Evaluating California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act: The First Five Years of Governance and Planning

Leach, William D.; An, Brian; Tang, Shui‐Yan

doi:10.1111/1752-1688.12967

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 26 publications

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“…If implemented successfully, SGMA should ameliorate these undesirable impacts regardless of well depth, although its implementation success remains to be determined [55,104,105]. Indeed, groundwater levels are expected to continue declining under SGMA [55], which heightens equity concerns over well depth differences.…”

Section: Uneven Well Deepening: Implications For Groundwater Sustaina...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Access for sale? Overlying rights, land transactions, and groundwater in California

Rempel,

Belfer,

Ray

et al. 2024

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Climate change intensifies longstanding tensions over groundwater sustainability and equity of access among users. Though private land ownership is a primary mechanism for accessing groundwater in many regions, few studies have systematically examined the extent to which farmland markets transform groundwater access patterns over time. This study begins to fill this gap by examining farmland transactions overlying groundwater from 2003–17 in California. We construct a novel dataset that downscales well construction behavior to the parcel level, and we use it to characterize changes in groundwater access patterns by buyer type on newly transacted parcels in the San Joaquin Valley groundwater basin during the 2011–17 drought. Our results demonstrate large-scale transitions in farmland ownership, with 21.1% of overlying agricultural acreage statewide sold at least once during the study period and with the highest rates of turnover occurring in critically overdrafted basins. By 2017, annual individual farmland acquisitions had halved, while acquisitions by limited liability companies increased to one-third of all overlying acres purchased. Together, these trends signal increasing corporate farmland acquisitions; new corporate farmland owners are associated with the construction, on comparable parcels, of agricultural wells 77–81 feet deeper than those drilled by new individual landowners. We discuss the implications of our findings for near-term governance of groundwater, and their relevance for understanding structural inequities in exposure to future groundwater level declines.

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Section: Uneven Well Deepening: Implications For Groundwater Sustaina...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Access for sale? Overlying rights, land transactions, and groundwater in California

Rempel,

Belfer,

Ray

et al. 2024

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Sustainable groundwater management and its implications for agricultural land repurposing

Quandt,

Larsen,

Bartel

et al. 2023

Reg Environ Change

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In this paper, we examine the implications of groundwater sustainability policies on agricultural land retirement and how retired land can be repurposed to minimize social, economic, and environmental harms, while maximizing potential benefits. Globally, as water resources are strained by increasing agricultural demand and biophysical factors, policies are enacted to restrict groundwater pumping for irrigated agriculture in order to stem social, economic, and environmental harm. However, little is known about the implications of land retirement on ecosystems and people, and how this land can be best repurposed. Using Kern County, CA, as a case study, we draw from 23 qualitative interviews with stakeholders in the agricultural, water, and conservation sectors to understand the impacts of sustainable groundwater management policy and options for land repurposing. Stakeholders in our study outlined both positive and negative impacts of such policies across the region, including increased financial costs of agricultural production, crop type switches to perennial crops such as trees and vines, and improved communication and collaboration among stakeholders. Stakeholders discussed options for land repurposing to maximize ecological, social, and economic benefits, including habitat restoration, installation of solar farms, grazing, groundwater recharge, temporary fallowing, and recreation and parks. Finally, we propose recommendations to maximize the benefits and minimize the harms from the retirement and repurposing of agricultural land: (1) increasing regional planning and cross-stakeholder communication for strategic land repurposing, (2) minimizing the burden of policies that may restrict land repurposing options, and (3) ensuring financial incentives exist for landowners to repurpose their land.

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Drivers of domestic wells vulnerability during droughts in California’s Central Valley

Rodríguez-Flores,

Fernandez-Bou,

Ortiz-Partida

et al. 2023

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Over the past decade, California has experienced two multiyear droughts, resulting in water insecurity for communities and significant economic losses for the agricultural sector. Despite the recognition of water as a human right in the state since 2012, droughts consistently lead to the failure of thousands of domestic wells due to intensified groundwater pumping for irrigation purposes. In the Central Valley alone, groundwater sustains the livelihoods of thousands of individuals (and millions across the state) serving as their sole water source, rendering them vulnerable due to inadequate groundwater management. In this study, we present a spatial statistical model to identify critical localized factors within the food-water-human system that contribute to the vulnerability of domestic wells during droughts. Our results indicate that the depth of domestic wells, density of domestic and agricultural wells, socioeconomic conditions, and the extent of perennial crops play significant roles in predicting well failures during droughts. We show the implications of addressing these factors within the context of ongoing groundwater sustainability initiatives, and we propose strategies to safeguard the water source for thousands of individuals necessary to protect domestic wells

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Evaluating California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act: The First Five Years of Governance and Planning

Cited by 3 publications

References 26 publications

Access for sale? Overlying rights, land transactions, and groundwater in California

Access for sale? Overlying rights, land transactions, and groundwater in California

Sustainable groundwater management and its implications for agricultural land repurposing

Drivers of domestic wells vulnerability during droughts in California’s Central Valley

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