Status of the Cosumnes Groundwater Subbasin 7/27

Thursday, July 27, 2023

Presentation/Discussion of the Status of the Cosumnes Groundwater Subbasin and Related Matters 6:10 – 7:10 by Austin Miller, Sloughhouse RCD Executive Director

The ECOS Water Committee invites you to join us in a presentation/discussion of the sustainability of the Cosumnes Groundwater Subbasin (CGA). This subbasin is the source of groundwater providing a significant amount of the water used by agriculture, rural residents, and small urban areas in the south county and western portions of Amador County that are located south of the Cosumnes River.

Austin Miller, Executive Director of the Sloughhouse RCD coordinates the management of the subbasin and will present the latest condition of the subbasin as reflected in the annual subbasin sustainability report recently submitted to the state. Austin will also brief us on interactions with the other subbasin GSAs, neighboring subbasins, and the Regional Water Authority on the development of a Regional Water Bank. Finally, Austin will discuss the ability of the Cosumnes Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Agencies to implement the Subbasin’s Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) given the loss of grant funds and other limitations and what is planned to deal with these impediments. The effective implementation of the GSP is made more important given plans by local water purveyors to expand conjunctive use, the Regional Water Authority’s plan to operate a Regional Water Bank in the North and South American Subbasins, and the potential impacts these activities may have on the sustainability of the Cosumnes Subbasin. Bring your questions and be prepared for a thoughtful presentation and discussion.

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

Click here to view the full meeting agenda.

Sustainability of the South American groundwater subbasin 6/28

The ECOS Water Committee invites you to join us on June 28 from 6:00 until 7:00 to take part in a presentation/discussion of the sustainability of the South American groundwater subbasin. This subbasin is the source of groundwater providing a significant amount of the water used by the urban areas and agricultural areas south of the American River. John Woodling, Executive Director of the Sacramento Central Groundwater Authority (SCGA), the agency that coordinates and manages a major portion of the subbasin, will be presenting the latest condition of the subbasin as reflected in the annual subbasin sustainability report recently submitted to the state. He will also describe efforts to protect Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems, shallow wells, and improve the subbasin’s monitoring and modeling programs. All of these actions are important given the plan by the Regional Water Authority to operate a water bank in the area overseen by SCGA. We are all interested to learn how SCGA plans to interact with the proposed Regional Water Bank. Bring your questions and be prepared for a thoughtful presentation and discussion.

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

Local Water Issues: Sustainability of the North American Groundwater Subbasin 5/24

The ECOS Water Committee invites you to join us on May 24 from 6:00 until 7:00pm to take part in a presentation/discussion of the sustainability of the North American groundwater subbasin. This subbasin is the source of groundwater providing a significant amount of the water used by the urban areas north of the American River. Jim Peifer Executive Director of the Sacramento Groundwater Authority (SGA), the agency that coordinates and manages a major portion of the subbasin, will be presenting the latest condition of the subbasin as reflected in the annual subbasin sustainability report recently submitted to the state. He will also describe efforts to protect Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems, shallow wells, and improve the subbasin’s monitoring and modeling programs. All of these actions are important given the plan by the Regional Water Authority to operate a water bank in the area overseen by SGA. Bring your questions and be prepared for a thoughtful presentation and discussion.

For more information on areas of interest regarding the North American Subbasin please see the Water Committee’s letter of invitation to SGA.

Click here to view the agenda for the May 24 meeting of the ECOS Water Committee.

Local Groundwater Planning Presentation 8/24

August 24, 2022 Water Committee Meeting Agenda

3:00 to 5:00 pm – Zoom

ECOS ZOOM 6656164155

Introductions and Committee Ground rules 5 minutes:

Featured Presentation 1 hour, 50 minutes:

Presenter: Rob Swartz, Manager of Technical Services for the Regional Water Authority and the Sacramento Groundwater Authority

Mr. Swartz has over thirty-five years of water resource and water project planning and implementation experience. He has been RWA’s Manager of Technical Services since 2003 and has recently led the technical development of the COSANA model and the development of the Sacramento Groundwater Basin, Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP). Mr. Swartz is also leading RWA’s efforts to develop and implement a Regional Groundwater Bank. Mr. Swartz plans to include some of the modeling experts who designed the COSANA model in the discussion.

Mr. Swartz will present a technical and policy presentation/discussion on: 1) The development and use of the COSANA model in planning and managing the region’s groundwater resources; and 2) The status of the Regional Groundwater Authority’s efforts to formulate and implement a Regional Groundwater Bank.

Why are these issues important to you?

