Water officials tasked with hammering out a plan to manage Santa Clarita Valley groundwater announced Thursday they are now accepting applications for seven people to serve as the agency’s advisory group.
In a news release issued Thursday, members of the Santa Clarita Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency announced: “Applications are being accepted for a public advisory committee to help develop a plan for sustainable management of the local groundwater basin in the Santa Clarita Valley.”
The agency wants seven people to represent small, medium and large groundwater pumpers in the Santa Clara River Valley East Subbasin, the business community, environmental interests and the community at large.
“As we develop this critical plan, it is important to consider all interests and perspectives of water users in the basin,” SCV‐GSA board President William C. Cooper was quoted as saying in the release.
“The Stakeholder Advisory Committee will provide input that will help produce a workable and enduring strategy for maintaining the health of our groundwater basin,” he said.
The SCV GSA was formed as a result of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014, a statewide effort to reduce overpumping of a critical water supply.
The act, formed as California emerged from a multi-year drought, calls on all communities to manage the groundwater in their respective areas.
Each assembled groundwater sustainability agency has until January 2022 to come up with a plan to better manage groundwater.
The groundwater in question involves the Santa Clara River Valley East Sub-Basin, which stretches west from Agua Dulce to the Ventura County line and from the northern reaches of Castaic Lake to Calgrove Boulevard.
In hammering out such a plan, members of the SCV GSA proposed in June that a Stakeholder Advisory Committee be formed to help them with meaningful input.
Plans developed locally are tailored to the resources and needs of the community and are intended to achieve sustainable groundwater management within 20 years.
The local Stakeholder Advisory Committee is expected to review and provide recommendations to the SCV GSA board on issues such as objectives, monitoring, work plans and plan development.
Members are expected to serve for two years and be willing to consider all viewpoints, work toward a consensus, and represent the interests of the stakeholder group they represent.
The committee is expected to advise the SCV GSA board on future decisions and policy including water budgets, sustainable management criteria and implementation.
Applications are due Sept. 20, and details about the committee are available online at https://scvgsa.org/stakeholder‐advisory‐committee‐application/.
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