VENTURA COUNTY — The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) has approved the Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency Groundwater Sustainability Plans, covering Oxnard and Pleasant Valley Basins—its two critically over-drafted basins.
The California Department of Water Resources released its second round of assessments of Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) developed by local agencies to meet the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act requirements.
After four years of development including extensive stakeholder input at dozens of public meetings, technical advisory group meetings, and two public comment periods, the Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency (FCGMA) adopted the GSPs in 2019.
Plans include comprehensive technical information about the basins including the hydrogeology of the groundwater aquifers, numerical modeling of future groundwater conditions, and potential projects to increase the water supply and sustainable yield of the basins. The GSPs provide the framework for sustainably managing the basins by 2040, as required by the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
“The DWR’s approvals for these two basins highlight the nearly 40 years of Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency’s leadership and technical rigor behind protection of this vital resource,” said Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency Executive Director Jeff Pratt. “We were very proud to have been the first to submit Board adopted GSPs to DWR, and now overjoyed that they are approved. With the drought, careful management of this valuable resource is key.”
FCGMA is currently working with stakeholder agencies to identify additional water supply and infrastructure projects to adopt into the GSPs. The GSPs and annual reports can be downloaded at?fcgma.org/groundwater-sustainability-plan.
Local agencies including United Water Conservation District, Calleguas Municipal Water District, and the City of Oxnard have also implemented water supply projects that contributed to new water sources for municipal, industrial, and agriculture use.
Since its inception in 1982, the FCGMA has managed and protected groundwater. The Agency has a long history of innovative groundwater management including implementation of advanced metering infrastructure, a water market, and facilitation of conjunctive and groundwater storage programs. With the history of FCGMA’s collaboration with other agencies, the Agency intends to implement the GSP along with existing and planned conjunctive use programs in these basins.