meeting the challenges of sgma
Matthew Fienup, PhD
Environmental Economist,
H2Omarkets Founder
Variable and decreasing water availability has put tremendous pressure on California’s groundwater resources. Sustained overdraft is resulting in reduced water levels and water quality, diminished stream flows, land subsidence, sea water intrusion and more. California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) imposes new requirements which seek to avoid these undesirable results.
While a groundwater market is a promising tool for basins implementing SGMA, creating a functioning market is not easy.
The Fox Canyon Water Market and the Mid-Kaweah Water Market are the first groundwater markets to be implemented in California under SGMA. H2Omarkets facilitated open, robust stakeholder processes in each subbasin as part of a multiyear effort to create a model groundwater markets under SGMA. Both markets represent an ambitious, market-driven and stakeholder-centered approach to sustainable management.
