The Eastside Water Management Area (EWMA) is comprised of 46 landowners with over 38,000 acres. The EWMA is a non-profit organization, governed by a 7-member Board, and is an associate member of the Kern Groundwater Authority Groundwater Sustainability Agency (KGA). The EWMA’s primary purpose is to comply with the regulations and requirements of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA).

SGMA

In 2014, SGMA was passed by the California Legislature that required overdraft groundwater basins in California become sustainable by the year 2040. Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSA) were formed for the purpose of developing Groundwater Sustainability Plans that outlined how each GSA area would achieve sustainability by 2040. The EWMA developed a Management Area Plan (MAP) chapter as part of the KGA GSP. The Kern County subbasin coordinated GSP was successfully submitted to the California Department of Water Resources by the January 31, 2020 regulatory deadline. More information on the EWMA MAP can be found here.

This “Amended Subbasin Plan” was developed in response to the DWR determination the previous plans were “inadequate.”  It has been designed to meet the SGMA regulatory requirements, respond to the three deficiencies identified by DWR, address comments provided by SWRCB staff during technical meetings, and increase coordination among the Subbasin GSAs, other local agencies, and stakeholders. The Amended Subbasin Plan provides a clear and coordinated path to achieve sustainable groundwater management.

A link the amended Groundwater Sustainability Plan is available for review on the Kern County Basin Data Management System located here (bottom item in the left menu pane): Amended Kern 2024 Groundwater Sustainability Plan