California groundwater management resources

California trailed behind many other states in groundwater management before passage of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in 2014. Now, with careful implementation of the new law, California has an opportunity to transform into a model for the West and other water-challenged parts of the world.

EDF is providing guidance to groundwater agencies on how to navigate complex groundwater issues to comply with the new law in order to successfully bring groundwater supplies back into balance. Please scroll down to explore our SGMA resources.

Watch now: Keeping water flowing in California's Central Valley

Featured work

Advancing Strategic Land Repurposing and Groundwater Sustainability in California: A guide for developing regional strategies to create multiple benefits.

This guide outlines practical and creative approaches for the development of regionally coordinated land repurposing strategies, features one-page case studies, and includes a financial analysis summarizing funding options.
March 2021

Webinar: Navigating SGMA Groundwater Allocations & Minimizing Legal Risk

This webinar features a panel presentation with the authors of an article in the UCLA Journal of Environment Law & Policy titled “The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act and the Common Law of Groundwater Rights — Finding a Consistent Path Forward for Groundwater Allocation.”
October 2020

Reports, white papers and other resources

Advancing Strategic Land Repurposing and Groundwater Sustainability in California: A guide for developing regional strategies to create multiple benefits.
One unfortunate outcome of transitioning to sustainable groundwater management in California is inevitable: To balance groundwater demand with supply, some agricultural land will have to be taken out of production — as much as 500,000 to 750,000 acres, roughly equivalent to the size of Yosemite National Park. This guide outlines practical and creative approaches for the development of regionally coordinated land repurposing strategies to help with this transition, features one-page case studies, and includes a financial analysis summarizing funding options for strategic land repurposing.
March 2021
The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act and the Common Law of Groundwater Rights — Finding a Consistent Path Forward for Groundwater Allocation
One of the biggest challenges to implementing California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act centers on deciding who gets to pump how much groundwater without changing groundwater rights. To provide more clarity to groundwater agencies on how to navigate this challenge, Environmental Defense Fund partnered with four leading law experts to coauthor this article in the UCLA Journal of Environmental Law & Policy, which takes a deep dive into the relationship between SGMA and groundwater rights.
September 2020
Building multibenefit recharge basins [PDF]
This guide developed by EDF, Point Blue Conservation Science, Audubon California and Sustainable Conservation provides information to help water managers and growers build groundwater recharge basins that provide operational benefits while also creating valuable waterbird habitat.
February 2020
Protecting Groundwater Quality in California: Management Considerations for Avoiding Naturally Occurring and Emerging Contaminants [PDF]
This paper provides guidance to help groundwater sustainability agencies and local communities avoid inadvertently contaminating supplies as they change management practices to comply with SGMA.
September 2019
The Groundwater Game Toolkit
The Groundwater Game provides players with an interactive opportunity to experience the challenges of managing increasingly scarce groundwater when there are competing needs. The game also provides players with a greater understanding of different management tools, including groundwater trading.
July 2019
Groundwater Sustainability Plan Chapter Templates: Basin Framework for a Multi-benefit Groundwater Replenishment and Water Trading Program [Word Doc]
The Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) chapter templates were developed to assist Groundwater Sustainability Agencies with incorporating multi-benefit replenishment and water trading mechanisms into GSPs as they are developed to comply with California's Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. These chapter templates provide an initial framework that can be adapted to reflect regional conditions and objectives.
October 2018
Groundwater pumping allocations under California's Sustainable Management Act: Considerations for groundwater sustainability agencies [PDF]
This paper addresses one major dilemma facing Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs): how to comply with SGMA without changing groundwater rights. It provides background on groundwater rights priorities and then recommends one approach among four to develop an allocation scheme that is most likely to withstand a court challenge.
August 2018
Addressing regional surface water depletions in California: A proposed approach for compliance with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act [PDF]
In this paper, Environmental Defense Fund proposes an approach for GSAs to address surface water depletions – also known as the “sixth deadly sin” or “Undesirable Result No. 6” – under SGMA.
August 2018
Groundwater trading as a tool for implementing California's Sustainable Groundwater Management Act [PDF]
This report describes how groundwater trading can be a compelling, cost-effective tool to achieve the goals of SGMA. While trading is not a panacea, it can reward conservation, create new revenue streams for groundwater users, boost a community’s drought resilience and improve aquifer conditions.
December 2017