Shasta Valley Basin Boundary Modification

A combination of local support, professional review and opinion from DWR strongly implied that the initial boundary recognized under Bulletin 118 (2016 Update) did not accurately reflect the entire watershed function from a groundwater and surface water interaction perspective, and would not result in the most applicable GSP for the Shasta Valley. District staff conducted numerous outreach efforts and received tremendous support for the District to pursue modifying the basin boundary. District staff took two iterations to the advisory committee for review and brought a recommendation to the GSA Board for approval. The submitted proposal was drafted and mapped that followed specific geological boundaries that coincided with a substantial portion of groundwater and land use practices sitting outside of the initial basin boundary.

On November 29^th, 2018, DWR released their draft modification decisions and denied the districts application based on lack of scientific evidence that the new boundary would not truly encompass an aquifer as defined by the SGMA regulations. However on January 4^th, during DWR’s public comment period, the district submitted a technical memorandum from Larry Walker and Associates that provided a scientific review summary that successfully demonstrated the new boundary area is consistent with the regulations definition of an aquifer. On January 14^th, 2019, DWR subsequently approved the boundary draft as submitted by the district.

Currently the draft boundary modification is awaiting final approval through the DWR processes, and once finalized, will go through DWR’s reprioritization process with a draft expected in March.