Over-pumping of groundwater has caused domestic wells to go dry in the San Joaquin Valley. Yet many of the first round of plans prepared to comply with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) do not yet propose ways to address this problem. We explored groundwater planning with three members of the environmental justice community—Angela Islas of Self-Help Enterprises, Justine Massey of the Community Water Center, and Amanda Monaco of the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability.

PPIC: From the perspective of the communities you represent, how do you think groundwater planning is going?

AMANDA MONACO: SGMA says that groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) are responsible for protecting water for all groundwater users—and specifically names domestic well users and disadvantaged communities. For decades there’s been all this energy around creating a huge agricultural industry in the San Joaquin Valley, and while it’s important to grow food, we’ve ended up in a situation that is unsustainable given the bounds of water supply and other natural resources. Thousands of families have gone months without water in the valley. We urgently need to respond to this problem.

ANGELA ISLAS: What we have seen is that agricultural interests are very dominant on SGMA committees and GSA boards. There hasn’t been much discussion on how to make these groups more inclusive to voices of disadvantaged communities. We’ve done a lot of outreach to help communities using small water systems and domestic wells join these meetings. But many times their input isn’t implemented in the plans. Many residents have huge barriers to participation, even before the pandemic. Things like meeting location, lack of transportation, and technical language being used can make it hard for them to engage. These things need to be worked out, and GSAs need to bring drinking water users’ input into the implementation process.

PPIC: Based on the first round of groundwater plans, what more is needed to protect vulnerable communities in the San Joaquin Valley?

JUSTINE MASSEY: Many of the plans will allow the drinking water crisis to escalate. Recent reports have found that current plans would result in many thousands of families losing access to drinking water—as many as 127,000 more Californians could be affected. That’s not an acceptable measure of sustainability. The plans also fail to protect water quality from further contamination.

Read the full Article