Speaker 1
Following the third year of a historic drought, the state passed a series of bills that would become SGMA and would be the framework for how groundwater would be managed throughout California. Today, we'll learn what TID was doing to responsibly manage groundwater before the days of SGMA and talk about the ways in which TID has been working in

00;00;42;01 - 00;00;59;09
Speaker 1
concert with local cities and water agencies to develop a plan for how to manage groundwater sustainably in our region. Since SGMA passed in 2014, on this episode, I'm joined by TID regulatory analyst Herb Smart to discuss how groundwater is used in our region.

00;00;59;18 - 00;01;09;04
Speaker 1
The work that TID has done to comply with SGMA and what the future of groundwater sustainability looks like for customers. Herb, thanks for sitting down with us today.

00;01;10;00 - 00;01;11;05
Speaker 2
Thank you. Happy to be here.

00;01;12;01 - 00;01;20;09
Speaker 1
Why don't you start, if you would, by giving us a little bit of background on your history with the district leading up to your current role as regulatory analyst?

00;01;20;25 - 00;01;45;12
Speaker 2
Sure. I've been with Turlock Irrigation District for over 11 years now, and I started off back in 2010 as a public information specialist working in media affairs and in media relations. And I transitioned a little bit after that to working as a water resource analyst, working on regulatory roles with TID, interacting with the state and federal government

00;01;46;00 - 00;02;02;09
Speaker 2
. After that, I worked for a few years as communications division manager, and then my current role I've been in for a little over four years now as a regulatory analyst for the government affairs team at TID, focusing specifically on water issues.

00;02;02;25 - 00;02;22;15
Speaker 2
As far as getting into the SGMA process, I started off back in 2014 as the bill was being drafted actually. At that time there was not a legislative analyst who looked at bills. So I was asked to take a look at the three bills and analyze them as far as their role and how they could impact the

00;02;22;15 - 00;02;36;21
Speaker 2
district, either managerial or financially. And so I took a look back at it then, and since then I've been involved in SGMA through a number of outreach angles and then through a lot of policy decisions that have come at the district.

00;02;37;01 - 00;02;42;29
Speaker 1
Okay. So you've really been part of the SGMA movement from the ground floor, if you will?

00;02;43;16 - 00;02;44;25
Speaker 2
Yeah, definitely.

00;02;45;05 - 00;02;48;23
Speaker 1
Great. Okay. Well, let's start there. Why don't you tell us what is SGMA?

00;02;49;11 - 00;03;08;09
Speaker 2
Well, that's the million dollar question, right? SGMA stands for the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014. It was signed into law in 2014 by then, Governor Brown. But it it really kind of had it's rumblings during that drought era leading into it's September 2014 signage.

00;03;09;13 - 00;03;27;20
Speaker 2
California basically became through SGMA, one of the last states in the nation to regulate groundwater. Actually, the last state in the nation to regulate groundwater and prior to that groundwater in California was essentially self-regulated through various litany of court cases and local ordinances.

00;03;27;20 - 00;03;43;13
Speaker 2
There was no state law on the books. One of the things to remember is that SGMA set out a framework in which groundwater would be regulated throughout the state and rather than the state and this happened through a lot of discussions and negotiations.

00;03;43;13 - 00;04;06;22
Speaker 2
Rather than the state putting a statewide blanket of restrictions on groundwater and management actions, they decided to focus on local groundwater management and let the local agencies manage groundwater. And at the time, that's when the historic quote from then Governor Jerry Brown came, where he said that groundwater management in California is best accomplished locally.

00;04;07;08 - 00;04;26;07
Speaker 1
And that's certainly a principle that TID agrees with with regard to local decision making as a community owned utility local decision making is definitely a benefit that we enjoy. So we appreciate the opportunity to be able to manage something as important as groundwater locally to to meet local needs.

00;04;27;00 - 00;04;32;00
Speaker 1
So within the framework of SGMA, what does that mean to us locally?

00;04;33;06 - 00;04;45;21
Speaker 2
It actually means a lot. I mean, this is the first time this is the first time that groundwater has been mandated to be managed through a certain way at the statewide level. And so there's going to be a lot of changes that come with that.

00;04;46;00 - 00;05;05;01
Speaker 2
A lot of people in the state have said that this is the largest change in water management in over a century. And so SGMA requires a couple of things. It requires that local agencies need to form what are called groundwater sustainability agencies or GSA's, as you'll hear us talk about a lot today.

00;05;05;20 - 00;05;31;08
Speaker 2
And they need to those GSA's need to develop and implement groundwater sustainability plans or GSP's to achieve sustainability over the next 20 years. Specifically, the sub basins that needed to comply were those that were defined by the state as medium and or high priority sub basins and of the states sub basins.

00;05;31;15 - 00;05;35;26
Speaker 2 
94 of 515 meet that classification.

00;05;37;03 - 00;05;53;03
Speaker 1
So just to to double back on that, there are 515 sub basins in the state of California, 94 of which have been identified as medium or high priority sub basins. The Turlock Sub Basin is one of those.

00;05;53;15 - 00;05;54;17
Speaker 2
Correct. Exactly.

00;05;54;23 - 00;06;04;10
Speaker 1
Okay. And what about the other 400 plus sub basins that weren't identified as medium or high priority? What are they beholden to?

00;06;04;18 - 00;06;27;25
Speaker 2
Well, so these other sub basins, as you said, some 400 or so, they're prioritized as either low or extra low or very low is the actual term from the state level priorities. And so the state encourages them and see, it says that nothing for those basins precludes them from developing a groundwater sustainability plan.

00;06;28;03 - 00;06;30;28
Speaker 2
But they're not required by the state to do that.

00;06;31;17 - 00;06;46;04
Speaker 1
All right. So the Turlock sub basin is defined as a medium or high priority sub basin. So we are required, then, as you mentioned, to create the groundwater sustainability plan for our area. What happens if we don't comply with SGMA?

00;06;47;00 - 00;07;13;05
Speaker 2
So SGMA created the framework for us to regulate groundwater locally. If it's not regulated locally, the state essentially has the ability to come in and regulate groundwater as they see fit, and that would include a fee structure that would include monitoring of wells and that would also include various managerial actions that some would see as draconian, such

00;07;13;05 - 00;07;14;26
Speaker 2
as pumping regulations.

00;07;16;13 - 00;07;28;10
Speaker 1
So it really is an opportunity for us then to take matters into our own hands and and create a framework that works best for our local area with regard to how we manage groundwater.

00;07;28;26 - 00;07;49;07
Speaker 2
Exactly. Constance, the rally cry back in 2014 when we were thinking about what would happen if the state would intervene instead of letting locals regulate groundwater was we want to have the ability as we have for over many years in passed to regulate groundwater through the channels that we are familiar with.

00;07;49;07 - 00;07;57;00
Speaker 2
And so we asked them to let us regulate groundwater locally. They gave us the ability to do it. And so now that's where we're at.

00;07;57;12 - 00;08;04;14
Speaker 1
Very good. And who better to know the strengths and the challenges of our area than those who are locally doing the work?

00;08;04;27 - 00;08;05;14
Speaker 2
Exactly.

00;08;06;01 - 00;08;09;25
Speaker 1
Okay. So then where is TID currently in this process?

00;08;10;19 - 00;08;31;25
Speaker 2
So on January 6th of this year, the West Turlock Sub Basin GSA, of which TID is a member, and the East Turlock Sub Basin GSA boards adopted a single GSP to manage the Sub Basin. That GSP was submitted to the state's Department of Water Resources prior to the January 31st, 2022 deadline.

