June 6, 2018
The Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS) filed a comment in March of 2017 on the Sacramento Central Groundwater Authority’s (SCGA) petition to be deemed an acceptable “alternative plan” under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). The purpose of our June 6, 2018 letter is to reiterate our opposition to that petition and to urge the Department of Water Resources (DWR) again to find that SCGA is not in compliance with SGMA.
Some highlights:
- groundwater levels continue to fall in the portions of the basin that most affect the important ecological resources of the lower Cosumnes watershed
- SCGA continues to make little effort to encourage or facilitate public engagement in its ongoing deliberations
- SCGA does no targeted outreach, apparently maintains no list of interested parties, and has a web site that is of very limited usefulness
- SCGA needs to recognize that public engagement is a key component of SGMA compliance
- SCGA is currently reassessing its rate structure and could adjust its rates to account for costs of both plan preparation and projects/programs to which they have committed and to date ignored
