The Role of Permitting Regimes in Western United States Groundwater Management

Nelson, Rebecca; Perrone, Debra

doi:10.1111/gwat.12467

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 7 publications

(10 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Early groundwater legislation, such as common law, focused on 'safe yield', a phrase outdated both in its science and its ability to promote sustainability [45,46]. Although there has been a widespread movement towards more comprehensive regulatory approaches, one of which is groundwater withdrawal permitting [47], the effectiveness of these approaches is unclear. What is clear, however, is that declining groundwater levels are interfering with well owners' legal rights to withdraw groundwater in many areas across the western US, because the well owner is no longer guaranteed reliable water supplies [14].…”

Section: Implications For Groundwater Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dry groundwater wells in the western United States

Perrone

Jasechko

2017

Environ. Res. Lett.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Declining groundwater levels are common in parts of the western US, but their impact on the ability of wells to pump groundwater is not known. Here we collate groundwater well records for the western United States and present the recorded locations, depths, and purposes of more than two million groundwater wells constructed between 1950 and 2015. We then use the well records to estimate the percentage of wells that were dry during the years 2013-2015. During the two year period, dry wells were concentrated in rural areas with high agricultural productivity, such as parts of the California Central Valley and the High Plains. Our results support anecdotal evidence that wells used for domestic purposes are more susceptible to drying than wells used for agricultural purposes throughout California's Central Valley because the former tend to be shallower. However, this is not the case in all regions. Our findings suggest that declining groundwater levels are threatening drinking water reliability and agricultural productivity, and consequently, have key implications for both domestic and agricultural water security. Ongoing reductions to groundwater storage are drying groundwater wells in the western US, and this manifestation of water scarcity warrants innovative groundwater management transcending status quos.

show abstract

Section: Implications For Groundwater Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dry groundwater wells in the western United States

Perrone

Jasechko

2017

Environ. Res. Lett.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The need for improved groundwater management is becoming increasingly obvious, as it is becoming clear that technical changes alone cannot solve the problems [11]. Effective groundwater resource management is a favorable guarantee for the rational allocation of groundwater resources and the coordinated development of resources, the environment, the economy and society [3,12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many countries, such as USA [12], Australia [14] and Europe [15,16], have developed a number of laws and regulations for the management of groundwater resources [17]. The healthy development of groundwater resources has benefited from strong legal support and good administrative decisions about groundwater management in these countries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surrogate Models for Sub-Region Groundwater Management in the Beijing Plain, China

Zhang

Yao

et al. 2017

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Overexploitation of groundwater resources has caused groundwater-related problems all over the world. Effective groundwater governance is a favorable guarantee for its protection and sustainable utilization. Accurate prediction of groundwater level (GWL) or depth to groundwater (GWD) plays an important role in groundwater resource management. Due to the limitations and complexity of numerical models, this study aims to develop surrogate models that can dually control the GWL (or GWD) and groundwater quantity (GWQ) in each district of the Beijing Plain, China, using the methods of multiple linear regression (MLR) and back propagation artificial neural network (BP-ANN). This study used 180 monthly GWD data records, including the first 168 data records for model development (training) and the remaining 12 data records for model verification. The results indicate that the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NSE) and correlation coefficient (R) for both the MLR and BP-ANN models are high in most districts and that the MLR models are more appropriate in this study. Fifteen scenarios under different conditions of groundwater use and precipitation are designed to demonstrate the applicability of the developed model in groundwater management. The surrogate models are effective tools that can be used by decision-makers for groundwater management.

show abstract

“…SGMA uses principles of subsidiarity (Ostrom ), pursuing “the maximum degree of local control and flexibility consistent with [its] sustainability goals” (CWC s10725). A critical, and generally under‐remarked, aspect of the legislation is that it clearly grants local agencies a broad new sustainability‐focused power to require groundwater withdrawal permits (as distinct from well construction permits) (Nelson and Perrone ). SGMA gives local agencies discretion in relation to whether and how to use this permitting power, but the discretion is a double‐edged sword.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local Groundwater Withdrawal Permitting Laws in the South‐Western U.S.: California in Comparative Context

Nelson¹,

Perrone²

2016

Groundwater

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) aims to control, for the first time in California's history, the state's significant use and depletion of groundwater. SGMA gives local agencies a high degree of discretion in relation to a new permitting power, but the discretion is a double-edged sword: agencies gain maximum flexibility to tailor their regime to local conditions, yet the statute provides no direction on appropriate components of a groundwater permitting regime. We introduce SGMA and the broader legislative context to its permitting power, and we explain the continuing common law context in which the legislation operates. This information is used as the foundation for a comparative legal analysis of fundamental elements of permitting regimes. We compare a selection of six other south-western permitting regimes established in legislation for areas recognized as requiring intensive management through permitting: "special permitting areas" (SPAs). We find that permitting regimes in south-western SPAs share a structure containing several almost universal elements, although the policy settings that apply to those elements vary widely. The established permitting regimes in the other south-western states' SPAs may inform Californian agencies seeking to use their new permitting power for the first time, as well as water agencies further afield, as to important components of a permitting regime, and the different policy settings that could apply to those components. Californian local agencies, and its Department of Water Resources, which is charged with providing local agencies technical advice, should have regard to these permitting possibilities.

show abstract

The Role of Permitting Regimes in Western United States Groundwater Management

Abstract: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gwat.12465/full

Cited by 7 publications

References 7 publications

Dry groundwater wells in the western United States

Dry groundwater wells in the western United States

Surrogate Models for Sub-Region Groundwater Management in the Beijing Plain, China

Local Groundwater Withdrawal Permitting Laws in the South‐Western U.S.: California in Comparative Context

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About