The Greater Kaweah Groundwater Sustainability Agency’s Rural Communities and Stakeholders Committees held a joint meeting on Monday, July 23, 2018 at the Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District offices in Farmersville. Chairman of the Stakeholder Committee Brian Watte called the meeting at 1:30pm. For public comment KDWCD General Manager Mark Larsen introduced Eric Osterling as the new GM for the GKGSA. Watte asked if they should go around the table and introduce themselves but then he said not to. So, there’s liable to be some shortages in the proper name of who’s who.
The minutes of both committees were approved and Osterling introduced Craig Moyle of Stantec who has been developing the outreach and communication plan for the GKGSA. Moyle lead the committees through the 60 or so page document. It’s a pretty thorough document and not as much of a snoozer as you might expect. It was fairly easy to follow – not crammed full of statistics for the sake of filler. There was enough detail without dragging down the momentum. One thing that stood out was the awareness of what SGMA is. Ag, M&I and environmental communities were rated on their awareness. I was surprised the environmental community scored higher. I asked about that and the environmental community is much smaller than the ag community; that’s one reason. But the ag community has better trusted resources like the Farm Bureau and water districts. Engaging communities as opposed to individuals is better.
Moyle outlined the proposed timeline for the outreach program. This will include plenty of opportunities for feedback from the GSA board and committees. As Moyle said he wants this to be more than just a plan presented by consultants. He asked everyone to provide feedback and help ensure this will meet the needs of this community. He said getting awareness high among the ag community is very important. Getting the cities to understand is important also; they need to make planning decisions based on SGMA as does the local business community.
Blake Mauritson, Stakeholder said getting the ag community to weigh in could be a very valuable link to getting things done. Moyle agreed saying there is a great deal of creativity waiting to be tapped. Larsen said there are also opportunities to approach this with the Integrated Regional Water Management Plan where folks come together to find solutions to common water problems. Osterling said the next Stake Holder meeting will be August 1st and the next Rural Community meeting will be August 27th. Watte then adjourned the meeting. I got a chance to speak with Larsen after the meeting and he is happy Osterling is on board.
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2018 by Don A. Wright No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of DAW.
SGMA The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014 calls for the formation of Groundwater Sustainability Areas within Basins and Sub-basins to develop Groundwater Sustainability Plans.
Greater Kaweah GSA JPA – Chair Don Mills-Lakeside ID, Vice Chair Chris Tantau-Kaweah Delta WCD, Pete Vander Poel-County of Tulare, Ernie Taylor-Kings County WD, Greg Milleman-Cal Water Service, Eric Shannon-St Johns WD, Paul Boyer-Rural Communities Committee, Brian Watte Stakeholder Committee representative. Eric Osterling -Secretary, Aubrey Mauritson-Legal Counsel
Offices shared with the Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District, 2975 Farmersville Blvd., Farmersville, CA 93223 Tel. 559/747-5601
