1. The draft Demand Management Framework is headed to the Board, but imposes no new rules. It brings together 10 possible measures: six agricultural and four domestic. The Board is expected to discuss the draft in October and consider approval in November. Even if approved, the framework would not itself establish programs, pumping limits or fees. Future work plans would address implementation, funding, administration and monitoring. Staff said the framework could be amended as experience warrants.
2. Proposed stages and triggers would assess relative need, not prescribe pumping cuts. Subbasins—or, where appropriate, management areas—would be assessed from Stage 0, reflecting sustainable conditions, through Stage 4, reflecting undesirable results every year and a high risk of state probation if those conditions persist. For Monterey, staff said the assessment would follow the El Toro Primary Aquifer System; the approach for other parts of the Corral de Tierra management area remains unresolved. Long-term triggers would be evaluated every five years using groundwater projections and observed conditions. Short-term triggers would be assessed annually where applicable, but not for an area already in long-term Stage 3 or 4. The approach would also bring potential impacts from one subbasin’s pumping on another to the Board’s attention. Choosing measures and where to apply them would require separate decisions.
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