Memorandum
Date: November 18, 2025
To: The Honorable Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Dr. Pawan Upadhyay, Director, and Todd Abbott, Program Coordinator, Water Resources Department
Subject: (a) Consideration of Expanded Use of Previously Approved Stormwater Matching Funds (File #: 22-402) to Support Groundwater Management Activities under SGMA; and (b) Accept Staff Presentation on the Big Valley Groundwater Sustainability Plan Advisory Committee (GSPAC) Update
Executive Summary:
Directors of the Lake County Watershed Protection District, approve to expand the allowable use of previously authorized stormwater matching funds (File #: 22-402) to also cover costs associated with implementing the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in the Big Valley Groundwater Basin.
Of the $500,000 originally allocated for stormwater-related matching needs, only approximately $50,000 has been used to date. This adjustment will enable the Department to meet immediate SGMA requirements, including technical support, stakeholder engagement, and administrative compliance, without requesting additional general funds.
The State Groundwater Management Act, or SGMA, was passed by the CA State Legislature in 2014 to establish a regulatory framework for groundwater across the state. In 2015, The California Department of Water Resources released an initial basin prioritization list that identified groundwater basins in California considered at risk of overdraft and classified those basins as either medium or high priority, depending on variables such as groundwater reserves, recharge rates, and population growth. Big Valley Basin was identified as a medium priority basin by DWR, making it subject to the requirements set forth by SGMA, including the local development of a Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA), and the formation of a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP), with the goal of achieving basin sustainability by 2042.
In August of 2019, in compliance with SG...
Click here for full text