California judge issues first-of-its-kind ruling to rein in groundwater pumping
A Superior Court judge ruled last week that Sonoma County must do more to ensure responsible groundwater pumping under the state’s Public Trust Doctrine. The historical doctrine holds that rivers, creeks, and other waterways must be protected for the public.
Groundwater has only recently been considered part of the Public Trust Doctrine, as the hydrological connection between waterways and below-ground water supplies has become clear. The new court decision is likely the first to enforce this.
The ruling will not only require Sonoma County to revisit and perhaps rewrite its ordinance for permitting groundwater wells, but it could set the stage for other counties to similarly step up regulation for groundwater pumping. With aquifers being overdrawn across the state as above-ground supplies get squeezed, environmentalists are optimistic that this will be the case.
“This ruling is particularly welcome given steadily growing groundwater pumping, declining natural resources and a changing climate that is making droughts deeper and longer,” said Barry Nelson, founder of the consulting company Western Water Strategies. “We hope this decision will be followed by counties statewide so that they start considering impacts on surface flows more seriously when permitting groundwater pumping.”
The case was brought to Sonoma County Superior Court last year by the environmental groups California Coastkeeper Alliance and Russian Riverkeeper.
The organizations claimed that Sonoma County’s well ordinance did not adequately consider the impacts of new wells on rivers and creeks, which were running low and threatening salmon and steelhead runs, according to the groups. Their lawsuit said the county had a public trust obligation to protect the waterways.
The challenge followed litigation two years earlier, which prompted the county to establish its well ordinance. The environmental groups, however, said the ordinance fell short.
The main concern has been the Russian River basin. Wells on vineyards that drive the county’s booming wine industry pull water not just from the ground but sometimes from adjacent rivers and creeks, where water seeps into the soil.
“Pumpers could just pump as much as they wanted,” said Sean Bothwell, executive director of California Coastkeeper Alliance. “There was nothing to make sure they were pumping sustainably. We felt like this (lawsuit) was a way to bring things into balance.”
A statewide groundwater law, called the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, was passed in 2014 to help shore up diminishing aquifers across California, but the law doesn’t fully take effect until the early 2040s. Bothwell said this was too long to wait.
“We hope counties will heed this decision, and proactively do the right — and legally required — step of evaluating groundwater pumping to ensure pumpers are not taking excessive water to the detriment of our rivers and the aquatic life,” he said.
While Sonoma County, and potentially other counties, will have to better evaluate and mitigate the impacts of new wells per the new ruling, the Public Trust Doctrine does not detail when a county must approve or deny a well proposal. This remains subject to local discretion.
The Sonoma County Administrator’s Office said Friday it was still reviewing the court decision and wasn’t prepared to comment.
But County Supervisor David Rabbitt, who was involved in the adoption of the well ordinance, criticized the ruling, saying the county’s current rules were sufficient to protect waterways. Asking more of the county, he said, was burdensome and would likely prevent needed wells from being put in.
“Are we going to require conditional use permits and environmental impact reports for every well that is drilled?” he said.
The county is likely to put a moratorium on new wells until it addresses the ruling, Rabbitt said.
Source: https://www.sfchronicle.com/climate/article/sonoma-groundwater-public-trust-19719597.php