00;08;32;22 - 00;08;48;27
Speaker 1
Okay. So we've gone from the evolution of SGMA in 2014 to the submission of our plan just a couple of weeks ago, and we're kind of talking at a very high level. So let's back up a little bit and fill in some of the details around this, starting with exactly what is groundwater.

00;08;49;25 - 00;09;14;18
Speaker 2
Yeah, it's a good question, especially because the G and SGMA is groundwater, right? So groundwater is exactly what it sounds like. It's water underground and specifically water from rains, rivers, flood, irrigation. They all seep into the ground through the layers of rock and soil that collect in aquifers that we ultimately draw water from.

00;09;15;19 - 00;09;34;02
Speaker 2
I think the biggest thing is to kind of think of it, and I describe this to the people. It's like a giant reservoir underground. You know, we talk a lot about Don Pedro is a surface water reservoir. Really, groundwater is an underground reservoir that can be used in times of need and also store water in times of

00;09;34;02 - 00;09;34;16
Speaker 2
plenty.

00;09;35;00 - 00;09;37;20
Speaker 1
And how do we actually use groundwater in our area?

00;09;38;22 - 00;09;56;13
Speaker 2
Groundwater is used for a number of different purposes within the Turlock Sub Basin. There's obviously municipal use where where cities such as Turlock and Ceres and Houston and then other surrounding communities use water to pump it and provide for for citizens.

00;09;56;23 - 00;10;19;08
Speaker 2
There are domestic wells where people that are outside of city boundaries or service area boundaries in like you pick up from that out in the country, various ranches they'll pump from their domestic wells as well. Obviously, being Turlock Irrigation District, we pump water from groundwater wells for our customers, as do individual well owners who have pumping that

00;10;19;08 - 00;10;39;11
Speaker 2
is augmented or complementary to their surface water that they receive. TID supplements its surface water that we get from the Tuolumne River with groundwater. That basically means that the water that as you're as you are driving over canals or walking by canals, the water that you see during the irrigation season is a mix of Tuolumne river

00;10;39;11 - 00;10;43;25
Speaker 2
water and groundwater that's pumped from TID into those canals.

00;10;44;21 - 00;10;50;02
Speaker 1
Can you go into that a little bit more? At what point do we supplement a surface water with groundwater?

00;10;50;10 - 00;11;17;01
Speaker 2
So on average, from 1991 to 2019, according to our AG Water Management Plan, about 18% of water that's delivered to growers from TID comes from groundwater, came from groundwater. Obviously, you see that number increase during droughts. For example, in 2015, TID delivered water to growers consisting of about 38% groundwater.

00;11;17;14 - 00;11;41;01
Speaker 2
You can contrast that from years like years of plenty, like 2017 and 2019, where only 12% of water in those wet years of TID's mixed to customers came from groundwater. I'll note that statewide in dry years, some 46% or more of supply comes directly from groundwater.

00;11;42;05 - 00;11;51;22
Speaker 1
So if I understand you correctly, then our service territory pumps much less groundwater for ag purposes than the whole of the state.

00;11;52;22 - 00;12;06;27
Speaker 2
Exactly. That's exactly right. You know, as you see TID will pump in the worst of years, historically, 38% of its supply from groundwater at the state level. In its worst of years, it's 46% or higher.

00;12;07;02 - 00;12;11;10
Speaker 2
And we credit that a lot to having usage of surface water to the from the Tuolumne River.

00;12;12;25 - 00;12;24;08
Speaker 1
And then let's talk about the replenishment side of that because TID is also does a really good job of replenishing what we take out of groundwater and recharging that. Is that right?

00;12;24;20 - 00;12;48;22
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's exactly right, Constance. Irrigation for crops specifically in the form of flood irrigation is for the Turlock Sub Basin at least what recharges the aquifer and keeps that reservoir. As we mentioned earlier, most for. TID we found is and a lot of people know this because when you have surface water and you constructively use it with

00;12;48;22 - 00;13;14;12
Speaker 2
groundwater and you use more surface water than groundwater tea, TID becomes a net recharge of groundwater. And is we find that on an annual average basis, from 1991 to 2019, approximately 180,000 acre feet of water was recharged into the Turlock sub basin from  TID delivered water and in dry years that number is around 120,000 acre feet within

00;13;14;12 - 00;13;27;28
Speaker 2
TID service territory. We're known basically by our water industry colleagues and other local agencies around us as the groundwater stewards in the sub basin and have taken leadership efforts to approach that as well.

00;13;28;24 - 00;13;45;17
Speaker 1
That's excellent. All right. Let's talk about territory. When we talk about groundwater, we refer to sub basins as we have many times already what is meant by sub basin or how is a geographical area defined as a sub basin?

00;13;47;04 - 00;14;09;14
Speaker 2
That's a good question, Constance. So sub basins basins and sub basins actually are defined by the state in what's called Bulletin 118. It's a document produced regularly by the state's Department of Water Resources. It was first drafted back in 1975.

00;14;09;21 - 00;14;24;22
Speaker 2
As far as a statewide a statewide look. And it really aims to define basins and sub basins, not so much by jurisdictional boundaries, but rather hydrological boundaries such as rivers and streams.

00;14;25;26 - 00;14;35;01
Speaker 1
So if you were to float above California and look down on the Earth, how is the our sub basin? How is the Turlock sub basin bordered?

00;14;35;27 - 00;14;47;02
Speaker 2
Sure, that's a good question. I think before we talk a little bit about the details of the Turlock sub basin and it's best to kind of, you know, back up a little bit and take a look at the state's basins and sub basins as a whole.
        
00;14;47;20 - 00;15;02;05
Speaker 2
I think if you look at our Central Valley, you see the San Joaquin Valley. And the state has identified that through bulletin 118 as the San Joaquin Valley Basin, a large unit essentially running up and down the state.

00;15;02;20 - 00;15;25;04
Speaker 2
And if you take a look at that, you can see that the Turlock sub basin is a sub unit or sub basin, as it's called, of course, of that San Joaquin Valley basin. Now, the Turlock sub basin is bordered by the Merced River on the south, the Tuolumne River to the north and the San Joaquin River

00;15;25;04 - 00;15;45;02
Speaker 2
to the west. And then as you look to the east, there's no river that it borders. It's essentially the bottom of the Sierra Nevada foothills to the east. And so those four boundaries help define the Turlock Sub Basin, and those boundaries are defined by California's Bulletin 118, and that's its technical name.

00;15;45;10 - 00;16;03;21
Speaker 2
It's also called California's groundwater. It is the state's official groundwater publication. It's was produced all the way back in the fifties. But at the statewide level, the earliest publication was in 1975. The current version that's out is the 2020 version of California's groundwater.

00;16;04;02 - 00;16;10;24
Speaker 2
And the state expects its next version to be produced and published in 2025.

00;16;11;17 - 00;16;17;18
Speaker 1
And with the updating of Bulletin 118, would our Sub Basin Territory ever change?

00;16;18;16 - 00;16;36;29
Speaker 2
The updating the Bulletin 118 would most likely still keep the service territory the same. It takes a lot to change that, but it's going to be roughly the same. As you look at the Turlock sub basins boundary, you see that it's some 347,000 acres.

00;16;36;29 - 00;16;57;15
Speaker 2
It sits atop, honestly, some 347,000 acres. And then if you look at TID's footprint in there, TID has some in its water service territory, 197,000 acres that we cover. And of that, 157,000 of those are considered irrigatable or able to be irrigated.

00;16;59;01 - 00;17;10;19
Speaker 2
As you kind of look at out at the sub basin and you see you kind of ask like what is what is the sub base and consist of as far as land use or footprint. And 72% of that is crops.

