The Sonoma Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) is a public agency formed to sustainably manage groundwater in the Sonoma Valley groundwater basin. The agency was formed in June 2017 and has a Board of Directors, an administrator and an advisory committee.

Agendas & Meeting Calendar

Find out when and where the Board of Directors and the Advisory Committee are meeting next
i

Groundwater Sustainability Plan

Draft Section 3 of the GSP is now open for comment! 

Take a look at our 20-year plan for groundwater sustainability 

Find Your Basin

To determine your basin of residence, click here and type your address into the search bar at the top left of the page

w

Materiales en Español

Estamos trabajando para proporcionar tantos materiales en español como sea posible

Request for Qualifications – Data Review, Fee Analysis and Rate-Setting Services

The Santa Rosa Plain Groundwater Sustainability Agency, Sonoma Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency, and Petaluma Valley Groundwater Sustainability Agency (collectively, Agencies) are requesting qualification submittals from consultants with experience in data and fee analysis and rate setting for public agencies. The Agencies are primarily interested in the consultant’s experience in relation to setting fees and rates pursuant to Propositions 26 and 218, specifically as they relate to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.

A full description and the RFQ can be found here.

The RFQ schedule is below:

March 29, 2021                 Availability of the Request for Qualifications

April 14, 2021                     Deadline for Submission of Interpretation and/or Questions

Aril 28, 2021                       Closing date for the Request for Qualifications

May 12, 2021                      Interview date for short listed firms (if needed)

All questions should be submitted via email to: ann.dubay@scwa.ca.gov 

Defining Sustainability in the Sonoma Valley

The GSA Board and Advisory Committee are working hard to develop locally appropriate definitions of sustainable groundwater management for the six sustainability indicators, below, as required by SGMA.

Go the Groundwater Sustainability Plan pages for updates.

What is the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act?
The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) requires that California groundwater basins identified as high or medium priority establish a Groundwater Sustainability Agency by June 30, 2017, and develop a plan for sustainable management by January 31, 2022. If the local GSAs fail to follow the timeline, then the State Water Resources Control Board will step in and intervene in local groundwater management. SGMA defines sustainable management as:

“Management and use of groundwater in a manner that can be maintained during the planning and implementation horizon without causing undesirable results.”

The Sonoma Valley GSA will be tracking six main sustainability indicators:

Lowering Groundwater Levels

Seawater Intrusion

Reduction of Storage

Land Subsidence

Degraded Groundwater Quality

Surface Water Depletion

For more information about groundwater, visit our Understanding Groundwater page or read our Groundwater Primer.
Groundwater Sustainability Plan Development Timeline