Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) is a case of California offering carrots to encourage good watershed-wide management. The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) is the state following up with a stick. The first approach is encouraged with words and money (since the 2014 passage of Proposition 1, California’s water board has put more than a half a billion dollars in grants toward groundwater projects). The second approach, SGMA, is law. Under SGMA, even competing water managers are required to manage shared groundwater basins cooperatively. For more on how IRWM and SGMA compliment one another, see the guest essay in Maven’s Notebook by Soua Lee, Program and Regulatory Analyst of the Kings River Conservation District.
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Sharing ideas and resources for successful implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.