00;17;11;01 - 00;17;31;29
Speaker 2
As we irrigate here in the Central Valley, we have a lot of crop production and around 15% of that is considered non irrigated. So think about rangeland in the foothills or places that don't necessarily irrigate water such as Turlock Lake, like large bodies of water and about 7% of the Turlock Sub Basin or roughly 25,000 acres

00;17;32;04 - 00;17;37;22
Speaker 2
, is urban development. Think about Turlock, Ceres, Houston, the cities that provide drinking water.

00;17;39;00 - 00;17;49;19
Speaker 1
So while we're talking about relative size. And Turlock sub basin as a reservoir. How how big is that reservoir? How much can that reservoir hold?

00;17;50;18 - 00;18;09;06
Speaker 2
So the Turlock sub base and has a capacity or an estimated capacity of approximately 30 million acre feet of water to at least the base of fresh water. And that's a large number. Obviously, it's equivalent to about 15 Don Pedro's and that's a lot of water.

00;18;09;16 - 00;18;19;06
Speaker 2
Now, even if we look at the sub basin to a depth of 300 feet, that provides about 15.8 million acre feet of storage.

00;18;19;28 - 00;18;32;25
Speaker 1
Wow. Okay. That that's helpful. 15 Don Pedros that that helps put it in perspective. So within the sub basin, the area where the groundwater is stored is is actually called and aquifer,right?

00;18;33;05 - 00;18;33;21
Speaker 2
That's correct.

00;18;33;25 - 00;18;45;27
Speaker 1
Okay. So how deep is the Turlock Sub Basin Aquifer? And if we were to cut a cross-section of the earth, what sort of layers does the water have to work its way through to reach this aquifer?

00;18;47;10 - 00;19;08;00
Speaker 2
So the Turlock sub basin is as can be as deep as 2000 feet below below surface elevation for at least the far western portion of the sub basin. We find that that's obviously a little bit different. There's much more, much more depth as you go toward the west of the sub basin.

00;19;08;07 - 00;19;19;26
Speaker 2
Going toward the east, there's obviously obviously much less because you're the way water wants to move and groundwater wants to move but wants to move from the foothills in the east to the ocean in the west, obviously is not going to reach the ocean.

00;19;19;26 - 00;19;32;09
Speaker 2
It's going to go toward the San Joaquin River, which is the boundary of the sub basin. But as you take a look at at the cross-section, as you mentioned, if you will, of the sub basin, it's extremely complex.

00;19;32;15 - 00;19;49;09
Speaker 2
But the best way I like to define it. Of course, me not being a hydrogeologist is that there's six different formations like think of it as like a layer cake of of the sub basin. And these formations, they all have specific names, but they cover three different aquifers.

00;19;50;01 - 00;20;05;08
Speaker 2
There's an unconfined aquifer, a freshwater confined aquifer, and then a saline or saline confined aquifer. And these those make up this layer cake that we talked about of the sub basin. I think specifically to the Turlock sub basin.

00;20;05;18 - 00;20;27;10
Speaker 2
There is a small layer of clay specifically called the Corcoran Clay, which is a technical term here in Aqua Tarde that actually stops the flow of water from one aquifer to the next. But ultimately, as you look at it, aquifer as deep as 2000 feet below sea level and that varies throughout the sub basin as you move

00;20;27;19 - 00;20;32;26
Speaker 2
from east, where it's shallowest to west, where it's at its deepest.

00;20;34;14 - 00;20;55;06
Speaker 1
Okay. So besides making me hungry with your talk of Layer Cake, you mentioned that the aquifer or the sub basin, rather has a capacity of 30 million acre feet. Now, is that 30 million acre feet divided into these three aquifers, or do the three aquifers each represent 30 million acre feet?

00;20;55;27 - 00;21;15;29
Speaker 2
That's a good distinction, Constance. Yes. So there's 30 million acre feet to the base of fresh water covers each of the three different aquifers. As we look at the sub basin cross-section, so at the top layer, you see this unconfined aquifer that's closer to the surface of the surface of the earth, right in the middle.

00;21;16;04 - 00;21;31;22
Speaker 2
We have what's called a freshwater confined aquifer. And then down at more of the 1500 foot depth, all the way down to the 2000 foot mark that I mentioned earlier, we have what's called the saline or saline, depending on pronunciation, confined aquifer.

00;21;32;03 - 00;21;42;10
Speaker 1
Okay. So then when we talk about tapping into our our groundwater, that groundwater may come out of any one of those three levels of aquifers.

00;21;43;00 - 00;22;00;06
Speaker 2
Yeah. Depending on basically how far the groundwater well goes into the surface. It can come from any one of those three. Obviously to get into the the sailing confined aquifer, you have to have a well that's over 1500 feet deep that it's pretty expensive to do that, to operate it.

00;22;00;20 - 00;22;07;16
Speaker 2
But we find that most of the water in the Turlock sub basin comes from the unconfined aquifer and then the freshwater confined aquifer.

00;22;08;06 - 00;22;20;15
Speaker 1
Okay, excellent. So earlier, while you were walking us through SGMA 101, you mentioned the West and East Turlock, GSA's, or Groundwater Sustainability Agencies. What are those?

00;22;21;29 - 00;22;39;25
Speaker 2
Good question. As we discussed a little bit previously, SGMA requires the formation of what are called groundwater sustainability agencies, and we refer to them as GSA's to develop the plans within the sub basin to manage groundwater in our sub basin.

00;22;39;25 - 00;22;54;02
Speaker 2
And in the Turlock sub basin there were two GSA's that were formed. So we have a West Turlock Sub Basin GSA, which is a 12 agency GSA and an East Turlock sub base and GSA, which has five agencies.

00;22;54;18 - 00;23;02;21
Speaker 2
Both of these agencies were formed separately under Joint Powers Agreements after some two years of discussions Post SGMA.

00;23;03;17 - 00;23;06;19
Speaker 1
And who are the members of each of these GSA?

00;23;07;19 - 00;23;26;28
Speaker 2
Sure. In the West, Turlock Sub Basin, we have Ceres, Hughson, in some portions of Modesto, Turlock and Waterford cities, of course. Then there are some other water districts that are a lot smaller that provide the community. So there's Delhi County Water District, Denair Community Services District.

00;23;27;11 - 00;23;48;02
Speaker 2
Hilmar County Water District, Keyes Community Service District, Stanislaus County, Merced County. And then of course, TID in the East, Turlock Sub Basin, there's Balico Cortez Water District, East Side Water District, Merced Irrigation District, and then of course, Merced County and Stanislaus County as well.

00;23;48;03 - 00;23;51;11
Speaker 2
Each of those counties are in both GSA's.

00;23;52;22 - 00;23;58;13
Speaker 1
And how was it determined which agencies would form the West and the East? Was it purely geographical?

00;23;58;23 - 00;24;21;26
Speaker 2
So SGMA gave a lot of flexibility to each sub basin as far as who or what agencies rather can participate as a GSA or be a member of a GSA. The one thing that SGMA noted was that those agencies need to be what are called local agencies, and the law is clear that local agencies means one of

00;24;22;02 - 00;24;41;16
Speaker 2
three types of agencies either a public agency that deals in water supply, water management or delivery. And then lastly, land use planning, which is where the counties get involved. And so those agencies were the only agencies with the authority to join a GSA.

00;24;42;11 - 00;24;54;28
Speaker 2
And the county has an interesting role. They they act as if like a catchall for those agencies or areas that are not represented by others in the GSA. So think of people outside of water districts or up for us.

00;24;54;28 - 00;25;09;14
Speaker 2
A lot of it is way in the foothills where there's no water agency representation. So the county acts as a catch all for that. And they represent those individual water users and they also the county has land use planning responsibilities which gets them involved as well.

