Groundwater Data Workshop Series

Stanford University’s Water in the West Program and The Gould Center for Conflict Resolution, in conjunction with the California State University Sacramento’s Center for Collaborative Policy hosted a four-part Groundwater Data Workshop Series in 2016. This workshop series brought together a select group of groundwater managers, county and state representatives, and technical and water policy experts to develop regulatory and policy solutions to data-related challenges of implementing the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. 

Project Overview (PDF)

Related Materials

Groundwater Data Workshop Series Report
Projecting Forward: A Framework for Groundwater Model Development Under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act

Workshop Topics included:

I. Groundwater Models

Groundwater models are representations of a physical system. They can be used by groundwater managers to estimate a basin’s water budget, sustainable yield, recharge rate, or other variables. Additionally, depending on how they are developed, they can be used to make predictions about the impact of different management actions or scenarios over time. Given these functions, as well as the 50-year planning horizon designated under SGMA, groundwater models are likely to be used by local and state agencies to meet groundwater management requirements under the legislation for a variety of applications.

This workshop focused on groundwater model development during SGMA implementation. Held in November 2015, workshop participants discussed model use, key data uncertainties and stakeholder involvement in the modeling process.

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II. Groundwater data and groundwater surface water interactions

Improved data collection and understanding of groundwater is at the heart of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Given the existing inconsistency in groundwater data collection and monitoring protocols, meeting the legislated monitoring and management requirements will be a slow and contentious process in many groundwater basins. In some cases, local agencies will need to plan and build groundwater monitoring networks largely from the ground up, often with limited existing information about their basin’s subsurface geology or groundwater conditions. Many basins will have to do so facing limited resources and the looming threat of groundwater adjudication if local groundwater pumpers object to management actions.

Held in January 2016, this workshop focused on identifying data needs for sustainable groundwater management, with a particular interest in identifying highly uncertain datasets that may hinder implementation of the new legislation, as well as key challenges around data transparency, sharing and integration.

Because SGMA requires groundwater managers to address the impacts of groundwater pumping on surface water, the workshop included a half-day addendum on groundwater-surface water interactions. This portion of the workshop focused on the legal, regulatory and environmental considerations of groundwater-surface water interactions and the approaches and methods for measuring and monitoring them.

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III. Tools to support decision-making

Local groundwater management agencies will need to collaboratively make decisions about the management actions their basin will collectively undertake in order to meet their sustainability goals under SGMA. Reaching these decisions will require local agencies to integrate a host of technical information into the decision-making process; develop clear and consistent criteria about the conditions under which they will implement management actions, who will be responsible for implementation, and how to fund them; and to establish a well-developed plan to engage and communicate with stakeholders throughout the decision-making process. Achieving these goals will not be easy and will require a long-term, strategic approach to the decision-making process.

Held in June 2016, this workshop focused on developing a comprehensive list of management actions that local agencies are likely to undertake during SGMA implementation and potential tools, approaches or technologies to support and communicate the decisions to undertake them.

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Iv. Geophysical methods for sustainable groundwater management

Geophysical methods present a significant opportunity for meeting information needs under SGMA. Based on learning from the first three data workshops in our series, it is clear that many groundwater basins across the state lack basic data or information to make effective management decisions. Some specific areas of data uncertainty include locating groundwater recharge areas and estimating recharge potential; characterizing groundwater-surface water interactions; estimating groundwater extractions; and characterization of groundwater quality. This workshop uses case studies to provide examples of where geophysical methods have been successfully deployed for: improved basin characterization; siting and monitoring groundwater recharge facilities; and to monitor groundwater quality and groundwater-surface water interactions.

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