Memorandum
Date: April 27, 2021
To: The Honorable Bruno Sabatier, Chair, Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Scott De Leon, Water Resources Director
Subject: Approve the Big Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) Charter Document
Executive Summary: (include fiscal and staffing impact narrative):
The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), adopted by the state of California in 2014, allows local agencies to better manage California’s groundwater supplies over a long-term and sustainable manner. SGMA requires local agencies with medium or high priority basins to; 1) form a Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) and 2) develop and implement a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) by January 31, 2022. Lake County encompasses one (1) medium priority basin, Big Valley Groundwater Basin (5-015).
On August 6, 2019, the Board of Supervisors, acting as the Board of Directors of the Lake County Watershed Protection District adopted the Resolution electing to form the Big Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency. When the Big Valley GSA (BVGSA) was established in August 2019, the Board of Supervisors’ Resolution included direction to establish an Advisory Committee for the BVGSA. The role of the Advisory Committee is to provide stakeholder and community perspective and to provide recommendations to the BVGSA Board for decision-making that must be done in the course of developing the Big Valley Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP).
A group of stakeholders has been participating in the past year in surveys, interviews, and sharing sessions as a basis for bringing together elements for a draft Charter for the GSP Advisory Committee (GSPAC). These stakeholders were selected based on their geographic location in Big Valley, for their identification as beneficial users and uses of groundwater within the Big Valley Basin, and for their previous experience in working on groundwater and water resources-related activities in Lake County.
The GSPAC Charter being presented to the Board of Supervisors, as the sitting Board of the BVGSA, includes details on the intent of, structure for, process of, reporting from, and duration of the initial GSPAC. Acceptance of this Charter allows the GSPAC members to formally convene in regular and ad hoc meetings, that will be publicly noticed and open to the public, as the BVGSA takes GSPAC guidance and recommendations while working through the development, adoption, and submission of its GSP due on January 31, 2022.
Upon the Board’s acceptance of this Charter, the date of acceptance will be added into the document (on page 6) and it will therefore formally establish the GSP Advisory Committee (GSPAC).
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Recommended Action:
Board of Directors of the Lake County Watershed Protection District acting as the Big Valley GSA adopt the Resolution approving and accepting the Big Valley GSA Charter Document.