00;25;10;20 - 00;25;15;06
Speaker 1
And I think you started to touch on this earlier, but why split the sub basin in two?

00;25;16;14 - 00;25;30;15
Speaker 2
So the sub basin was split into two GSA's primarily just the way water is, groundwater is used. As you look to the west, Turlock Sub Basin, GSA, there is a surface water component. Water from the Tuolumne river is imported and used here.

00;25;30;22 - 00;25;48;16
Speaker 2
And so there's there's a lot of conjunctive use that occurs between surface water and groundwater as you go to the east Turlock sub basin of GSA and go into that area, you see that groundwater is the sole essentially the sole form of water that is used to irrigate their crops.

00;25;49;28 - 00;26;05;01
Speaker 1
Okay. And then, as you mentioned, two different GSA's, two very different approaches or groundwater needs, I guess you would say, but critical that they work together to ensure the management of groundwater.

00;26;05;13 - 00;26;15;08
Speaker 2
Yeah, exactly. Two GSA's submitting a single plan, working together to manage groundwater within the sub basin despite different uses of water and different needs.

00;26;16;08 - 00;26;26;13
Speaker 1
And just out of curiosity, how does our sub basin compare to other sub basins in terms of either the number of GSA's or the number of GSP's submitted?

00;26;27;24 - 00;26;40;15
Speaker 2
So it depends on the sub basin. People are still submitting plans there. There were agencies that submitted plans or had to submit plans before 2020, and there are some that have submitted plans here in 2022 like we did.

00;26;40;26 - 00;27;03;17
Speaker 2
So you'll find that at the at the statewide level, some sub basins have tens of GSA's and some have submitted multiple GSP's. As you cross the San Joaquin River here and you go into the Delta Mendota Sub Basin, you see that they've submitted six GSP's to manage their basin and it's a large basin spanning a lot of

00;27;03;17 - 00;27;16;13
Speaker 2
territory, but they have six GSP's. If you go to the south of us and look at the Merced sub basin, you'll see that they've only submitted one plan even though they have multiple GSA's similar where sub basin has managed.

00;27;16;21 - 00;27;31;02
Speaker 2
And then the Modesto sub basin to the north has two GSA's working on a single GSP as well. And so you see a just many different ways to manage groundwater and comply with the law and submitted groundwater sustainability plan and a lot of different approaches.

00;27;32;13 - 00;27;42;00
Speaker 1
Creating one GSP seems like a lot of work from my perspective. How does an agency manage creating six different GSP's?

00;27;43;09 - 00;27;58;13
Speaker 2
Yeah, it seems difficult, but people are working toward that. The Department of Water Resources requires these GSP's to be coordinated. If you're having multiple GSP's in a sub basin, they have to be coordinated and they have to be submitted jointly.

00;27;58;26 - 00;28;21;14
Speaker 2
And DWR is going to review those as if it was one single plan. The way in which that is done, as is, is what's been called an intra basin coordination agreement. And those agreements consist of a number of different ways data is going to be monitored or shared and a number of different ways management actions across

00;28;21;14 - 00;28;24;09
Speaker 2
the sub basin won't impede each other.

00;28;25;14 - 00;28;34;28
Speaker 1
Okay. So going back to the two GSA's in the Turlock Sub Basin, what powers do those essays have under SGMA?

00;28;36;09 - 00;28;50;05
Speaker 2
SGMA gave broad authority. As we were talking earlier. You know, we wanted to manage ground water locally. In order to do that, you have to have additional local authority. And so SGMA gave broad authority to do a lot of different things.

00;28;50;14 - 00;29;07;25
Speaker 2
I think most importantly, GSA's, they can impose fees. They can control groundwater extractions by limiting or suspending extractions from individuals or also from the aggregate from the entire sub basin. And those are the two big ones that a lot of people touch on.

00;29;08;08 - 00;29;28;18
Speaker 2
But SGMA also allows GSA's to adopt rules and regulations. They can conduct various investigations. They can require water measuring devices on pumps, which is another big thing. If that were to happen, they can acquire land, buildings, rights of way, and they can even apply for water rights if if water is available in the sub basin.

00;29;29;02 - 00;29;48;17
Speaker 2
They can create voluntary land fallowing programs. They could provide surface water in lieu of groundwater users pumping groundwater. And then they could also impose spacing requirements on well constructions. And some of those words I literally pulled right from the law itself and so broad authorities so that we could manage water locally.

00;29;48;26 - 00;30;02;07
Speaker 2
And we would find that if and we'll talk about this later about what happens if water is it managed locally and the state has to step in. These are the types of things that the state would manage in a much more, let's say, draconian fashion if not managed locally.

00;30;03;07 - 00;30;24;09
Speaker 1
So the GSA's, as, as you stated, have similar authorities then that the state would have. But again, having form these GSA's is that gives us the opportunity to determine locally how our groundwater is managed rather than someone in Sacramento who is unfamiliar with the intricacies of our area or our sub basin telling us how to manage groundwater

00;30;24;09 - 00;30;25;01
Speaker 1
in our area.

00;30;25;16 - 00;30;29;16
Speaker 2
Exactly. Local control is the best way to manage water in California.

00;30;29;20 - 00;30;40;23
Speaker 1
Absolutely. All right. So you've mentioned the Groundwater Sustainability Plan a few times now. Let's dove a little bit deeper into that. What is actually included in our GSP?

00;30;42;16 - 00;31;04;06
Speaker 2
So SGMA requires that that the GSA's that we previously talked about develop these gaps or groundwater sustainability plans. These GSP's basically at the at their at their at their highest level outline how GSA's are going to or at least plan to achieve groundwater sustainability over the next 20 years.

00;31;04;06 - 00;31;24;21
Speaker 2
So for us in the Turlock Sub Basin, that's through 2042 the Turlock Sub Basin and the management agencies that are part of the GSA's. We've been developing our GSP for several years now and we officially submitted the plan to the Department of Water Resources before the January 31st deadline.

00;31;26;02 - 00;31;32;01
Speaker 1
All right. And did all basins have that same January 31st, 2022 deadline?

00;31;32;19 - 00;31;53;13
Speaker 2
Not at all. In fact, many of the sub basins had to submit their GSP's prior to January 31st of 2020. And it's an important distinction to make that there are 21 sub basins in the state that are designated by the state's Department of Water Resources as what's called critically over drafted basins.

00;31;53;24 - 00;32;11;15
Speaker 2
And as you take a look, as we mentioned earlier, you know, the whole San Joaquin Valley, you take a look at the San Joaquin Valley Basin and all of the sub basins within that, with the exception of the Turlock Sub Basin and the Modesto sub basin have been deemed critically over drafted.

00;32;11;24 - 00;32;32;13
Speaker 2
And you'll see that there are some other some other sub basins in the state, you know, down south and toward the coast that have that same distinction. But essentially the entire San Joaquin Valley is in that state and had to submit their plans before January 31st of 2020, with the exception of Turlock and Modesto sub basins.

00;32;32;21 - 00;32;49;23
Speaker 1
So really then the difference in the deadlines that were imposed were based on how the state qualified basins in terms of are they highly over drafted, are they medium over drafted or are they then critically over drafted?

00;32;50;29 - 00;33;07;21
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's that's the way to look at it. So the Turlock Sub Basin, it was it's classified as one of 94 high or medium priority sub basins by the state. But at the same time, it was not considered one of the 21 critically over drafted sub basins.

00;33;08;00 - 00;33;23;02
Speaker 2
And so you take a look and see see Turlock, the Turlock sub basins, one of 515, as we mentioned before, 515 sub basins, but also one of 94 high or medium priority sub basins. And that requires us to comply with SGMA.

