When the state Sustainable Groundwater Management Act was signed into law in 2014, Monterey County already had a leg up, at least from a data perspective: Since 1995, the Monterey County Water Resources Agency has been tracking groundwater extraction amounts and groundwater levels throughout most the Salinas Valley (called the GEMS program), giving those working to create state-mandated groundwater sustainability plans locally information to base their plans on. But as the Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency has been creating its plans throughout the Salinas Valley sub-basins, it’s run up against a problem: Some areas the state wants data on are outside the area of MCWRA’s GEMS program, so SVBGSA was stuck in a pickle – the data simply did not exist.

Related groundwater articles:

• CoastalView.com: Opinion: The future of sustainable groundwater management in Carpinteria
• Westside Connect: Cover crops offer water-holding benefits