As the drought reached its zenith in 2022, Gov. Newsom issued two executive orders adding new permitting requirements for groundwater wells. A new report indicates the directives did little to slow the impacts to domestic drinking water wells.
Farm groups called the order ill-advised and noted that counties issued moratoriums on new permits while they interpreted the order, leading to lengthy permitting delays ahead of irrigation season.
The Department of Water Resources analysis finds that the orders provided critical direction to local agencies for considering the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. But the DWR report concludes that the orders did not fully address the complexities of well permitting or align well with SGMA goals and also failed to ensure compliance.
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According to DWR, the continued subsidence and well permitting in vulnerable areas “indicate that in many respects, the EOs failed to achieve its goal.”
The report recommends improving public transparency with pending permit applications and setting limits on well spacing and depth. It also calls for exempting public wells and low-priority basins from the standards.
