Deadline to Comment on Napa County's New Draft Groundwater Sustainability Workplans is January 30, 2024
POSTED BY Elena Neigher
ATTENTION: The following proposed measures will impact existing groundwater pumpers in the Napa Valley Subbasin.
Napa County’s Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) was approved by the California Department of Water Resources on January 26, 2023. The approved GSP identified the need to develop a Water Conservation Workplan and Groundwater Pumping Reduction Workplan. The GSP also identified data gaps in evaluating the depletion of interconnected surface waters and groundwater dependent ecosystems, and proposed the preparation of a workplan to address such data gaps. These three plans have now been prepared by Napa County’s Groundwater Sustainability Agency and are available for public review and comment. All public comments on these three plans are due by January 30, 2024.
General information on the scope of the three workplans is below:
Groundwater Pumping Reduction Workplan:
This plan identifies a goal to achieve a 10 percent reduction (about 15,000 acre feet) in pumping relative to the average annual historical pumping (as measured in the years 2005-2014).
This plan also presents voluntary programs that will purportedly result in Subbasin sustainability benefits, and in addition, presents mandatory measures to reduce groundwater pumping (which could be implemented if the voluntary measures are insufficient).
Water Conservation Workplan:
This plan is a resource for stakeholders to learn about, consider, and adopt new or additional water conservation measures.
Interconnected Surface Water and Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems Workplan:
This plan addresses the data gaps that were identified in the originally adopted GSP and provides a structured approach to evaluating the effect of groundwater conditions on interconnected surface waters and groundwater-dependent ecosystems.
Public comments on these plans can be submitted using the Excel Comment Form on the County’s website (link below), submitted via email to: GSPWorkplanComments@countyofnapa.org.
For more information, visit the County’s website here: https://www.countyofnapa.org/3219/County-of-Napa-Plans-Reports-Documents.
For more information about Napa County Groundwater Sustainability planning, email Joshua S. Devore, Thomas S. Adams or Elena Neigher.
