Growing Returns

3 ways this accounting platform will help California groundwater agencies transition to sustainable supplies

By Christina Babbitt / Bio / Published: May 11, 2021

This blog is co-authored by Tara Moran, president and CEO of the California Water Data Consortium.

As California grapples with another drought, farmers and water agencies will again lean on groundwater to offset declines in surface water supplies stemming from paltry snowmelt and corresponding low reservoirs and river flows.

However, there is at least one major difference from the last drought: Since then, more than 250 groundwater agencies have been created and have spent the last several years compiling data on their region’s groundwater supply and demand. To comply with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) many groundwater agencies are now considering new tools to use this data to support groundwater management decisions.

Today, Environmental Defense Fund, the California Department of Water Resources, the State Water Resources Control Board and the California Water Data Consortium announced a partnership to scale one of these tools: an open-source water accounting platform. Here are three reasons why this announcement is so important. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged agriculture, california, central valley, climate change, ecosystems, farmers, groundwater, sustainable groundwater management act, western water | Comments are closed

Is California making progress on the Human Right to Water? Some answers on World Water Day.

By Christina Babbitt / Bio / Published: March 22, 2021

World Water Day is a time to come together as a global community to reflect on the importance of water and its value to people and ecosystems — to celebrate collective victories advancing water stewardship and to draw attention to the change still needed.

Nearly 1 million people lack access to clean, safe and affordable drinking water in my home state of California — and more than 2 billion worldwide. Each number represents a person: a mother, a father, a child, a loved one. These numbers must change. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged california, drinking water, ecosystems, right to water, water, World Water Day | Comments are closed

A Craigslist for water trading? Learn how this new water management platform works

By Christina Babbitt / Bio / Published: October 7, 2020

Eric Averett is general manager of the Rosedale-Rio Bravo Water Storage District in Kern County, California, which is one of 21 regions required by the state to balance groundwater demand and supply within 20 years under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.

Rosedale is home to approximately 27,500 acres of irrigated cropland and 7,500 acres of urban development. Groundwater demand there exceeds supply by approximately 5,000 acre-feet per year.

To inform landowners about their water budgets, Rosedale partnered with EDF, Sitka Technology Group, WestWater Research and local landowners to co-develop a new online, open-source water accounting and trading platform.

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged california, OpenET, SGMA, sustainable groundwater management act, water trading, western water | Comments are closed

How groundwater managers can avoid the courts as they divvy up water

By Christina Babbitt / Bio / Published: September 30, 2020

One of the biggest challenges to implementing California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act hovers around this two-part question:

Who gets to pump groundwater and how much do they get to pump? Or, put another way, who must cut their groundwater use and by how much? Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged sustainable groundwater management act, western water | Read 1 Response

Groundwater plans are due in California, but the hard work is just getting started

By Christina Babbitt / Bio / Published: January 30, 2020

January 31 is a big day for California water. It’s the day when 19 critically overdrafted groundwater basins must submit plans to the state for how they will bring their groundwater demand in line with available supplies over the next 20 years.

This deadline was set by the state’s most sweeping water law change in a century – the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). SGMA, passed during the last major drought, was designed to put an end to groundwater overpumping and ensure there’s enough water for people, the economy and wildlife in California for generations to come.

SGMA is taking water managers and users into uncharted territory. Since its passage, California water managers have made important progress, creating new groundwater agencies and learning more about their local groundwater supplies and demands. These are important first steps toward sustainability, but SGMA requires a deeper paradigm shift to succeed.

Here are four actions that will help drive this massive shift and move California closer to truly balancing groundwater supply and demand.

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged farming, groundwater, overdrafting, overpumping, SGMA, western water | Read 2 Responses

The Groundwater Game: A new hands-on way to learn about groundwater management

By Christina Babbitt / Bio / Published: July 18, 2019

One evening, at a community center in the Sacramento Valley, a teacher, a civil engineer, a tomato farmer and a local foundation board member found themselves standing above a table, feverishly competing to scoop the most glass beads from a large, communal bowl.

But there was a catch. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged game, groundwater, SGMA, western water | Read 1 Response

The clock is ticking for groundwater managers in California’s most over-drafted basins

By Christina Babbitt / Bio / Published: January 31, 2019

By this time next year, 21 critically over-drafted groundwater basins in California must submit plans to the state’s Department of Water Resources for how to bring their basins back into balance.

