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Basin Plan Assessment

Priority Basin Project

The Groundwater Quality Monitoring Act of 2001 (Sections 10780-10782.3 of the Water Code – AB 599 resulted in a publicly accepted plan to monitor and assess the quality of all priority groundwater basins that account for over 90% of all groundwater used in the state. The plan prioritizes groundwater basins for assessment based on groundwater use across the state. The GAMA Priority Basin Project monitors groundwater for a dozens of chemicals at very low detection limits, including emerging contaminants. Monitoring and assessments for priority groundwater basins are to be completed every ten years, with trend monitoring every 3 years. The State Water Board is collaborating with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to implement the Priority Basin Project.

The main goals of the GAMA Priority Basin Project is to:

  • Improve comprehensive statewide groundwater monitoring; and
  • Increase the availability of groundwater quality information to the public

Benefits of a Priority Basin Project

Stewardship of the state’s groundwater resources is the shared responsibility of all levels of government as well as individual and corporate citizens. The following are key benefits to enable informed decision-making among all responsible participants:

  • Provides for a common base communications medium for agencies to utilize and provides groundwater quality data at multiple levels.
  • Provides the mechanism to unite local, regional, and statewide groundwater programs in a common effort.
  • Knowledge and better understanding of local, regional and statewide water quality issues and concerns will provide agencies at all levels better information to, in turn, deal with the concerns of consumers and consumer advocate groups.
  • Provides groundwater agencies with trends and long term forecasting which is essential for groundwater management plan growth and preparation, especially if remedial actions become necessary.
  • An effective statewide comprehensive groundwater quality program may provide motivation to small and medium-sized agencies to begin their own monitoring programs.
  • This program may help inter-basin agencies that have basin-wide or regional management objectives. Especially those agencies that have intricate and overlapping jurisdictions via their physical or political location in a basin or aquifer.
  • A comprehensive groundwater quality program will improve relationships between state agencies like SWRCB, DWR, CPDH, and local agencies.  The dissolution of local and state institutional barriers regarding data sharing will benefit all agencies.