California lawmakers consider plan to monitor groundwater supply

California lawmakers held a special hearing today on legislation that would fundamentally change how the state manages water. One change would require counties to start monitoring groundwater. The proposed change has raised some ire.

Groundwater is a vital part of the state’s water supply – only it's not visible to the naked eye. It’s underneath the soil. Some towns in California tap groundwater for all their water needs.

In times of drought, many farmers tap groundwater wells to make up for cuts in state water supplies. Every state in the West monitors the stuff – but not California.

Tim Parker with the nonprofit Groundwater Resource Association of California says that's a problem.

"You’ve got all these different straws in it and no one wants to report what they’re drawing out," Parker said.

Parker explains that's a problem because groundwater may look like it’s wholly separate from water above the ground, but it’s not. For instance, if a drought sucks all the water out of a river, groundwater will discharge from the soil to replenish that river.

That's why Parker supports legislation to compel California to monitor the supply. He says failing to do so is risky – like writing checks without balancing your checkbook first. Parker thinks lawmakers should approve the plan to mandate state monitoring of groundwater.

"You know this (legislation) is pretty vanilla," Parker said, "just monitoring and making data transparent for everybody to see."

But Republican lawmakers wouldn’t characterize the proposals to monitor ground supplies on private property as “vanilla.” Senate minority leader Dennis Hollingsworth (R-Murietta) worries it would violate privacy rights.

"In California, water is a private right, part of the property that goes with the ownership," Hollingsworth said. "Even though we currently have a process where water basins can be adjudicated by a court and pumping monitored that way, this is outside that process."

Hollingsworth worries that state monitoring of groundwater would be the first step towards restricting property owners' right to access the supply.

Democrats have offered this compromise. They’ll mandate counties to monitor ground water supply – but let the locals figure out how to get private property owners to volunteer the information.