Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a measure that puts the responsibility on the Department of Water Resources for developing actions to expand groundwater recharge. DWR will incorporate the recommendations in its 2028 update to the California Water Plan.
The California Association of Winegrape Growers and the Regional Water Authority sponsored SB 659 and applauded Newsom for signing it this week. RWA Executive Director Jim Peifer said the new law “puts a spotlight on groundwater as a climate change hero.”
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With the threat of widespread flooding in the San Joaquin Valley last March, the administration followed the lead of farmers and local water agencies. Newsom’s executive order streamlined the permitting process but the state had not tracked groundwater recharge rates or coordinated projects on a landscape scale before.