1) The COSANA model is a newly developed analytical tool that water managers are using to understand and help manage the region’s three groundwater basins – the Cosumnes, South American and North American Subbasins. This tool is used to determine each subbasin’s water budget and sustainable pumping level. Going forward the COSANA model will assist managers in understanding and interpreting empirical pumping data as well as potential impacts on Groundwater Depended Ecosystems (GDE) and shallow wells from future basin groundwater pumping. To have confidence in the model it is important to understand its sensitivity, how it is calibrated, and what its margin of error is. The COSANA model is only as predictive as the quality of the empirical data it makes use of. The initial round of GSPs all indicate a need for additional monitoring wells to more fully understand each subbasin. We are interested in what efforts are going on within each subbasin to improve the monitoring systems and how these efforts will improve future COSANA results. Finally, COSANA is one of several modeling tools water managers use. We would like to understand how this model’s results correlate with other ground and surface water models, and in turn, how all these model outputs are integrated to inform water managers regarding the appropriate and sustainable use of Ground and Surface water resources.

2) The region’s water managers have invested heavily in conjunctive use to achieve regional water supply sustainability. Water Banking is the process of utilizing underground aquifers to either retain groundwater and use excess surface water in its stead or store excess surface water in the ground during wet years so that the resulting groundwater is available for use in place of surface water during dry years when surface water supplies are not as prevalent. Understanding how the Water Bank will be structured and managed as both a water purveyor and regional asset is important, and ECOS has requested a seat at the table for future discussions on the Water Bank structure, management criteria, and governance.

Committed Discussion Process:

Time will be set aside at key points during the presentation for questions/clarifications and discussion. Participants can introduce their questions either by raising their hand in the Zoom tools or by making use of the chat function. For those without these options, time will be set aside for your questions as well.

Committee Action Item Summary:

The Committee finalized and released two letters following the July meeting. Both are published on the ECOS web site. One was Addressed to the County Board of Supervisors noting our objection to an action being taken by the County Parks Department to install Seven acres of irrigated turf. The second was a letter in support of a $2.6 million grant to fund a planning study for the RiverArc project.

The Sacramento County Draft Climate Action Plan will be released very soon, and the Committee will follow up on its earlier recommendations regarding water conservation and regional landscaping.

Thanks, and meeting closure 5 minutes

The Committee meetings are open to the public. Zoom access – link above or on the ECOS web page under meeting schedules. The next Committee meeting is September 28, time 3:00-5:00 (tentative).

Stop the diversion of 147,000 acre-feet of American River Water to San Joaquin County

On July 6, 2022, the Environmental Council of Sacramento submitted a letter to the State Water Resources Control Board Administrative Hearings Office (AHO) supporting the AHO’s recommendation to cancel San Joaquin County’s application #29657 from 1990.

Below is an excerpt from the letter.

While not the subject of the AHO’s recommendation, the diversion of 147,000 acre-feet of American River Water to San Joaquin County, as envisioned in application #29657, would have substantial adverse impacts to the American River and would disrupt the Water Forum’s 29 years of work to meet water needs, protect river flows, manage river temperatures for salmon and steelhead, and restore aquatic habitats in the Lower American River. The up-stream diversion would likely impact river flows and summer temperatures. With climate change and the projected demand in this region, the river cannot absorb an additional 140,000+ acre feet of diversion and still maintain the fishery and full recreational potential of the lower American river.

Click here to read the letter in full.

ECOS Water Committee – Future of Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, join us on Wed. Jun 22, 2022 at 3:00 pm

Jeffrey Mount is a senior fellow at the PPIC Water Policy Center. He is an emeritus professor of earth and planetary sciences and founding director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California, Davis. A geomorphologist who specializes in the study of rivers, streams, and wetlands, his research focuses on integrated water resource management, flood management, and improving aquatic ecosystem health. He has served on many state and federal boards and commissions that address water resource management issues in the West. He has published more than a hundred articles, books, and other publications, including the seminal book California Rivers and Streams (UC Press). He holds a PhD and MS in earth sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Dr. Mount has recently authored a paper tracking where the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta’s water goes in our changing environment. He will discuss his finding during the Committee’s June meeting.

Date: June 22, 2022
Time: 3:00 PM
Zoom meeting address: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6656164155
To phone in: 669-900-6833, Meeting ID: 665 616 4155

Dr. Mount will discuss the issues facing the Delta, and what future actions may be necessary to preserve both its water supplies and environment in our changing world.

The Delta is California’s largest estuary and a vital hub in the State’s water system.
• 40% of the State’s runoff flows into the Delta
• 30 million residents and more than 6 million acres of farmland are supplied water from the Delta
• Water stored in Folsom Reservoir is used to help preserve and maintain water quality in the Delta
• The delta is dramatically different today from what it was 150 years ago.

Today, three interlinking issues face the Delta.
• An increasingly unreliable water supply
• A decline in ecosystem health
• A fragile system of levees

The Delta’s future is uncertain.
• The Delta tunnel conveyance project
• Climate change impacts on the Delta proper and Upstream water sources
• Addressing saltwater intrusion and the Delta ecosystems
• Maintenance and repair of the levee system

Come and join us for an enlightening and thoughtful discussion.