Agenda Item Wording:
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Mid-Kaweah Groundwater Update - Presentation by Aaron Fukuta on the Mid-Kaweah Groundwater Sustainability Agency and the Agency's implementation of the state-mandated Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
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Deadline for Action: 3/4/2024
Submitting Department: Administration
Contact Name and Phone Number: Leslie B. Caviglia, City Manager, 713-4332
Department Recommendation: It is recommended that the Visalia City Council receive this update on the Mid-Kaweah Groundwater Sustainability Agency, which the City is part of, and the efforts of the Mid-Kaweah and the other Groundwater Sustainability Agencies in the Kaweah Sub-basin to implement the provisions of the state-mandated Sustainability Groundwater Management Act. The Mid-Kaweah is comprised of the Tulare Irrigation District and the Cities of Tulare and Visalia. There are six board members on the Mid-Kaweah, two from each agency. The City of Visalia's representatives are Council Members Steve Nelsen and Liz Wynn. The Presenter, Aaron Fukuda, is the Interim Executive Director of the Mid-Kaweah.
Background Discussion:
As a result of the SGMA legislation adopted in 2014, groundwater basins and subbasins that were in overdraft had to develop a plan to bring the basin into compliance. In lay terms, overdraft means that on average, the users in the basin are using more groundwater than is coming in to the underground basin, While "sustainability" does not have to be equal intake and outtake on an annual basis, it does need to average out to being equal over time. Basins that are considered high priority, meaning that they are in severe groundwater deficit, had to develop a plan by 2020 that indicated how the basin will become sustainable. However, the Plan submitted by the three GSA's (Greater Kaweah, Mid-Kaweah and East Kaweah) was deemed incomplete/inadequate. The three GSA's within the Basin are now working with consu...
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