After a long hearing on June 11 at the State Capitol,
AB 2079 (Bennett) on well spacing and groundwater subsidence,
the bill was held in committee after failing on a 5-6 vote. CSAC
joined with several coalitions partners including local
governments, agriculture, manufacturing, chambers of commerce,
and water agencies in opposition (unless amended) to the
legislation. AB 2079 would have restricted local control of
groundwater, previously guaranteed by the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act (SGMA), by mandating the denial of permits for
large-diameter, high-capacity wells within a quarter mile of a
wells supplying domestic water. Counties argued that a one-size
fits-all approach to every groundwater basin was not the right
direction to take, and that the reporting requirements in the
legislation were onerous. The sponsors of the legislation remain
concerned about the impacts of groundwater subsidence on
infrastructure and domestic wells. CSAC welcomes input on well
spacing and subsidence issues from our members as we plan to
discuss these concerns with our partners at the Department of
Water Resources (DWR) over the fall.
Moving forward, counties will continue to work on their mandated
SB 552 drought contingency plans which are intended to
address the most vulnerable in our communities during dry years.
We welcome county staff to join our every-other-month convening
of the
California County Café (C3) conducted in partnership with
DWR. The C3 series is open to County staff and managers
responsible for SB 552 implementation, especially the development
of their corresponding County Drought Resilience Plan. Our
first meeting took place on May 29 with over 50 people in
attendance. We look forward to the next meeting on July 24.
Should you have questions about CSAC’s work on drought planning,
groundwater or water resources, please contact Catherine Freeman,
Senior Legislative Advocate at cfreeman@counties.org.
