Two agencies are working on ways to make groundwater sustainable.

Celia Jiménez here, thinking about water. The transparent liquid is key to our survival, yet it is so cumbersome to understand all of its intricacies. Thankfully, we have David Schmalz at the Weekly to unravel it for us in an easy-to-understand way. 

In this week’s print edition, Schmalz wrote about an emerging partnership seeking to make groundwater sustainable. 

Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency and Monterey County Water Resources Agency are working together to expand their data collection on groundwater extraction. 

The agencies are also working on two feasibility studies, one for brackish water injected into the ground to minimize seawater intrusion, another for an aquifer storage and recovery project.

First up is expanding the existing monitoring footprint, which requires some legislative updates. On Monday, Aug. 19, the MCWRA’s board will vote on repealing three outdated ordinances and replacing them with a single ordinance. 

While many of us take water for granted and aren’t up to date with water regulations or know how much water is used every day for agriculture, fresh water isn’t an infinite resource. Piret Harmon, SVBGSA’s general manager, expressed her concerns about the region. “If we don’t do anything, none of us are going to have freshwater 50 years from now,” Harmon said. “[Seawater is] going to march to Salinas—we have to do something.”

People can help by changing their water-use habits, either on a large or small scale—such as taking shorter showers or regulating the tap’s flow. What habits have you changed to use less water?

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