00;33;23;12 - 00;33;42;05
Speaker 2
But what it doesn't require us is to submit a plan before 2020, because we're not listed by the state in a designation of being critically over drafted, which gives us two more years until 2022. Critically over drafted sub basins had to submit their gaps to the state two years earlier than the Turlock Sub Basin does and they

00;33;42;05 - 00;34;03;10
Speaker 2
had to submit those in 2020 thanks to the surface water that TID uses in the Turlock Sub Basin. Our sub basin has been able to manage groundwater levels efficiently and and especially prior to SGMA. And we credit that one of the reasons why we weren't deemed in the Turlock sub base and it's critically over drafted because of

00;34;03;10 - 00;34;14;22
Speaker 2
that conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater being able to put the basin in a much better condition. And, and that's one of the reasons why we probably got two extra years to submit the plan.

00;34;16;01 - 00;34;29;17
Speaker 1
So because of the reliable stewardship of TID surface water from the Tuolumne that enabled us to more effectively recharge groundwater within the Luxor Basin. As you as you mentioned previously, is that right?

00;34;30;06 - 00;34;55;09
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's exactly right, Constance. So TID we use a conjunctive use model to operate our to manage water for our surface area. What that basically means is that we pump groundwater in the dry years to supplement surface water and apply additional surface water in wet years to recharge the aquifer.

00;34;55;11 - 00;35;10;09
Speaker 2
And so it's this this balanced approach to the way we manage groundwater. You pump water more water than you normally would in the dry years. But in the wet years, recharge more into that reservoir and that underground reservoir, so to speak, as we mentioned.

00;35;10;16 - 00;35;28;20
Speaker 2
And so stewardship is important for TID. And that's one of the reasons conjunctive use has been has been influential and is mentioned regularly in our groundwater sustainability plan. You'll find that TID was pivotal in developing the first groundwater management plan in the sub basin.

00;35;28;21 - 00;35;47;07
Speaker 2
Now that's different than a groundwater sustainability plan, of course, but a groundwater management plan was developed by TID back in 1993. And and thanks to all of this conjunctive use that's been we've been talking about surface water being used in conjunction with groundwater in a way that keeps things sustainable.

00;35;47;15 - 00;36;09;09
Speaker 2
TID has been a net recharge here in the sub basin of some 180,000 acre feet annually. And so it's a lot of water going back in because of conjunctive use and because of our growers flood managing primarily their crops and having that water percolate deep into the sub basin.

00;36;11;01 - 00;36;35;18
Speaker 2
One more thing to mention as we talk about stewardship is TID was a founding member back in 1995 of the Turlock Groundwater Basin Association. It was basically prior to SGMA, obviously, and it was a GSP of agencies getting together, local agencies getting together to coordinate groundwater management activities prior to SGMA and the TGBA, as we call

00;36;35;18 - 00;36;49;15
Speaker 2
it, was formed under a memorandum of understanding, and it was formed and it developed a sub basin wide groundwater management plan, which was completed in 1997 and then again in 2008.

00;36;50;15 - 00;36;57;29
Speaker 1
So the Turlock Groundwater Basin Association then was really kind of the precursor to our GSA in this area.

00;36;59;07 - 00;37;16;02
Speaker 2
Yeah, it was it was it was kind of like the the had the underpinnings of the types of agencies that are now involved in, in the GSA's themselves, the member agencies and so TID and others. We've been at the table talking about groundwater and how to best management locally.

00;37;16;11 - 00;37;34;15
Speaker 2
Even before SGMA came in with various requirements and and there were a few laws that spurred that on in terms of developing a kind of a comprehensive groundwater plan, kind of a lay of the land plan, if you will, as opposed to now with SGMA's passage, a more here's the lay of the land and here's how we're

00;37;34;15 - 00;37;37;06
Speaker 2
going to manage it as sustainability through 2042.

00;37;37;27 - 00;37;55;22
Speaker 1
And I would have to imagine that that was hugely helpful in already having that sort of history and that sort of coordination with a lot of the agencies and the entities that were involved with the Turlock Groundwater Basin Association then becoming the the East and West Sub Basin groups.

00;37;55;29 - 00;38;13;17
Speaker 2
Yeah, I mean, that's exactly it. Think about it. If you're around a table talking with people about how to manage a resource prior to having to develop projects and management actions in resulting from a new law, there's a lot of trust that's gained there and a lot of a lot of acquaintances that are made on, on.

00;38;13;17 - 00;38;29;26
Speaker 2
And there's a lot of frankly, a lot of respect that comes from managing groundwater with your peers, especially if they're not part of the same agency as you. Groundwater is a competing interest in resource in the state and to be able to develop relationships and trust early back in the nineties, as far back in the nineties has

00;38;29;26 - 00;38;39;16
Speaker 2
put us on a good course to develop a GSP that we think is not only going to be cooperative but is going to lead us towards sustainability by 2042.

00;38;39;22 - 00;38;49;12
Speaker 1
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So going back to our GSP, then we submitted our plan at the end of last month. And what exactly is in the plan?

00;38;50;18 - 00;39;06;14
Speaker 2
There is a lot in the plan. I mean, for starters, the plan is roughly 1300 pages long. Wow. And yeah, and it's it's file size was somewhere north of 500 megabytes before it was uploaded to the Department of Water Resources website.

00;39;06;21 - 00;39;21;24
Speaker 2
So it's big. It's there's a lot of data in there. There's a lot of there's a lot of text, there's a lot of figures, but it's needed. And when we look at the contents at at the highest level of the plan, you'll see sections that are covering communication and outreach.

00;39;21;24 - 00;39;36;25
Speaker 2
You know what we've done? There's a section or a chapter on the basin setting. It basically describes the Turlock sub basin as we have in in past plans of what it consists of and some of the things honestly that we've talked about today about how big it is, how water is used in the sub basin.

00;39;37;17 - 00;39;56;15
Speaker 2
Then there's a section that covers water budgets and much like your your checkbook, it's where the water goes and how you how you get it and where it goes in the sub basin in order to do that. One of the huge components of the water budget section was the development of a comprehensive sub basin water model or

00;39;56;15 - 00;40;17;15
Speaker 2
you know, the inputs and the outputs this sub basin and it covers historical groundwater usage as well as what forecasted usage could be for how we run different model scenarios. Another section is the Sustainable Management Criteria section, probably the section to get the most amount of interest, because this section is how we say how we're going to

00;40;17;15 - 00;40;31;22
Speaker 2
manage groundwater to avoid what we'll get to in a minute, what are called undesirable results. But there's other sections one, monitoring networks, how we would monitor these types of things and monitor sustainable management criteria. You've got to have a way to measure that.

00;40;32;03 - 00;40;47;11
Speaker 2
And then there's a project and management actions section as well, and there's a number of different projects and management actions that we're recommending for the Turlock Sub Basin in the GSP. But really you see that there's two kinds of solutions you can kind of get to.

00;40;47;11 - 00;41;01;24
Speaker 2
When you have a limited resource and you want to management manage it, you either you find new water supply to go into the groundwater system or you take some sort of existing water demand or limit water demand that's in the system.

00;41;02;04 - 00;41;22;15
Speaker 2
And the projects and management actions that we've come up with are not like some, some piece by piece, date by date, what project we do when it's more so of a menu of possibilities that are going to be at the disposal of the GSA's as they're implementing the GSP to reach the goals that are stated in the

00;41;22;15 - 00;41;40;14
Speaker 2
GSP. And so there's a lot going on in there and we even talk a little bit about implementation of what it's going to look like as we move forward to implement the plan. So there's a lot that's in there and I'll make an important little, little distinction as well that every year we're going to communicate with the

00;41;40;14 - 00;41;56;23
Speaker 2
Department of Water Resources and give an annual report on the plan. And then every five years, we're required to update the plan and change a few things around to show various changes in the water dynamics within the sub basin.

