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County accepts Salinas Valley groundwater basin investigation and directs coordination with GSAs; staff to report back on land‑use options
Summary
The Board accepted a basin investigation required by the county general plan and directed staff to coordinate with groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) on land‑use updates and demand‑management options; the board added direction to analyze geographic subareas and economic impacts of pumping and requested a progress memo from GSAs in 2025.
The Monterey County Board of Supervisors accepted an investigation report on groundwater conditions in the Salinas Valley Basin (zone 2C) Dec. 4 and directed county staff to coordinate with the groundwater sustainability agencies (GSAs) to align land‑use policy with groundwater sustainability planning.
Craig Spencer of the county’s Housing and Community Development Department presented the report and explained that the analysis responds to a 2010 General Plan policy (PS 3.1) requiring a basin investigation and a determination of whether the plan’s assumption of a long‑term water supply remains supportable. The report found additional groundwater demand in parts of the basin and evidence of declining groundwater levels, particularly in the 18,400‑foot subbasin and in the eastern pressure area.
“Now that Sigma [SGMA] is in place, we should work under SGMA with the most recent data to identify ways to combine land use policy direction with groundwater sustainability,” Spencer said, explaining the county’s preferred approach would be to partner with the GSAs on targeted policy changes rather than unilaterally imposing new county planning rules.
Staff recommended recognizing the report while acknowledging temporal (2030 general‑plan horizon versus later SGMA timeframes) and geographic differences between the county policy area and the GSA subbasins. Among the report’s recommendations was forming a land‑use working group with GSAs and other stakeholders to evaluate measures including supply projects and demand‑management tools.
Public commenters and several speakers urged the board to press for near‑term demand‑management measures, including pumping allocations, to address seawater intrusion and declining groundwater levels while larger capital projects (for example, desalination, brackish water treatment, or expanded recycled‑water projects) are developed. GSA representatives said coordination is already underway and that the GSAs plan public subbasin‑specific discussions and feasibility work in early 2025; the GSAs also said they would report progress on demand‑management and feasibility studies to the county.
After discussion the board approved the staff recommendation to accept the basin investigation and authorized staff to coordinate with GSAs on land‑use updates. Supervisors added direction that the county analyze specific northern/hilly subareas identified by the chair, include an economic impact analysis of pumping‑reduction options, and request a status memo from the GSA in Q3 2025. The board’s motion passed unanimously.
County staff said they would not rely on the general‑plan rebuttable presumption of available long‑term supply for zone 2C, and would instead use GSA data and subbasin‑level conditions when evaluating new development proposals. Staff also recommended future, collaborative workshops to evaluate solutions spanning supply projects and demand reduction measures.
The action begins a period of formal coordination between the county and GSAs to align future land‑use decisions with groundwater sustainability planning under SGMA, and to evaluate near‑term demand‑management options in conjunction with the GSAs’ feasibility work.
