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Sierra Valley, CA – a White Paper on the Opportunities and Challenges for Management of Groundwater Under SGMA

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Sierra Valley, CA – a White Paper on the Opportunities and Challenges for Management of Groundwater Under SGMA Sierra Valley, CA – A white paper on the opportunities and challenges for management of groundwater under SGMA Item Type monograph Authors Bachand, P.A.M.; Burt, K.S.; Carlton, S.; Bachand, S.M. Publisher Bachand & Associates Download date 29/09/2021 06:54:29 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/1834/41186 Sierra Valley, CA – A White Paper on the Opportunities and Challenges for Management of Groundwater under SGMA P.A.M. Bachand1, K.S. Burt1, S. Carlton2 and S.M. Bachand1 1Bachand & Associates, 2Carlton Hydrology SIERRA VALLEY GROUNDWATER SUSTAINABILITY WHITE PAPER Sierra Valley, CA – A White Paper on the Opportunities and Challenges for Management of Groundwater under SGMA By P.A.M. Bachand1, K.S. Burt1, S. Carlton2 and S.M. Bachand1 1Bachand & Associates, Davis, CA 95616; 2Carlton Hydrology Funded through the Feather River Land Trust (FLRT) https://www.frlt.org/ and Bachand & Associates www.bachandassociates.com December 2019 Suggested citation: Bachand, P.A.M., K.S. Burt, S. Carlton and S.M. Bachand. 2019. Sierra Valley, CA – A White Paper on the Opportunities and Challenges for Management of Groundwater under SGMA. Report to Feather River Land Trust with support from Bachand & Associates. Sierra Valley, CA. Available at www.bachandassociates.com and www.frlt.org. For more information, please contact Philip Bachand, Ph.D., President, Bachand & Associates, 231 G Street Ste 28, Davis, CA 95616, 530-574-3376. [email protected] BACHAND & ASSOCIATES ii SV White Paper 2020-02-14 BA 3/10/2020 SIERRA VALLEY GROUNDWATER SUSTAINABILITY WHITE PAPER Contents Contents ....................................................................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................................... iv Acronyms and Abbreviations .................................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................................... v Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................................... 1 Overview ........................................................................................................................................................................ 5 Geology and Hydrology ................................................................................................................................................. 6 Climate Change Considerations ................................................................................................................................... 11 SGMA and Sierra Valley ............................................................................................................................................... 13 Sustainable Yield Estimates ..................................................................................................................................... 14 Sustainability Indicators and Undesirable Results .................................................................................................. 14 Groundwater level and storage .......................................................................................................................... 15 Water quality ...................................................................................................................................................... 15 Subsidence .......................................................................................................................................................... 16 Surface water depletion and beneficial uses ...................................................................................................... 16 Adaptive Management ............................................................................................................................................ 17 Data Gaps, Recommendations and Next Steps ........................................................................................................... 20 1. Create Management Areas to Optimize Results from Decisions Made ......................................................... 20 2. Develop and Implement More Robust and Higher Density Monitoring Networks ........................................ 20 3. Improve Groundwater Pumping Data to Support Sustainable Yield Efforts .................................................. 22 4. Implement More Consistent and Informative Surface Water Sampling ........................................................ 23 5. Standardize Data Sampling and Reporting ..................................................................................................... 23 6. Implement an Adaptive Management Approach for Sustainable Groundwater Management. .................... 24 7. Investigate Promising Mitigation Strategies ................................................................................................... 25 8. Broaden Stakeholder Participation ................................................................................................................ 26 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................... 27 Cited Works ................................................................................................................................................................. 28 BACHAND & ASSOCIATES iii SV White Paper 2020-02-14 BA 3/10/2020 SIERRA VALLEY GROUNDWATER SUSTAINABILITY WHITE PAPER List of Figures FIGURE 1. MAP OF SIERRA VALLEY GROUNDWATER BASIN, STREAMS AND WATERSHED BOUNDARIES, MONITORING STATIONS, AND GROUNDWATER WELLS. ...................................................................................... 5 FIGURE 2. LANDSAT (GOOGLE EARTH) IMAGE OF SIERRA VALLEY, DECEMBER 2016. ................................................. 6 FIGURE 3. SIERRA VALLEY WATERSHED STREAMS AND CREEKS. ................................................................................. 7 FIGURE 4. AVERAGE GROUNDWATER ELEVATIONS SINCE 1987 FOR THREE DEPTHS. .................................................. 8 FIGURE 5. SPRING GROUNDWATER CONTOURS AT 10 FT INTERVALS ON A DECADAL FREQUENCY. ........................... 9 FIGURE 6. PUMPING TOTALS FROM 1998 – 2006 OVERLAYING SPRING 2015 GROUNDWATER ELEVATIONS. ......... 10 FIGURE 7. GW LEVEL CONTOURS RELATIVE TO GROUND SURFACE FOR SHALLOW WELLS. ....................................... 12 FIGURE 8. DWR SIERRA NEVADA SNOWPACK PROJECTIONS ...................................................................................... 13 FIGURE 9. PUMPING VALUES CATEGORIZED BY AVERAGE DEEP GROUNDWATER CHANGE GROUPINGS FOR WELLS EAST OF THE FAULT. ............................................................................................................................................ 14 FIGURE 10. THE ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT PROCESS FOR RESOURCE MANAGEMENT. ............................................ 18 FIGURE 11. THE SGMA COMPLIANCE PROCESS. ......................................................................................................... 19 FIGURE 12. CONTOURS AT 20 FT INTERVALS GENERATED USING DIFFERING SELECTION OF WELLS ......................... 21 FIGURE 13. SIERRA VALLEY GROUNDWATER CONTOURS BELOW 300 FT AND 20-YR TOTALS. .................................. 22 BACHAND & ASSOCIATES iv SV White Paper 2020-02-14 BA 3/10/2020 SIERRA VALLEY GROUNDWATER SUSTAINABILITY WHITE PAPER Acronyms and Abbreviations AF Acre-Feet BGS Below ground surface CASGEM California Statewide Groundwater Elevation Monitoring Program CDEC California Department of Water Resources California Data Exchange Center. CGS California Geological Society DWR California Department of Water Resources ET Evapotranspiration FRLT Feather River Land Trust Ft feet GSA Groundwater Sustainability Agency GSP Groundwater Sustainability Plan GVF Grizzly Valley Fault GVEF Grizzly Valley East Fault GVWF Grizzly Valley West Fault IWFM DWR’s Integrated Water Flow Model INSAR Interferometric synthetic-aperture radar JPL NASA Jet Propulsion Lab LESA Low Energy Spray Application PLSS Public Land Survey System SGMA 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act SOP Standard Operating Procedures SVGMD Sierra Valley Groundwater Management District SWE Snow water equivalent SWRCB State Water Resources Control Board TNC The Nature Conservancy USFS U.S. Forest Service USGS United States Geological Survey WEHY Watershed Environmental Hydrology model WQCC Water quality constituent of concern Acknowledgements We appreciate input from the following people and organizations in the preparation of this document: Tyler Hatch and Debbie Spangler of the California Department of Water Resources; Burkhardt Bohm of Plumas Geo-Hydro; and the Sierra Valley Groundwater Management District. We also appreciate feedback and review from Kristi Jamason representing the Feather River Land Trust. This report was funded by the Feather River Land Trust, with matching funding from Bachand & Associates. BACHAND & ASSOCIATES v SV White Paper 2020-02-14 BA 3/10/2020 SIERRA VALLEY GROUNDWATER SUSTAINABILITY WHITE PAPER Opportunities and challenges
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