San Joaquin County
SGMA required formation of local GSAs by June 30, 2017 and adoption of a GSP by January 31, 2022 for medium and high priority basins. Basins designated as being in critical groundwater overdraft must have GSPs adopted by January 31, 2020.
In 2016, the County was awarded a $250,000 grant from the DWR to develop technical tools to aid in the SGMA GSP process. The San Joaquin County Public Works Division has been extensively involved in the formation and organizing of GSAs in both the Eastern San Joaquin and Tracy subbasins. Both subbasins require additional coordination outside of the County as the subbasins extend into the adjacent Counties of Alameda, Calaveras, Contra Costa, and Stanislaus.
Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Authority
The Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Authority was established as a public entity with the mission of the Authority providing dynamic, cost-effective, flexible and collegial organization to insure initial and ongoing SGMA compliance within the Basin. Its purpose is to:
- Provide coordination among its 17 Groundwater Sustainability Agency members
- Carry out SGMA purposes in a cooperative manner
- Develop, adopt and implement a legally sufficient Groundwater Sustainability Plan that covers portions of the subbasin within the jurisdictional boundaries
- Satisfy SGMA’s requirements for coordination among the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies
The Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Authority is comprised of 17 Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) covering the entire Eastern San Joaquin Subbasin (designated by DWR as being critically overdrafted) and covers eastern San Joaquin County and portions of western Calaveras and northeastern Stanislaus counties.
The Eastern San Joaquin Subbasin includes the following tributaries: San Joaquin River, Stanislaus River, Calaveras River, Mokelume River, Mormon Slough, and Littlejohns Creek. The Eastern San Joaquin Subbasin is also within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
For more information regarding the Eastern San Joaquin Groundwater Authority and activities, please click on the following link: https://www.esjgroundwater.org
Tracy Subbasin
On February 11, 2019, DWR published the final Basin Boundary Modifications effectively creating and separating the East Contra Costa Subbasin from the Tracy Subbasin, and adding the City of Lathrop to the Tracy Subbasin. With this modification, the Tracy subbasin partners consist of:
- Banta-Carbona Irrigation District
- Byron-Bethany Irrigation District
- City of Tracy
- City of Lathrop
- San Joaquin County
- Stewart Tract
- West Side irrigation District,
DWR has designated the Tracy Subbasin as being a medium priority basin.
The Tracy Subbasin Partners seek to collectively develop a single GSP (Tracy Subbasin GSP) by using grant funding and have selected San Joaquin County as the lead agency for coordination of the meetings of the Committee and coordinating the Tracy Subbasin GSP development among the Partners.
To view the SGMA document, click here.