Santa Monica Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency

THE DRAFT GSP IS AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC DOWNLOAD

The next stakeholder meeting will be held August 19, 2021

The Santa Monica Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency (SMBGSA) was formed in 2017 in accordance with the California Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) of 2014. The Santa Monica Basin has a surface area of 31,779 acres, or 49.7 square miles, and underlies the northwestern part of the Coastal Plain of Los Angeles Groundwater Basin (Figure 2-1; DWR 2019). The five member agencies of the SMBGSA include the City of Santa Monica, the City of Beverly Hills, the City of Los Angeles, by and through its Department of Water and Power, the City of Culver City, and the County of Los Angeles. The five member agencies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the formation of the SMBGSA in May 2017. The SMBGSA is responsible for developing a Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) pursuant to SGMA, and the regulations issued in accordance therewith. This GSP will be the first comprehensive groundwater assessment and management plan specific to the Santa Monica Basin, a medium-priority groundwater basin. As part of GSP development, SGMA requires the SMBGSA to understand the basin context, basin conditions, hydrogeological conceptual model, and the basin water budget, as well as provide a description of the sustainable management criteria for the basin, stakeholder engagement, monitoring network planning, and identification of project and management plans. The deadline for submittal of the Santa Monica Basin GSP to the CA State Department of Water Resources (DWR) is January 2022.

A draft of the GSP is currently available for a 75 day Public Comment period, through September 27, 2021, at the following link: https://www.santamonica.gov/gsp

For comments or questions, please contact Gil Borboa, P.E (gilborboa@beverlhills.org), or Dr. Lisette Gold (lisette.gold@santamonica.gov). Comments on the GSP can also be submitted here.