The Department of Water Resources approved the Groundwater Sustainability Plan for the Santa Cruz Mid-County Groundwater Basin on June 3, 2021. Information on the Basin GSP, approval of the GSP and comments received from DWR can be found on the SGMA Portal.
For additional information, contact Sierra Ryan, Basin Point of Contact, BasinPOC@midcountygroundwater.org.
NEXT MGA BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
Thursday, December 12, 2024 at 6:00PM
Capitola Branch Library
2005 Wharf Road, Capitola
Thursday, September 19, 2024 meeting materials:
We rely only on groundwater, but our aquifers have been overpumped. For more information, click here.
The Plan is posted here.
Public meetings and how you can get involved. For more information, click here.
The County of Santa Cruz has launched a free water quality testing program in Santa Cruz County for residents who rely on a household water well. Testing services are available in both English and Spanish. To schedule a free testing, call (844) 613-5152 or visit www.centralcoastwelltesting.org.
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) recently completed its review of the MGA's 2023 Annual Report on the Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) implementation and determined that the report successfully met all the state requirements. To comply with the State's Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), the MGA is required to complete both annual reporting as well as to conduct a comprehensive periodic evaluation of the GSP at least every 5 years. The MGA's periodic evaluation of the GSP is due in 2025 and is currently underway.
The 9th Annual State of the San Lorenzo River Symposium will be held Saturday, April 13, 2024, beginning at the Felton Community Hall from 8:30 to 12:45, and followed by a Fall Creek Fisheries Tour from 1:30 to 2:00 pm. State Assemblymember Gail Pellerin will join local experts for a discussion of the intersection of Federal, State, and local environmental protection policies and their impact on local rivers, fisheries, and water resources. Click here for more information.
Dry season (May through October) stream monitoring for 2023 has been completed. This monitoring provides information on how much groundwater in the Basin contributes to local streams. Assessing this relationship is an important component of complying with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. The report is available here: WY23 Dry Season Monitoring Report.
Click HERE for updates on Olive Springs Road monitoring well construction in the Santa Cruz Mid-County Groundwater Basin. (January 2024)
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) has released new guidance on Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) Annual Reports, Periodic Evaluations, and Plan Amendments. MGA is carefully considering this guidance as we begin preparation of the Water Year 2023 annual report and our first periodic evaluation of the DWR-approved MGA GSP. Check out DWR's new guidance here.
Click READ MORE for construction photos of the Park Avenue Transmission Main/Bottleneck Improvements Project.
(October 2023) The MGA is seeking a highly qualified legal firm to provide on-call legal support services for actions associated with Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) compliance.
Request for Statement of Qualifications Legal Support Services for Sustainable Groundwater Management Act Groundwater Sustainability Plan Implementation
Statement of Qualifications Due: October 25, 2023 by 5 pm
(October 2023) At the MGA Board Meeting on June 15th, the Board appointed a temporary committee to follow established procedures for the appointment of new Private Well Owner representatives to the MGA Board. At its meeting on September 21st, the Board adopted the recommendation of the committee and appointed Jim Kerr as Director and Robert Schultz as Alternate Director to serve four-year terms on the Board commencing January 2024.
The Santa Cruz Mid-County Groundwater Agency (MGA) is accepting applications to fill two vacancies for Well Owner Representatives on the Board of Directors, one vacancy for a Director and one vacancy for an Alternate Director. The MGA is a public agency formed in 2016 to comply with California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. The MGA is responsible for groundwater management in the Mid-County Groundwater Basin in the communities of Soquel, Aptos, Capitola, Live Oak, and La Selva Beach.
