Equity Partner Keith Lemieux Presented At The UC Davis School Of Law’s Symposium

Equity Partner Keith Lemieux recently presented at the UC Davis School of Law's symposium, "10 Years In: A SGMA Report Card." He discussed the Indian Wells Valley groundwater adjudication and its implications for SGMA's future. The California Department of Water Resources and the California Lawyers Association’s Environmental Law Section co-sponsored the event.

In 2014, California enacted the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in response to a prolonged drought and over-reliance on groundwater. SGMA marked a shift from unregulated groundwater pumping to a more structured approach, although it took a "bottom-up" method where local water districts or communities form Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) responsible for developing and implementing their own Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs). These plans are designed to bring the state's over-drafted aquifers to sustainability by the 2040s, while avoiding undesirable environmental impacts. State oversight, primarily through the Department of Water Resources (DWR), ensures GSAs are formed and their plans meet the necessary standards, with a state "backstop" authority available in cases of non-compliance.

Ten years after SGMA's implementation, progress has been mixed, with some GSAs advancing effectively while others lag or face challenges. As a result, lawsuits have emerged around the state's GSAs and regulatory actions, raising questions about SGMA's effectiveness and potential need for reform. 

Keith reported on a rare SGMA success story: the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority (IWVGA). The Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Basin, located in the Mojave Desert, faces severe water management challenges due to critical overdraft. The basin spans 382,000 acres, with much of the land owned by the U.S. Navy and managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Groundwater is the only source of water for the region, including the City of Ridgecrest and the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake. The basin's natural recharge rate is approximately 7,650 acre-feet per year, but annual water extractions exceed 19,000 acre-feet, causing significant overdraft. This has resulted in declining groundwater levels, degraded water quality, and predictions of widespread well failures in the coming years. 

IWVGA, a joint-powers authority, was formed to manage the basin's water resources. The Authority developed a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) that includes several sustainability measures, such as exploring water importation, recycled water use, and fallowing programs. However, most efforts, except for the imported water program, have faced technical or funding challenges. The GSP's primary solution involves importing water via a pipeline, which is estimated to cost $177 million, with ongoing efforts to secure federal and state funding. Despite legal challenges from agricultural producers like Mojave Pistachios, the IWVGA has made progress on securing funding and designing the infrastructure necessary to bring the basin into compliance with California's Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) by 2040.