Stay on top of SGMA

Grower rate-setting work continues toward a Prop 218 process: delivered water charges are projected to rise ~5% annually over five years, and staff may bring a Prop 218 procedures resolution in June. Rural residential augmentation bills are projected to drop ~20% next year due to lower usage assumptions. College Lake is preparing to resume operations June 1 while teams address last season's water quality issues.

The SWP allocation was raised to 45% for Water Year 2026, while groundwater storage declined by ~1.5 million acre-feet in WY2025. DWR is implementing its Subsidence BMP through local GSA meetings focused on avoiding irreversible subsidence. WSIP updates covered Sites Reservoir and Chino Basin progress; a draft water-rights decision may limit Sites diversions and affect project economics, with Sites final award hearing scheduled in the future.

The board reviewed a draft $550,000 FY 2026-27 budget dominated by the mandatory five-year GSP evaluation ($120,000) and annual report ($55,000), with final approval set for Tuesday, June 16. Well metering compliance is 77% (219 of 286 registered wells); draft Tier 3 warning letters are expected at the June meeting. $10,000 for five transducers was approved.

The board approved a $30,000 fixed-fee contract for EKI to pursue a federal Water Smart grant (due July 8) that could fund up to 50% of model calibration costs, and continued the cost-share decision to June 8 while EKI proceeds under the current 1/7 split. Q1 had no groundwater level minimum-threshold exceedances; subsidence and water-quality QA/QC remain key watch items.

Board adopted the recharge project MND addendum (pump upgrades could raise diversion capacity from ~8,345 to ~20,500 gpm) and approved an interim amendment removing Sloughhouse RCD from the SASb MOU and updating cost shares. SASb costs drop next FY ($657,050 to $195,000) as managers opted not to do a full GSP update. Cosumnes and OHWD budgets were reviewed; action planned for June.