Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/467731
9 0 V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T | M a r - A p r 2 015 w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m THE NEW LEGISLATION The new groundwater legislation is designed to "achieve integrated management of surface water and groundwater" and to "promote sustainable groundwater manage- ment." It recognizes the traditional primacy of local government regu- lation in the groundwater area and states its intent to protect overly- ing and other groundwater rights. However, it does provide several state agencies with authority to reg- ulate important aspects of the law. The heart of the law is its techni- cal goal of "sustainable groundwa- ter management," which is defined to be "management and use of groundwater that can be main- tained during a 50-year time period without causing an undesirable result." The listed "undesirable results" are the usual suspects, including depleted supply, degrad- ed water quality, seawater intrusion divert surface water or for long- term storage. These rights require environmental and agency review and, once this process is navi- gated, the water must be put to beneficial use. Riparian rights are not governed by a priority system, while appropriative rights are gov- erned by a first-in-time rule where- by an earlier right has priority in times of shortage. California's groundwater has not been directly regulated by the state, except in situations where a court adjudication of a groundwa- ter basin has been instituted. In general, landowners have "over- lying rights" to extract groundwa- ter underneath their land and put it to beneficial use. These rights a r e s u b j e c t t o a c c o m m o d a t i n g the rights of other landowners overlying that aquifer. California does not, however, have an appro- priative right system for ground- water use. and land subsidence. Notably, the statute does not specify how much supply depletion or water quality degradation will be allowed during the 50-year planning horizon, so it is impossible to predict at this early point how the statutory criteria will affect groundwater extraction. The act will initially be imple- mented at the local and/or regional levels. A Groundwater Sustainabil- ity Agency (GSA) will be designated for each groundwater basin that is categorized as a medium or high priority. Each GSA will need to develop a Groundwater Sustain- ability Plan (GSP) that will gov- ern groundwater extraction. The GSAs are given expansive powers; among other things, GSAs can limit or suspend extractions, require a rotating use of wells, and establish groundwater allocations. The GSA and GSP process is being "rolled out" over a fairly long time frame. The designation Test Your... pH, SO 2 , TA, VA... Professional Wine Titration System The HI902C professional wine titration system is intuitive, simple to use, and is designed to grow with your testing needs. IS IT A FIT? Contact Us 877-MY-HANNA (877-694-2662) | wine@hannainst.com | www.hannainst.com pH, Free & Total SO 2 , Reducing Sugars, Potassium, Nitrogen (Formol), CO 2 , Total Acidity, Ammonium, Volatile Acidity, and more.