The Department of Water Resources has issued letters to the GSAs of the remaining six subbasins in the San Joaquin Valley, notifying them that their groundwater sustainability plans contain deficiencies that will need to be addressed.
The Department’s letter, signed by Paul Gosselin, Deputy Director of Sustainable Groundwater Management, states:
“While this letter is not a final determination, Department staff have identified several deficiencies which will preclude the Department’s approval of your Plan. The final determination and assessment will be provided to you and posted to the SGMA Portal no later than January 23, 2022. The assessment will describe the deficiencies precluding approval and determine that the Plan is incomplete. The deficiencies described in the forthcoming official written assessment will have accompanying corrective actions that the GSAs must address within 180 days from issuance.
Ahead of receiving the final determination and assessment for your Subbasin, we encourage your GSAs to review the deficiencies associated with the plans prepared for other subbasins in the San Joaquin Valley, which are documented in previously issued letters; the letters are posted to the SGMA Portal. Deficiencies for your Subbasin will include similar themes, and may include other items, such as deficiencies related to coordination among the GSPs. The Department recommends that you begin to coordinate with your Subbasin’s GSAs, their governing boards, applicable technical advisory committees, and interested parties to discuss tentative approaches to addressing deficiencies. … “
The letter concludes by noting that once the written determination is received in January, the GSAs will have 180 days to correct the deficiencies.
The letter send to the Delta-Mendota is below. Similar letters were sent to the Kings, Kaweah, Tulare Lake, Tule, and Kern County subbasins. The letters can be found on the Department’s SGMA Portal.
For questions, please contact the Sustainable Groundwater Management Office by emailing sgmps@water.ca.gov.
CorrespondenceLetter_Delta_Mendota_12092021-1