With this major deadline looming, it’s crunch time for water managers and their consultants – some of whom will begin releasing draft plans in the next six to eight months seeking required public comments.

The Jan. 31, 2020, deadline was set by the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), which the California Legislature approved in 2014.

Successful implementation of SGMA would protect water quality and supplies for agricultural, municipal and wildlife usage. It would also maintain and improve the health and long-term viability of the ecosystems that sustain these various uses.

San Joaquin Valley groundwater pump (Photo Credit: Chris Austin)

Achieving these sometimes competing goals will not be easy. That’s why implementing SGMA will be a major balancing act. Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged california, groundwater, SGMA, western water | Comments are closed

How Driscoll’s, the world’s largest berry company, is becoming a leader in water conservation

By Christina Babbitt / Bio / Published: January 23, 2019

Even in the depths of winter it’s easy to bite into a plump blackberry or a delicate red raspberry, thanks to Driscoll’s, the world’s largest berry company.

In late 2018, I traveled to the Pajaro Valley, west of Santa Cruz, for a tour of a Driscoll’s research facility, which provided an eye-opening view into how this family-owned company has become an agriculture leader selling berries every month of the year, and why they are so committed to water conservation.

Our tour was part of the Rosenberg International Forum on Water Policy, a conference limited to 50 water scholars and senior water managers from around the world. We saw how Driscoll’s sustainability priorities translate into on-the-ground action for the company and its hundreds of independent growers.

Inspired by a presentation by James duBois, Driscoll’s senior manager of global environmental impact, I followed up with him to ask a few questions and dig a bit deeper into the company’s water management efforts. Here is what James shared with me. Read More »

Posted in Supply Chain / Tagged california, Driscoll’s, Partnerships, SGMA, water conservation, western water | Read 1 Response

It’s not just Congress: More women are working in the water sector, too

By Christina Babbitt / Bio / Published: November 19, 2018

A week before voters elected a record number of women into Congress, I found myself attending my first water conference without a single man in the room.

It was the 2018 California H2O Women Conference, and it was unlike any other women’s leadership event I have ever attended.

The focus wasn’t on mentoring, work-life balance or leaning in. Rather, the content was gender-agnostic, addressing the most timely water issues in California today, including Sustainable Groundwater Management Act-driven solutions, the business of water, water recycling and use, and technology and innovation.

The conference theme was adaptation and resilience, which are more relevant than ever as we struggle to address the impacts of climate change, most recently in the form of the worst wildfires in the state’s history. A critical element to creating an equitable and resilient water system involves including not only environmental perspectives, but also disadvantaged communities, farmers, tribes, and, of course, women.More women are working at all levels in the water sector. What this means for resilience: Click To Tweet Read More »

Posted in Uncategorized / Tagged 2018 California H20 Women Conference, Congress, ecosystems, water, western water, Women | Read 3 Responses

The groundwater manager’s dilemma: How to comply with new California law without changing water rights

By Christina Babbitt / Bio / Published: September 4, 2018

by Christina Babbitt and Daniel M. Dooley, New Current Water and Land

Over the next two years, more than 100 groundwater sustainability agencies in California will have to hammer out a plan to make their groundwater basins sustainable.

But as mangers in many areas work to combat decades of over-pumping, they face a major dilemma: In dividing the groundwater pie to avoid overuse, they can’t change Byzantine groundwater rights that date as far back as 1903.

In a new working paper, “Groundwater Pumping Allocations under California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act,” Environmental Defense Fund and New Current Water and Land – a California-based consulting firm – provide water managers with a recommended approach to navigate this challenge and develop plans that are more durable, and thus likely to succeed, under the new Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).

Groundwater pumps in California’s Pajaro Valley. Photo credit: USDA

Choosing which approach is best is a critical step for cutting back groundwater use, which many basins will have to do, and for creating water trading systems, which many basins are considering to better manage increasingly limited groundwater. Before you create a market, you have to define who has how much – in this case, groundwater pumping rights – in order to trade. Read More »

Posted in ecosystems, western water / Tagged california, groundwater, groundwater rights, New Current Water and Land, pumping groundwater, SGMA, sustainable groundwater management act, water rights | Read 4 Responses