Our Purpose
Groundwater Management
The goal of the Upper San Luis Rey Groundwater Management Authority is to perform sustainable and equitable groundwater management, in accordance with SGMA, that will protect the groundwater resources in the Upper San Luis Rey Groundwater Basin for all beneficial users into the foreseeable future.
Frequently Asked Questions
Under Construction - Thank you for your patience
Groundwater is the water found underground in the cracks and spaces in soil, sand and rock. It is stored in and moves slowly through geologic formations of soil, sand and rocks called aquifers.
Beneficial users of the Upper San Luis Rey Basin depend on groundwater for a major portion of its annual water supply, making sustainable groundwater management essential to a reliable and resilient water system. In September 2014, Governor Brown signed a three-bill package of legislation into law collectively known as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).
Sustainable groundwater management under SGMA singles out six “undesirable results" to be avoided:
- Chronic lowering of groundwater levels indicating a significant and unreasonable depletion of supply
- Significant and unreasonable reduction of groundwater storage
- Significant and unreasonable seawater intrusion
- Significant and unreasonable degradation of water quality
- Significant and unreasonable land subsidence
- Groundwater-related surface water depletions that have significant and unreasonable adverse impacts on beneficial uses of surface water
What is considered “significant and unreasonable” is left for the local GSAs and stakeholders to decide.
At the center of the legislation is the decision that groundwater management is best accomplished at the local level. Under SGMA, the Upper San Luis Rey Groundwater Management Authority is tasked with developing and implementing a locally-developed Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) for all groundwater basins designated as medium or high priority by DWR. The legislation allows 20 years to achieve sustainability.
The Act requires that a GSA prepare a GSP that lays out the path that the basin will take to achieve sustainable groundwater management within 20 years. SGMA establishes a broad framework for local agencies to manage groundwater, giving local agencies some flexibility about how to achieve sustainability, as well as how sustainability is defined in the local context.
The framework for the GSP has several requirements, including:
- A description of the physical setting and characteristics of the aquifer system.
- Current and historical data for groundwater levels, groundwater quality, subsidence and groundwater-surface water interaction, and a discussion of historical and projected water demands and supplies.
- Maps that include details of the basin and its boundaries and identify existing and potential recharge areas.
- A succinctly stated sustainability goal for a desired condition that is applicable to the entire basin, how the basin will get to that desired condition, and why the measures planned will lead to success.
- Measurable objectives, as well as interim milestones in increments of five years, to achieve the sustainability goal in the basin within 20 years.
- A monitoring plan that will measure progress over time.
- A description of other applicable local government plans and how the GSP may affect those plans.
- SGMA also established a process for local agencies to develop an alternative in lieu of a GSP, provided the alternative is functionally equivalent to the elements of a GSP.
The Groundwater Sustainability Plan for the USLRGMA can be found at https://sgma.water.ca.gov/portal/gsp/preview/76
After a GSP is adopted, it is then submitted to the DWR who has two years to review the plan for adequacy. If it is found inadequate, GSAs will be given six months to provide remedies.
If the DWR determines that the GSP is inadequate and the GSA does not or cannot correct the deficiencies, the State Water Board can designate the basin as “probationary”. If the local agency does not respond within 180 days, the State Water Board is authorized to step in and assume management of the basin until the GSA is able to reassume management with a compliant plan.
If the State Water Board intervenes in the management of a groundwater basin, the Board must assess fees to recover cost incurred in administering a probationary basin, such as reporting requirements, investigations, facilitation, monitoring, hearing, enforcement and administrative costs. Info coming soon!
Generally, domestic well users meet the SGMA definition of a de minimis extractor, defined as “a person who extracts, for domestic purposes, two acre-feet or less (of groundwater) per year.” Most households with a domestic well that are not watering crops or large areas of landscape are likely de minimis extractors; however, each GSA will determine the management policies that will apply to domestic well users such as whether domestic well users are exempt from management or they may be incorporated into basin management to address the negative impacts they may cause to the basin as a whole.
Whether or not SGMA applies to a domestic well owner, the implementation of a GSP will mean changes in the management of groundwater with potential wide-ranging effects. All stakeholders in a groundwater basin subject to SGMA are encouraged to participate in the development of a GSP to ensure a robust and successful outcome.
To learn more, read the Domestic Well Users and SGMA Fact Sheet
Per Executive Order No. -7-22 all permits for wells located within the Upper San Luis Rey Groundwater Subbasin must be approved by the Groundwater Management Authority.
Please complete the Well Verification Request and Agreement and submit it to the Groundwater Management Authority Administrator for review.
Groundwater Sustainability Plan
The Upper San Luis Rey Ground Water Management Authority is proud to announce that the Groundwater Water Sustainability Plan has been approved by the California Department of Water Resources. The Plan and corresponding information can be found at:
GSP Development
Board Meetings
Regular Meeting of October 15 adjourned to December 3, 2024 (pdf)
Download2024-09-17 Regular Meeting (pdf)
Download2024-08-20 Regular Meeting (pdf)
DownloadRevised Resolution & Policy Fees and Charges for Adoption at 7/16/2024 Meeting (pdf)
Download2024-07-16 Regular Meeting (pdf)
Download2024-06-18 Regular Meeting (pdf)
Download2024-05-21 Regular Meeting (pdf)
Download2024-04-16 Regular Meeting (pdf)
Download2024-03-19 USLRGMA Regular Meeting (pdf)
Download2024-02-20 Regular Meeting (pdf)
Download2024-01-16 Regular Meeting (pdf)
DownloadPast Meetings
Regular meetings of the Upper San Luis Rey Groundwater Management Authority are held the third Tuesday of each month at 3:00 p.m. at the Offices of Yuima Municipal Water District, 34928 Valley Center Rd., Pauma Valley, CA
Minutes
Other Information
Well Verification Request and Agreement (pdf)
DownloadBoard of Directors
Chair
Vice-Chair
Vice-Chair
Greg Kamin
Vice-Chair
Vice-Chair
Vice-Chair
Tim Lyall
Secretary
Vice-Chair
Secretary
Michael Perricone
Treasurer
Treasurer
Secretary
Roland Simpson
Director
Treasurer
Director
Charles Bandy
Director
Treasurer
Director
Bill Pankey
Director
Director
Director
Rich Stehly
Director
Director
Director
Eric Steinlicht
Director
Director
Director
Steve Wehr
Contact Us
Contact Us
USLRGMA
P.O. Box 984, Pauma Valley, CA 92061
Phone: 760-742-3704 Fax: 760-742-2069 E-mail: amy@uslrgma.com
Hours
Open today | 08:00 am – 04:30 pm |
Copyright © 2024 Upper San Luis Rey Groundwater Management Association - All Rights Reserved.
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