1. The committee will advise on a valley-wide project strategy. General Manager Perette Harmon said the Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency board aims to select a suite of projects and management actions in fall 2026. That selection would inform five-year periodic evaluations for five subbasins due to the Department of Water Resources (DWR) in January 2027. The 180/400-Foot Aquifer subbasin’s first five-year evaluation had already been submitted. The Advisory Committee’s main role is to help the board weigh how projects and management actions work together across the six subbasins. Staff said subbasin committees convey stakeholder feedback to staff rather than advise the board directly; members and public commenters sought more clarity about coordination.
2. Major studies will inform the selection. Staff described a preferred Brackish Groundwater Restoration Project scenario involving roughly 70,000 acre-feet extracted near the coast and approximately 46,000–49,000 acre-feet injected after treatment. The board directed staff to continue studying that scenario; it has not approved construction. A Castroville and Eastside Canals and Alternatives study is examining uses of Salinas River water to address seawater intrusion and declining groundwater levels. Both feasibility studies are tentatively targeted for board review in February 2026. Demand-management technical and economic analyses are expected in spring 2026. A completed aquifer storage and recovery study found that water available under its assumptions would not make a significant improvement on its own.
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