News

On March 17, 2016, the Soquel-Aptos Groundwater Management Committee (SAGMC) voted to become the Groundwater Sustainability Agency for the Mid-County Basin Area under the new name: Santa Cruz Mid-County Groundwater Agency (MGA). The MGA will continue to oversee the management of the basin, and lead the writing and implementation of a Groundwater Sustainability Plan by 2020. 

On December 8, 2015, DWR received 23 grant applications for the 2015 Counties with Stressed Basins grant solicitation. The proposals, from County governments, requested a total of approximately $7 million, with total project costs of $12.7 million. On January 22, 2016, DWR announced the draft funding recommendations to award 21 proposals, totaling $6,689,382. Detailed information regarding the draft funding recommendations can be found at http://www.water.ca.gov/irwm/grants/sgwp/solicitation.cfm

By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue

WATSONVILLE, California [September 23, 2015]  — Driving on the world-famous Route 1, just south of town, a traveler looking west across fields of strawberries can see the great silvery expanse of the Pacific Ocean.

SOQUEL, Calif. [September 9, 2015] –  While local efforts to collaborate and move forward with implementation of statewide regulations for sustainable groundwater management in the mid-county area continue, a recently proposed reclassification of the Soquel-Valley Groundwater Basin to critically overdrafted status has the potential to move up several important deadlines.