00;41;56;23 - 00;42;05;11
Speaker 2
And so that doesn't necessarily mean we're going to change the definition of what's sustainable or not, but it definitely will give an idea to the department of how things are going.

00;42;06;07 - 00;42;24;20
Speaker 1
And I like, again, that reflection of local control when you referenced the menu of possibilities. So the the plan lays out certain sustainability goals that we have to hit. But how we get there is really up to the agencies that are involved in this, the different possibilities that are laid out within the plan.

00;42;25;08 - 00;42;36;02
Speaker 2
Exactly. Yeah, local control is given to us and that's exactly what we're going to do. And so in the GSP, you see a list of what we can do to reach sustainability and how we're going to do it.

00;42;36;02 - 00;42;47;11
Speaker 2
It's really a flexible way to manage the sub basin. And and as you've heard a lot in California water policy these days, it's a way to adaptively manage the sub basin.

00;42;47;28 - 00;42;54;21
Speaker 1
Okay. So can you walk us through a little bit of in regards to the development of the plan?

00;42;55;26 - 00;43;09;06
Speaker 2
Yeah. A lot went into the development of the GSP. I mean, you got to think for a second, even just the technical components, I mean, you have a 1300 page or so document. There's a lot of technical, technical details that go in there.

00;43;10;01 - 00;43;24;06
Speaker 2
And you have to you have to really kind of set goals and thresholds and and dictate a lot of things before you even decide on how you're going to manage it and what actions you're going to do start out.

00;43;24;07 - 00;43;37;24
Speaker 2
One of the things that you need to do at the outright is define sustainability for your sub basin. And you know, SGMA gives a lot of freedom as to what sustain it doesn't define sustainability. It says the sub basins get to define that.

00;43;37;24 - 00;43;56;05
Speaker 2
And so in our GSP we developed a it's a really wordy and lengthy sustainability goal, but it basically says that we're going to ensure the reliability of groundwater supply for the future, sustain the agricultural economy and provide for all the beneficial uses, especially during drought.

00;43;56;15 - 00;44;18;25
Speaker 2
And then we list in that sustainability goal all the different actions we plan to do to support that. And so you have to define sustainability. And sustainability really is defined by even at the statewide level of the absence of something, it's the absence of what SGMA calls and what we're calling in the GSP undesirable results.

00;44;18;25 - 00;44;37;18
Speaker 2
So essentially you become sustainable when you don't have bad things happen in the sub basin. And so to define that a little bit more in detail, there's really some technical terms that are in the GSP. There are things that are called sustainability indicators.

00;44;37;18 - 00;44;53;00
Speaker 2
And so you do not want to see undesirable results of these indicators. And there's six of them, only five of them are pertinent to our sub basin. I'm going to list them here. There are there is a sustainability indicator called the chronic lowering of groundwater levels.

00;44;53;00 - 00;45;07;08
Speaker 2
Obviously you don't want to chronically lower groundwater. That's part of the reasons why legislators adopted SGMA in 2014. Another indicator is the reduction in groundwater storage. So you lose storage in the sub basin. Another indicator is degraded water quality.

00;45;07;24 - 00;45;29;11
Speaker 2
Another indicator is land subsidence, which we see a lot happening south of the Turlock Sub Basin. And then the depletion of interconnected surface water is a fifth sustainability indicator that you don't want to receive undesirable results on. The sixth is called seawater intrusion, which obviously we're not situated close to the Pacific Ocean, so we don't need to

00;45;29;11 - 00;45;45;14
Speaker 2
necessarily manage that what other sub basins do. So those are six sustainability indicators that as we go through in more detail later and talk about how those are going to be defined and managed, that we do not want to see undesirable results in those areas.

00;45;46;22 - 00;45;58;10
Speaker 1
Okay. So those six sustainability indicators, I think, I think that makes a lot of sense and those define what we consider sustainability. But how do you put metrics to each of those?

00;45;58;29 - 00;46;17;24
Speaker 2
Yeah, that's a good question. You know, as you look at the sustainability indicators, you know, you want to avoid those undesirable results. And SGMA was very clear that those undesirable results have to be significant and unreasonable conditions of any of those six indicators.

00;46;17;24 - 00;46;30;20
Speaker 2
And so you don't want to hit that, you know, as you look at a chart, you know, of if you're talking about groundwater levels, you know, you don't want to go past this level in the ground. And that would be an undesirable result only if it's significant and reasonable.

00;46;31;04 - 00;46;50;20
Speaker 2
But in order to do that, you have to set what SGMA defines in the regulations for SGMA, what the Department of Water Resources defines in the SGMA regulations as minimum thresholds. Now, these are numeric values for each of the indicators that would would define undesirable results.

00;46;50;20 - 00;47;03;13
Speaker 2
And so when you get to the worst spot of the worst, that is where it could lead to an unreasonable result. And so those are minimum thresholds. Another term that's in there that we have in the plan for each of these indicators is a measurable objective.

00;47;03;21 - 00;47;19;23
Speaker 2
And that's kind of like it sounds it's it's really your numerical goal that you want to track in order to get to a sustainable management level for each of those indicators. So for example, if we wanted to manage the sub basin in a groundwater level at X feet below the surface, we would list that and that would

00;47;19;23 - 00;47;34;02
Speaker 2
be our measurable objective that we would be trying to glide to over the years through 2042 to reach. I mentioned as we glide to that obviously means along the way you're you're not going to necessarily hit that objective right away over the 20 years.

00;47;34;10 - 00;47;53;04
Speaker 2
You're going to want to make your way there. So we have what are called interim milestones. That's a targeted value. It's a number value for most of these indicators. That represents the conditions in which we want to be in very various increments, say, every year or every five years that we're on our glide path, if you will

00;47;53;06 - 00;48;04;15
Speaker 2
, toward that measurable objective. So if all of those things are listed for each of the sustainability indicators respective of various metrics for those.

00;48;05;07 - 00;48;15;07
Speaker 1
Well, I can see how the plan grew to be about 1300 pages or so, but but it is very well defined. You have the goals that you're looking to hit. You have the different processes by which to get there.

00;48;15;11 - 00;48;35;05
Speaker 1
You have the metrics that you're tracking along the way to make sure that you're moving on target or moving towards your target. So I think that all make sense. Thank you for defining all that for us. So in the process of putting the plan together, was the public involved in this process or how did how did

00;48;35;05 - 00;48;40;26
Speaker 1
you kind of share with the various communities how the how the work was going along the way?

00;48;41;19 - 00;48;56;09
Speaker 2
Yeah. As you, as you would imagine for, uh, you know, one of the most largest water, largest changes in water policy and one of the biggest laws and water policy to hit California in quite some time. There's got to be a lot of public involvement.

00;48;56;11 - 00;49;12;19
Speaker 2
And it was required by by law and and it was required through the regulations with the department. And we feel like in our submission, we we hit the requirement, but we wanted to go above and beyond that. And so what that requires is a lot of public involvement, a lot of public engagement.

00;49;12;19 - 00;49;28;05
Speaker 2
And and to that effect, we had a number of public meetings. Our GSP outlines a lot of that work. And just as a kind of give some highlights of that, we had some 91 technical advisory committee meetings of those two GSA's.

00;49;28;05 - 00;49;46;18
Speaker 2
Each of them have a committee that would meet regularly, often together, and have public input and cover business publicly. And these advisory committees advise the GSA's because the GSA, there are a lot of, you know, elected officials. And so the TAC's that we call them TAC Technical Advisory Committees basically served as staff to the GSA's until staff

00;49;46;18 - 00;50;00;00
Speaker 2
gets developed for that. So you find a lot of people in water districts helping the member agencies that are that are listed as part of the GSA's have have staff. And those staff members are working to help develop the GCP.

