NAPA, CA – Napa County joins the National Ground Water Association (NGWA) and the Groundwater Foundation in celebration of Groundwater Awareness Week March 5 – 11 to highlight the responsible development, management, and use of groundwater and to celebrate local groundwater efforts across the country.
Groundwater is a critical component of the water supply for Napa County and the state, serving as a resource for many different industries and uses, including farms, urban and rural communities, and ecosystems. The Napa Valley Subbasin spans 45,900 acres extending from the intersections of highways 221 and 12 north towards Calistoga and has been identified as a high-priority subbasin. Whether it is a wet or dry year, the Napa Valley Subbasin serves as an important source of water for the county since agricultural and other users have few other water sources. In 2022, approximately 18,790 acre feet of water (one acre foot equals about 326,000 gallons) was pumped from the subbasin.
As California continues to experience climate-driven weather extremes, it’s crucial to understand groundwater conditions and managing groundwater so it is available for future generations. To help ensure long-term sustainable groundwater conditions, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act set forth a statewide regulatory framework for improving the management of our critical groundwater resources. In response, in July of 2020, Napa County’s Groundwater Sustainability Plan Advisory Committee (GSPAC), with technical evaluation and analysis from consultant Luhdorff & Scalmanini, began working on the Napa Valley Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP). In January, the California Department of Water Resources approved the plan, which provides a detailed roadmap for the Napa Valley Subbasin to achieve and maintain long-term sustainability. Among the priorities in the plan is the goal of reducing pumping of groundwater by 10-percent.
“Groundwater Awareness Week is a great time to highlight how important groundwater is to our community,” said Board of Supervisor Chair Belia Ramos. “We have been making great strides in groundwater sustainability and the recent GSP will help guide us to do just that well into the future.”
Management of the Napa Valley Subbasin is the responsibility of the Napa County Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA). The GSA is advised by a five-member panel of technical experts called the Technical Advisory Group. The public is invited to participate in their meetings on the second Thursday of every month at 1:30 p.m. Meeting agendas and materials can be found here. To join the groundwater email list for notification of meetings, click here.
To learn more about groundwater, visit Napa County's Groundwater Web Page, the SGMA website, and this interactive StoryMap.
For more information, please contact Jamison Crosby, Natural Resources Conservation Manager, at [email protected]
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