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GSA annual report finds no 'undesirable results' for water year 2025; board orders review of one monitoring well
Summary
Technical consultants told the Mendocino-area GSA that groundwater sustainability indicators showed no undesirable results in water year 2025, but the board directed staff to reassess a Ukiah Valley monitoring well whose readings now reflect a nearby active municipal well.
Audra of Larry Walker Associates told the Mendocino-area Groundwater Sustainability Agency board that the fifth annual Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) report required by the Department of Water Resources found no occurrences of the plan’s defined "undesirable results" during water year 2025, and that basin conditions have generally recovered since the recent critically dry period.
The report, a technical self-assessment submitted annually to DWR, summarizes monitoring-network performance, project management actions and water uses. Audra said precipitation was above average for the most recent year and that most sustainability indicators remained within the GSP thresholds.
Director Bailey questioned an anomaly at a monitoring site labeled Ukiah Valley 1, which the report flagged as falling below a minimum threshold. Sean, a member of the technical team, said the monitoring point sits about 15 feet from an active municipal well and is now recording operational drawdown rather than background groundwater conditions. "When this site was selected as a monitoring well, it was essentially an abandoned well," he said, and later "we're just measuring the operation of Millview's well," not static groundwater.
Audra and staff recommended two options: recompute sustainable management criteria for that site using the more recent multi-year data or abandon the site and select a new representative monitoring point. They urged coordination with DWR during the upcoming periodic evaluation (required in January 2027) so any change in the representative monitoring network is handled through the evaluation process.
The board voted unanimously to direct staff to consult with DWR and to proceed with reassessing the monitoring point as part of the periodic evaluation process.
The board also approved a separate amendment to extend on-call work with Larry Walker Associates to help complete the periodic evaluation on schedule; that contract amendment was described elsewhere on the agenda and approved by the board.