00;50;00;05 - 00;50;11;11
Speaker 2
And so 91 TAC meetings or technical advisory committee meetings over a span of of 4 to 5 years. And so those were huge and we had a lot of public involvement. And those then there were also GSA meetings.

00;50;11;11 - 00;50;28;08
Speaker 2
So the boards themselves met either quarterly for one on one side of the sub baseline or monthly for the other GSA in the sub basin totaling 72 GSA meetings. And then, of course, there were countless workshops of different format, community workshops, technical workshops.

00;50;28;14 - 00;50;46;25
Speaker 2
We even had virtual office hours during COVID where we would just open up a zoom call and answer people's questions on the GSP. And there were some 30 of those various workshops and meetings as well. So a lot of meetings that have been there to get public engagement in addition to a lot of other resources, such as

00;50;46;25 - 00;51;04;07
Speaker 2
a website, fact sheets and social media accounts. And then one nice thing about Zoom for during the pandemic has been that we were able to record our meetings a lot easier and post them online to where our Turlock groundwater YouTube channel features those meetings.

00;51;04;07 - 00;51;16;24
Speaker 2
So if people weren't able to make the meeting or didn't want to read through the minutes, they could actually watch and see what has occurred. So a lot of public involvement, engagement, and it's been it's been fun and it's made the plan a lot better.

00;51;17;18 - 00;51;31;06
Speaker 1
Yeah, that's a lot of a lot of time, a lot of effort that has been invested into the creation of the plan. And clearly that speaks to how important the plan is for our our area. So thank you to all those who have been involved in putting this together.

00;51;32;09 - 00;51;37;11
Speaker 1
Okay. So the plan has been submitted to the Department of Water Resources. What happens next?

00;51;38;10 - 00;51;50;29
Speaker 2
Yeah. So that's a that's great that we we have the plans submitted. Well, now it needs to be reviewed and then hopefully approved by the state. So, you know, we don't just, you know, throw everything back in the drawer and and kind of wait.

00;51;51;04 - 00;52;05;12
Speaker 2
There's a lot of work being done both on our side and on the department side when they review the plan. So I think the best way to look at it is from the state level. The Department of Water Resources is is going to review the plan.

00;52;05;18 - 00;52;22;13
Speaker 2
They have up to two years to issue their review of the plan, and they will deem it in one of three conditions. They will see that it's accepted either with or without minor conditions, and they'll accept the plan and we'll begin implementing the plan as we have outlaid in it.

00;52;23;03 - 00;52;37;08
Speaker 2
They can define it as incomplete, which they've actually done to a lot of sub basins that submitted plans thus far for the 2020 sub basins or the critically over drafted sub basins that have already submitted their plans prior to the Turlock Sub Basin Plan.

00;52;37;22 - 00;52;56;15
Speaker 2
Those agencies or those GSA's that have plans that are in. Complete have up to 180 days to remediate those those deficiencies the department will outline to them in in letter format. Then the third path is inadequate. This is the plan that people do not want.

00;52;56;28 - 00;53;13;08
Speaker 2
This is where you your plan for you sub basin or your multiple coordinated plans for the sub basin are refer to the State Water Resources Control Board, which is the regulatory arm, the enforcement arm of SGMA for potential state intervention.

00;53;13;08 - 00;53;32;26
Speaker 2
And that's where plans that are listed as inadequate get the types of measures I mentioned earlier where the certain fees are automatically imposed to all groundwater users and pumping restrictions across the board regardless of of various status or changes in the way water is used in the sub basin start to get implemented.

00;53;32;26 - 00;53;33;19
Speaker 2
So that's the bad one.

00;53;33;29 - 00;53;40;10
Speaker 1
Yikes. And I almost feel bad asking this question, but is there any concern that our plan won't be approved?

00;53;41;04 - 00;53;58;21
Speaker 2
Well, we're certainly hopeful with all the work that's been put in and in all the the engagement feedback that's been received that our plan will be approved. We are confident in that much and we're looking forward to working with the department throughout the process if they have any questions on our submission.

00;53;59;02 - 00;54;16;27
Speaker 2
But I will note that only eight GSP's thus far have been approved, fully approved by the state, with a lot of the 2020 plans still under review. It's portant to note that DWR are the officials what are called initial assessment letters to a lot of substance.

00;54;16;27 - 00;54;30;11
Speaker 2
They initial they sent these out in late 2021 saying that they've completed what they call an initial review of a lot of these 2020 GSP's, but have identified what they deem as potential deficiencies that preclude the department's approval.

00;54;30;11 - 00;54;37;18
Speaker 2
And those are the words in the letters. So there's not a lot of plans have been fully approved yet, but we're hopeful ours will be.

00;54;38;09 - 00;54;45;11
Speaker 1
So while the plan is under review and before we hear back from DWR, what sort of things are happening locally.

00;54;46;13 - 00;55;02;20
Speaker 2
Yeah, a lot of work is still being done from from the GSA's. One of the big things that's going on right now is in order to in order to implement projects and have various management actions in the state, you know, you typically have to go through a CEQA process.

00;55;02;25 - 00;55;23;29
Speaker 2
That's the California Environmental Quality Act. You have to go through that process to implement these projects. And so that is why the sub basins are working. The sub basin, I should say the GSA's are working on a program, environmental impact reporter as it's referred to as the PEIR that outlines these, these projects so that we can start

00;55;23;29 - 00;55;35;18
Speaker 2
to work on them once this document is submitted to the state. And so obviously we submitted a plan. Well, now we want to get eager to get started on the projects we mentioned in the plan. And in order to do that, we have to go through this review.

00;55;35;18 - 00;55;49;28
Speaker 2
And so that's immediately the day after the GSA's adopted the plan we started working on on this PEIR. And so that's just one thing and one example of how we continue to work forward, even though a lot of the work has been done, submitting the plan.

00;55;51;04 - 00;56;03;27
Speaker 1
And with regards to the plan that we've submitted, is that something that now that it's submitted, it's it's done and that's our final plan? Or is that something that we continue to update and revise going forward?

00;56;04;17 - 00;56;26;04
Speaker 2
Yeah. So right now, in addition to working on the PEIR, we have annual reports that we're going to submit to the Department of Water Resources as well as as five year updates to the plan as well. And interesting enough, DWR has said that annual reports now need to be submitted in April of every year.

00;56;26;04 - 00;56;39;19
Speaker 2
So here we are. We turn around, we've we've submitted a plan. And now before we're even working on a lot of the major details in implementing the plan or before the department's even had a chance to review the plan, we have an annual report to submit.

00;56;39;19 - 00;56;48;16
Speaker 2
And so the technical team is working on creating that annual report and the information that goes into it. So still a lot of work to be done even though we submitted the plan.

00;56;48;28 - 00;56;51;12
Speaker 1
No, no rest for you guys. Right back to work.

00;56;51;13 - 00;56;51;29
Speaker 2
Definitely.

00;56;52;25 - 00;56;56;21
Speaker 1
So what can you tell us about some of the specific projects that are included in the plan?

00;56;57;19 - 00;57;13;01
Speaker 2
Yes. As I mentioned before, there's there's a list of projects in the GSP that are are options for us. They doesn't say that they are going to be implemented, but it's definitely a starting point of saying these are the types of projects that can be implemented under the GSP.

00;57;13;01 - 00;57;27;29
Speaker 2
And so there's a variety of projects that are listed and they're, they range from like a recharge project, you know, where we're trying to put more water into the ground to in lieu pumping projects where you would provide surface water in lieu of groundwater pumping.

