Proposed groundwater ordinance establishing an advisory council to the Board of Supervisors

Marcia Armstrong, Siskiyou County Supervisor 7/30/10

The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors will again “provide comments and give direction” on a proposed groundwater ordinance addition for all of Siskiyou County allowing for creation of various groundwater advisory committees across the County. These are committees that are advisory to the Board only. They do not have any final decision-making authority. That continues to reside with the elected Board of Supervisors. They will make various recommendations to the Board. The Board  retains the regulatory capability it already has. There is also a Resolution to establish the proposed Scott Valley groundwater advisory committee. The agenda item will be heard after 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday August 3 in the Board Chambers on the second floor of the County Courthouse in Yreka.

The documents can be accessed here: http://www.co.siskiyou.ca.us/BOS/DOCS/agenda/2010/Questys/MG3945/AS3957/AI8086/DO8087/DO_8087.pdf

Please note that we shrank the committee numbers, although agriculture is still very well represented in the majority. The former composition was just too large and unwieldy. It would be unlikely that there would ever be a quorum and that it would function well.

You might also wish to note the recent passage of SBX7 6. http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/09-10/bill/sen/sb_0001-0050/sbx7_6_bill_20091106_chaptered.html which goes into effect January 1, 2011. I believe that parties seeking to locally assume groundwater elevation monitoring functions must notify DWR, otherwise the state will assume the function. Once the state takes the function, local entities will become ineligible for associated water grants or loans from the state, including those for groundwater management planning. Currently, the RCD is conducting an ongoing Groundwater Well Monitoring Program. With the new Advisory Committee in place, both the RCD and the Watershed Council could feed information to the Advisory Committee for review and consideration. The Advisory Committee would them report to the Board of Supervisors with the necessary information for the state and any voluntary management plans or recommendations. There is supposed to be a workshop on this  

August 18, 01:00 - 04:00 p.m. (Redding)
City of Redding City Hall, Community Room
777 Cypress Ave., Redding, CA 96001
Registration Deadline: August 10, 2010

However, that is also a special Board meeting day in Yreka with a workshop on Aging.

During the Fall of 2010, DWR will be releasing guidance documents, associated with the implementation of the CASGEM program, to the public for review and comment. 

DWR has created web pages with the purpose of making information associated with the CASGEM program readily available and providing a way for interested parties to keep up with new program developments. The address of the central web page is:  http://www.water.ca.gov/groundwater/casgem .

 

DWR has created a web mailing list to which interested parties may subscribe.  Subscribers will receive periodic e-mail messages notifying them of important news and announcements related to the groundwater elevation monitoring program, updates to the web site, availability of documents released on the web site, and dates and locations of public workshops.  To subscribe to the CASGEM mailing list, visit:

http://water.ca.gov/groundwater/casgem/register