The Mission Creek Subbasin Alternative Plan will coordinate with adjacent subbasin GSAs and their planning processes, including the Indio Subbasin Alternative Plan and the San Gorgonio Pass Subbasin GSP.
SGMA mandates that all GSPs and Alternative Plans be updated every five years. In its approval of the Mission CreekCreek Subbasin Alternative Plan, DWR has indicated that the first five-year update to the Alternative Plan needs to be submitted to DWR by January 1, 2022.
A GSP is the plan outlining how to achieve sustainably managed groundwater that meets the requirements of SGMA. GSAs in high and medium priority groundwater basins are required to submit a GSP to the State. The plan must outline how the GSA will implement, manage and measure specific actions to achieve groundwater sustainability within 20 years. If a GSA already had an existing groundwater management plan that is functionally equivalent to a GSP, they were able to submit it for DWR approval as an Alternative Plan.
In December 2016, the CVWD, DWA, and MSWD collaboratively submitted the 2013 Mission Creek/Garnet Hill Water Management Plan and the SGMA Alternative Groundwater Sustainability Plan Bridge Document for the Mission Creek Subbasin, and other supporting documents as an Alternative Plan to a GSP for the Subbasin, which was subsequently approved by DWR on July 17, 2019. Since then, the Alternative Plan has undergone one periodic evaluation in 2022 and is currently underway for the 2027 periodic evaluation.
In 2009, the Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD), Desert Water Agency (DWA), and Mission Springs Water District (MSWD) began development of the 2013 Mission Creek/Garnet Hill Water Management Plan (MC/GH WMP) to address groundwater sustainability in the Subbasin. In 2016, the SGMA Alternative Groundwater Sustainability Plan Bridge Document was prepared to demonstrate that the 2013 MC/GH WMP met the functional requirements of a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP). This led to the submission and DWR approval of the first Alternative Plan in 2017. The Management Committee continues to submit annual reports to DWR, with the third report (for Water Year 2018-2019) and subsequent reports available online. In 2022, the first required Alternative Plan update was submitted to DWR, incorporating new data and addressing recommendations. This 2022 plan was approved by DWR in 2023. The Management Committee is now preparing the next periodic update, which is due by January 1, 2027, to ensure ongoing compliance with SGMA and progress toward basin sustainability.
A Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) or Alternative Plan is a document that outlines how the Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) will implement, manage and measure the results of specific actions for the health and viability of the groundwater basin. The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) will evaluate GSPs or Alternative Plans to provide the GSA with an assessment of the plan and any necessary recommendations every five years following its establishment.
SGMA provides a framework for improving management of groundwater supplies by local authorities. SGMA actually limits State intervention, provided that local agencies develop and implement GSPs or Alternative Plans as required by the legislation. Under SGMA, local agencies now have tools and authorities some agencies previously lacked to manage for sustainability. Under a limited set of circumstances, the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) may step in to help protect local groundwater resources. The process of SWRCB only occurs if local efforts to form a GSA or develop and implement a viable GSP or Alternative Plan are not successful. In the Mission Creek Subbasin, we have two approved GSAs working together with Mission Springs Water District (MSWD) to manage the subbasin as provided for in the approved Alternative Plan.
SGMA does not change existing groundwater rights. Groundwater rights will continue to be subject to regulation under the California Constitution.
Over the years, California water managers have observed a decline in water levels in aquifers in some areas of the state. Impacts and issues related to the decline in groundwater levels are apparent. For example, some wells in the Central Valley have experienced declines in excess of 100 feet during the drought and increases in groundwater pumping have exacerbated some areas of land subsidence, which threatens infrastructure such as roads, canals and bridges. In January 2014, the California Governor’s Office identified groundwater management as one of ten key action steps in its California Water Action Plan. SGMA, signed into law months later, follows up on that action, giving local agencies the ability to manage their respective basins following statewide guidelines.
SGMA is not directly related to drought; sustainable groundwater management is a long-term vision and commitment to manage groundwater judiciously so that it is protected for future use. In many areas, over time, the water table, or the depth at which groundwater can be found, has gotten much deeper below the surface due to pumping. As demand for groundwater has increased, more water is being drawn out of aquifers than is replaced or replenished. Low groundwater levels can cause a number of undesirable results such as land subsidence (sinking of the ground’s surface). Some California groundwater basins have reached all-time historic lows. Creating a framework for State oversight (through SGMA) ensures a standard, consistent process to maintain and actively monitor and manage basins at the local level.
The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), signed into law in 2014, provides a framework for long-term sustainable groundwater management across California. SGMA applies to all California groundwater basins and requires that local and regional authorities in designated medium- and high-priority groundwater basins and subbasins form a locally-controlled and governed Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA), which will prepare and implement a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) or submit an Alternative Plan. In the case of the Mission Creek Subbasin, the region’s water purveyors had already developed a Water Management Plan (the 2013 Mission Creek/Garnet Hill Water Management Plan) which was submitted to the State under SGMA. Of the 109 medium- and high-priority basins identified by the California Department of Water Resources (DWR), the Mission Creek Subbasin Alternative Plan is only one of nine approved alternative plans under SGMA.