|
The Department of Water Resources (DWR) has released the Spring 2024 Semi-Annual Groundwater Conditions Report, which provides a look back at groundwater conditions during California’s historic 2023 Water Year. The groundwater report released today includes, for the first time, groundwater sustainability plan annual report data reported by local groundwater sustainability agencies across 99 groundwater basins, which make up over 90 percent of the groundwater use in the state. This information is helping provide a clearer picture than ever before of the amount of change in groundwater storage, extractions, and managed recharge that occurs each year.
The data show that during the 2023 Water Year, 4.1 million acre-feet of managed groundwater recharge occurred, almost double the amount of the previous wet water year in 2019. The report also details an increase of groundwater in storage of 8.7 million acre-feet, the first year since 2019 that there has been a reported increase in groundwater storage. This is the result of managed and natural groundwater recharge, and even more importantly, a reduction in groundwater pumping during a wet year when surface water was plentiful.
Semi-Annual Groundwater Conditions reports include data and discussion on statewide groundwater levels, groundwater storage, recharge, land subsidence, well infrastructure, and the status of California’s groundwater basins. DWR produces Groundwater Conditions reports semi-annually in spring and fall to help State and local agencies make management decisions informed by the latest conditions.
These semi-annual reports support DWR’s comprehensive California’s Groundwater (Bulletin 118) publication which is updated every five years. This suite of reports is critical in providing knowledge and understanding about California’s groundwater system that is necessary for state and local agencies to plan and implement management actions that will help to ensure long-term resiliency of the state’s groundwater supply.
For more information about this report and additional groundwater information, see the following resources:
For general inquiries, please contact: sgmps@water.ca.gov and for inquiries related to the latest groundwater information, please contact: CalGW@water.ca.gov.
|
