Catch up on the latest GSA board meeting recaps anytime—at home, on the road, or on your tractor.
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Five draft groundwater plan amendments are open for comment; Monterey’s is expected October 20. Comments received by November 18 will be included in December board materials; later comments may enter the January hearing record. The board approved an OceanWell study MOU requiring no direct GSA funding and bylaws limiting the chair to three consecutive years, and advanced proposed JPA revisions. Staff discussed deep-aquifer allocation planning and county well policies; no allocations or moratorium were adopted.
DWR identified one subsidence deficiency in the amended groundwater plan; the basin GSAs have 180 days to respond. The board approved a $258,000 EKI technical-support amendment and authorized the chair to sign a forthcoming grant amendment that would extend the multi-benefit land repurposing grant through March 2028. It extended project contracts through January 2028, excluding Nevada Ranch, and waived the local land repurposing program’s minimum water-use value for year four.
The board unanimously adopted Resolution No. 2026-02, conditionally accepting the Mainstem Management Entity role if the court enters a substantially similar physical solution. The proposal preserves the agency’s independent authority under SGMA. Comments on the draft GSP Periodic Evaluation close October 26; its projection of 20% less future pumping than the original plan was presented at a September workshop.
Staff projected that 1,500–1,700 acre-feet of paid-for water could remain unused after October, with cooler weather expected to lower demand. Regular operations are scheduled to pause November 1 through January for pump-station work; January pond use would depend on an early, flood-related canal restart. Board members discussed alerting growers that delivery options may narrow but set no notice deadline. The board approved the financial statements without voiced opposition.
The board adopted a CVP Performance Framework; south-of-Delta agricultural allocations averaged about 36% over 15 years. Staff reported more golden mussels at Walter Wasteway, discussed roughly $1 million as a baseline operating budget for Authority facilities next fiscal year, and plans to submit a control plan by mid-November. Delta-Mendota Canal subsidence work looked nearly half complete in the field, and concrete liner placement began.