00;57;27;29 - 00;57;42;04
Speaker 2
And there's a lot of different examples in including the there's a project where we could work with the city of Turlock, we being TID. We can work with the city of Turlock on their Diane Storm Basin project.

00;57;42;17 - 00;58;00;02
Speaker 2
In order to recharge water. There is currently not used for recharge. And then there's there's things like, you know, a way to re operate Turlock Lake which is TID's small reservoir before it goes into our canal system operate that you know obviously it's the ground is is soil so if we operate it in a way where

00;58;00;02 - 00;58;15;13
Speaker 2
more water goes into the sub basin, we could certainly do that. That's a type of recharge project. And then also there are some recharge projects that the East Turlock saw basins looking into. They have a creek that flows into the area that's not currently used.

00;58;15;13 - 00;58;34;05
Speaker 2
And when it's a flashy time of storms and winter comes, they could find a way to capture that water and and put it into the ground. So a mix of recharge, recharge projects and in lieu pumping projects and then some pumping redistribution projects that are being looked at that we can if it fits within our sustainability goals

00;58;34;05 - 00;58;37;09
Speaker 2
and what we're looking to do can implement.

00;58;38;02 - 00;58;57;20
Speaker 1
So kind of saving the best for last year what does all of this as far as the development and submission of the GSP are the projects that you've outlined within that, the metrics that have been assigned to sort of track the progress that we're making with regard to groundwater management, what does all of this mean to TID

00;58;57;25 - 00;58;59;12
Speaker 1
growers and or customers?

00;58;59;23 - 00;59;20;07
Speaker 2
Yeah. So the good news is for TID customers, not a lot is going to change at least in the next five years before the next update of the plan. So we are going to see no real change in in the way things are monitored, at least to the individual grower in the sub basin.

00;59;20;11 - 00;59;38;27
Speaker 2
We are monitoring for the GSP to take care of that. So that's good. There's no new groundwater fees for TID customers. I mean, there's a small portion of TID's budget that goes to what's been done thus far to get the GSP where it's at and to have the GSA's operational and and all of that.

00;59;38;27 - 00;59;54;27
Speaker 2
But there's no large fees now that are coming in for new fees, I should say, for groundwater management. And so so that's a good thing. And the big thing, too, is, is at current, there are no groundwater reductions called for specifically for TID growers in the GSP.

00;59;55;08 - 01;00;09;21
Speaker 2
And so that's a good thing. A lot of people might ask, well, you know, if there's no change, then why do you even develop a plan other than complying with the law? Right. And the response to that would be that there's a lot of good things that we got out of this plan and the money that went

01;00;09;21 - 01;00;22;10
Speaker 2
into it. I should note we received a few million dollars of grant money from the state in order to implement this plan. So a lot of the agencies that are part of the GSA's is were able to keep costs low for this GSP, which is a good thing.

01;00;23;03 - 01;00;41;26
Speaker 2
But the plan with that, we got a lot of good things. We got a groundwater model that we mentioned earlier which is usually expensive to create those. In looking at that model, we can see historically that the Turlock sub basin and as a whole is a net extractor from the groundwater system, from the basin to the tune

01;00;41;26 - 01;01;01;23
Speaker 2
of an historically on average 65,000 acre feet per year. And so that gives us an example of of what has been occurring in the basin and that's listed in the GSP. Now the model also indicates as you kind of separate out a little bit, the sub basin, you could see that the West Turlock Sub Basin and GSA

01;01;01;23 - 01;01;22;02
Speaker 2
as a whole is a net contributor to the groundwater system. And and we like to think that and the data shows that one of the big reasons for this is, is Turlock Irrigation District being a net recharger in in in the western Luxor Basin to the tune of 180,000 acre feet annually from from conjunctive use.

01;01;22;02 - 01;01;39;23
Speaker 2
And so that's a huge reason why the West Turlock Basin is a net contributor to the system. Contrast that with the eastern Turlock Basin, GSA, which which is a net extractor to the groundwater system. And so the model historically shows what's been done, but the model is also a good tool to show as we talk about these

01;01;39;23 - 01;01;56;15
Speaker 2
projects moving in the future and management actions, what the groundwater system could look like if certain actions are implemented or if certain projects are implemented or not. And so the model is going to be a useful tool, not just to show us where we've been, but also where we're going.

01;01;57;16 - 01;02;16;17
Speaker 2
We got a monitoring network. We were able to define a sustainability goal and a sustainability yield for the sub basin as well, including that sustainable management criteria that I mentioned earlier with all those measurable objectives and minimum thresholds and undesirable results for those those indicators, we're able to define those.

01;02;16;17 - 01;02;25;16
Speaker 2
And actually, for the first time in the history of the sub basin, we have a definition of what sustainability is and what sustainability looks like for the future for the sub basin.

01;02;26;03 - 01;02;39;28
Speaker 1
Okay. So a lot of new tools, a lot of new data to work with with regard to groundwater management. So it sounds like just going through the process has been beneficial for the two GSA. So that's that's great.

01;02;41;07 - 01;02;49;29
Speaker 1
Herb We're Getting ready to wrap up here. Is there anything else we've covered a lot, but is there anything else with regard to groundwater that that you wanted to mention?

01;02;51;03 - 01;03;01;24
Speaker 2
Yeah, I think the biggest thing is for a lot of for a lot of listeners is they're going to be like, well, how could I get this information that you've talked about or how could I be involved moving forward with meetings or or getting information?

01;03;02;18 - 01;03;15;22
Speaker 2
And I'll mention that the Turlock surveys and has its own website. It's TurlockGroundwater.org and you can find that through any search engine as well. And that will get you to the sub base and website will have all the information on it.

01;03;16;19 - 01;03;32;00
Speaker 2
The GSA will have the GSP, it'll have all the meetings, it'll have links to all the older YouTube videos. A lot of information encourage people to check that out. And there's also social media channels as well that will continue to communicate people with to people as well.

01;03;32;12 - 01;03;45;02
Speaker 2
We have a lot of informative videos as well. I'd recommend there is a SGMA 101 video. It's about 5 minutes long. It's animated, it's it's you know, people of all ages will be able to hopefully understand the way groundwater is managed.

01;03;45;02 - 01;04;04;13
Speaker 2
It managed in the sub basin as well. And I'm the guy behind the mic today, but there are probably no less than 15 TID employees who this past seven years have been involved in groundwater management. A lot of people who who are much smarter on on a lot of the technical issues than me.

01;04;05;07 - 01;04;15;04
Speaker 2
And they've been key into getting us to where we're at. And so just to note that that it was definitely a team effort, not just across the sub basin, as we've talked about today, but even inside the TID.

01;04;15;18 - 01;04;20;12
Speaker 2
It's been it's been a fun project and there are a lot of us that have our hand on it.

01;04;21;06 - 01;04;42;02
Speaker 1
And we are appreciative to all of you. So for all of those who contributed to creating our plan for forming the GSA's, for really bringing our area into compliance with with SGMA, we are very appreciative that clearly a lot of work has been done and and we look forward to seeing the results of that hard work

01;04;42;09 - 01;04;44;23
Speaker 1
So thanks, Herb, for being with us today. Really appreciate it.

01;04;45;05 - 01;04;46;04
Speaker 2
Thanks. It's an honor.

01;04;47;00 - 01;05;04;20
Speaker 1
Thank you for tuning in to the TID Water and Power podcast. You can find it on Facebook at Facebook.com/TurlockID on Instagram and Twitter at TurlockID and on LinkedIn as the Turlock Irrigation District. I'm your host, Constance Anderson.

01;05;04;24 - 01;05;06;00
Speaker 1
We'll see you again next time.