Is California On-Track to Sufficiently Finance Groundwater Management?
Michael Kiparsky, Associate Director
Law
Closed. This professor is continuing with Fall 2024 apprentices on this project; no new apprentices needed for Spring 2025.
In 2014, California passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). This law tasks local government agencies with developing and implementing groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs) to achieve sustainable groundwater management within their groundwater basins. Among other things, GSPs explain what management actions local agencies will take to achieve sustainability (for example: establishing a monitoring network, setting pumping allocations for groundwater users, and building groundwater recharge projects). California’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) has key roles in (a) providing these local agencies with guidance and technical support, (b) reviewing GSPs to assess their adequacy, and (c) periodically evaluating whether GSP implementation is on track to achieve sustainability by 2040. Though DWR reviews GSPs for adequacy based on a range of criteria, it is unclear to our research team how those reviews assess GSP financing, which will be critical for successful implementation. Therefore, we want to assess whether DWR and local agencies have neglected financing and, if so, provide DWR with recommendations for how it can more proactively address financing concerns.
Role: This project will involve (1) quantitative evaluation of how many GSPs address certain types of detail in their financing plans and (2) qualitative assessment of how they do so. We anticipate that the quantitative assessment will involve keyword searches of all GSPs submitted to DWR, recording where relevant keywords appear in each GSP (to facilitate subsequent qualitative assessment), and recording GSP status (e.g., approved, deemed incomplete, deemed inadequate, etc.). The apprentice’s qualitative assessment will address questions co-developed with the project supervisors, such as “Does the GSP specifically identify what type of financing mechanism will be used for different types of expenditures?” and “Does the GSP consider the limitations of—and requirements for using—each funding mechanism mentioned?” We expect that the apprentice’s qualitative research will require more extensive interaction and collaboration with the project supervisors.
Qualifications: The ideal student will have an interest in water management. Modest coding skills may also prove useful so that the student can automate the keyword search process.
Hours: 6-8 hrs
Social Sciences Environmental Issues