Tag Archives: Groundwater

Harvest Water Talk with ECOS Water Committee, 4/8/2025

Please join the ECOS Water Committee on April 8, 2025 at 5:30 pm over zoom for a special guest presentation and discussion about the Harvest Water Program. Jofil Borja, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs Manager, and John Nurmi, Senior Civil Engineer, of the Sacramento Area Sewer District, will be presenting this deep dive into a large, local infrastructure project. Harvest Water will bring high quality recycled water (tertiary treated recycled water from the EchoWater Resource Recovery Facility) to the southern portion of Sacramento County for use in irrigating agricultural and existing habitat lands.

The project represents a long-term solution for future drought conditions by reducing the pressure on local groundwater aquifer stores by up to 50,000 acre feet per year, equivalent to 16 billion gallons per year, which is equivalent to roughly 2000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Harvest Water is currently under construction and is anticipated to be operational in 2027. By reducing the amount of groundwater pumped by farmers, it is anticipated that the groundwater aquifer can be restored to historic levels. This would bring a number of ecosystem benefits to the region including improvements in riparian and wetland habitat and increased streamflows in the Consumnes River. These benefits will enhance the habitats of various listed species including Sandhill crane, Swainson’s hawk, and fall-run Chinook salmon.

More info

Harvest Water Website
Harvest Water Ecosystem Benefits

To join the meeting

Link to join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6656164155
To phone in: 669-900-6833, Meeting ID: 665 616 4155

Environmental Community Based Representation on Groundwater Sustainability Agency Boards

On January 29, 2024, ECOS submitted a letter to the Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) Boards in the Sacramento Area about Environmental Community Based Representation.

Below is an excerpt of the letter.

Groundwater management has taken a huge step forward with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) and the formation of Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSA) throughout California. The Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS) is very supportive of the Sacramento Area GSA efforts to develop and begin implementation of their Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSP) and feels the Region has done a good job of working through a multitude of technical issues. ECOS believes implementation of these GSPs requires close coordination between the GSAs, water purveyors, and the public as evidenced by our comments on the GSP annual reports to the State. One way coordination can be improved is through the inclusion of broader representation on GSA Boards of Directors.

Click here to read the letter.

Accounting System for the Regional Water Bank

On August 3, 2023, ECOS submitted a letter to the Regional Water Authority to suggest a meeting to discuss efforts to develop an Accounting System for the Regional Water Bank. Below is an excerpt.

We are interested in learning about how effective the 2012 Accounting Framework was in tracking and accounting for groundwater transactions within the bank, and which aspects of the 2012 Framework may be included in the new Regional Water Bank Accounting Framework currently in development. We are also interested in discussing how the requirements of SGMA will be incorporated in the Framework. Also, we suspect that the expanded monitoring and modeling of both the North and South American subbasins has provided additional sophistication and understanding of how groundwater moves within and between these subbasins. We would like to hear your plans for including this added technical understanding of subbasin operations into the accounting framework. We would also like to learn how you plan to account for any deposited ground water losses, and ideas you are considering regarding the use of portions of deposits to address groundwater dependent ecosystem needs, and, as a set asides to improve basin storage. Finally, the 2012 framework seemed to establish pumping levels for participants tied to water years. Is this approach one you are considering going forward, and would any resulting pumping agreements be included in Individual Purveyor Agreements established as part of the Water Forum 2 process?

Click here to read the letter (PDF).