Sustainable Groundwater Management

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The Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency (FCGMA) manages and protects both confined and unconfined aquifers within all or portions of four groundwater basins underlying the southern portion of Ventura County. The FCGMA is an independent special district, separate from the County of Ventura or any city government. It was created by the California Legislature in 1982 to oversee Ventura County's vital groundwater resources. The boundary covers 183 square miles, and all lands lying above the deep Fox Canyon aquifer account for more than half of the water needs for over 700,000 residents in the cities of Ventura, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Camarillo, and Moorpark, plus the unincorporated communities of Saticoy, El Rio, Somis, Moorpark Home Acres, Nyeland Acres, Point Mugu and Montalvo.

Our offices are located in the Water Resources Division Ventura County Government Center Administration Building. For maps and directions to the FCGMA office, click here.

Notice of Extraction Fee Increase

At the October 28, 2020 Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency Board meeting, the Board of Directors adopted Resolution 2020-05 imposing a fee of $20.00 per acre-foot (AF) on groundwater extractions to augment a reserve fund used to pay the costs and expenses of legal actions and proceedings related to implementation of the Agency’s groundwater sustainability program.

This additional $20.00 per AF groundwater extraction charge is imposed on all operators, other than operators extracting 2 AF or less per year for domestic use, for a period of four years, effective January 1, 2021.  

Collection of this fee will cease on October 1, 2024, absent action by the Board to extend or advance that termination date. In addition, the Agency will conduct annual reviews to consider continued need for the fee.

This new fee raises Agency extraction fees from the current total of $20 per AF to a total of $40 per AF for extractions beginning January 1, 2021; the fee for domestic operators extracting 2 AF per year or less remains at $6 per AF.

The Resolution, rationale and analysis for the new fee, and Board discussion is available at www.fcgma.org

Proposed Ordinance to Establish a New Pumping Allocation System for the Las Posas Valley Basin  

 The Agency Board of Directors is considering adoption of an ordinance to establish a new interim groundwater extraction allocation system for the Las Posas Valley Basin. The proposed ordinance would replace the current extraction allocations established under the Agency Ordinance Code and Emergency Ordinance E and would become effective January 1, 2021. The proposed ordinance would be interim and in effect until such time as the court completes adjudication of the Basin.

The proposed ordinance is based on the “Las Posas Valley Basin Groundwater Pumping Allocation System White Paper” dated June 16, 2017, developed by the Las Posas Users Group. A public hearing and first reading of the proposed ordinance was held on August 14, 2020. The proposed ordinance was revised to address stakeholder comments. The Board voted to continue the public hearing and consideration of adoption of the ordinance at its October 28, 2020 meeting, to a Board special meeting on December 14, 2020, at 1:30 pm. Please see the Notice of Continuance.

 The draft ordinance and preliminary draft initial allocations based on the revised draft ordinance can be viewed or downloaded here .

FCGMA Office Hours Based on Current COVID Public Health Orders 

Effective Monday, July 20, 2020, the Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency office located at the County of Ventura Hall of Administration building in Ventura is CLOSED to the public until further notice. The closure follows the expanded statewide indoor business closure by the Governor and California Department of Public Health on July 13, 2020, in effort to reduce the recent increase in transmissions of the COVID-19 virus within the community. Remote services will continue to be provided during the building closure via email, online, or phone. Continue to check here for office closure updates.

Following is an important message from the Fox Canyon GMA Board of Directors.     

The new allocations system for Oxnard and Pleasant Valley (OPV) Basins begins October 1^st. 

In response to stakeholder concerns, and to ease the transition to the new allocation system, the FCGMA Board took the necessary steps to suspend the assessment of most surcharges during the first year of the new allocation ordinance.

The benefit of this action is surcharge forgiveness for the first year.  Specifically, the Board directed that surcharges be waived for extractions exceeding their new allocations if they do not exceed the operator’s previous year’s allocation. As always, the Board is committed to working with stakeholders to avoid hardships. The net effect of the Board’s action is to remove any risk to the stakeholders associated with implementation of the new allocation ordinance.

The Board fully supports the OPV Facilitation Process as an alternative to adjudication.  As such the Board remains open to consider amending the allocation ordinance should the OPV stakeholders unanimously support a viable alternative. 

Fox Canyon Facilitated Process Website

A Core Stakeholder Group has formed for the Oxnard and Pleasant Valley (OPV) Basins as part of the Fox Canyon Facilitated Process, which has launched a website to share meeting dates and other resource materials:http://fcgmasustainability.org/

The Fox Canyon facilitated process is an independent effort to facilitate consensus building among a broad range of stakeholders and interested parties on water resources management related to implementing the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) in the groundwater basins managed by the Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency. The California Department of Water Resources Facilitation Support Services Program is funding the facilitation.

LPV New Interim  Extraction Allocation Webinar

The agency hosted a live LPV Interim Extraction Allocation Webinar, Tuesday, July 21, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. To view the Video Recording please click here. To view the PowerPoint presentation slides please click here.

OPV New Extraction Allocation Webinar

The agency hosted a live OPV Extraction Allocation Webinar, Wednesday, June 3, 2020 at 3:00 p.m.. To view the PowerPoint presentation please click here.

OPV New Extraction Allocation

The Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency Board of Directors adopted an Ordinance to Establish an Allocation System for the Oxnard and Pleasant Valley Groundwater Basins on October 23, 2019. The new allocations take effect October 1, 2020. Notification of New Extraction Allocation letters were sent to all owners and operators currently registered with the Agency with wells in the basins providing notification of the new initial extraction allocation assigned to each well. 

OPV Allocation Variance Review Committee 

The Allocation Variance Review Committee provides recommendations to the Board on requests for new and additional allocation above that which has been previously extracted. Granting additional allocation would affect the allocations of the other extractors in the basin. For that reason, the Board appointed an OPV Variance Review Committee to evaluate these types of variance requests and provide recommendations for the Board’s consideration.

New Adopted Resolutions 

Resolution 2020-04 defers the accural of civil penalties and interest from the County's health emergency declaration on March 12, 2020 through the end of June 2020. The resolution can be viewed here.

At the October 28, 2020 Board of Director's meetingthe Board of Directors of the Fox Canyon Groundwater Management Agency conducted a public hearing to consider a proposed resolution to increase the groundwater extraction fee authorized under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (California Water Code Sections 10720 et seq.) to establish a reserve fund to be used to pay the cost and expenses of legal actions and proceedings related to the Agency’s groundwater sustainability program. The Board adopted the resoution, the groundwater extraction fee will increase from a total of $20.00 per acre-foot to $40.00 per acre-foot beginning January 1, 2021.

GSP Annual Reports 

The first Groundwater Sustainability Plan Annual Reports  for the Las Posas Valley Basin, Oxnard Subbasin and Pleasant Valley Basin have been completed and submitted to the Department of Water Resources. The Annual Reports can be viewed on our GSP page.

DWR SGMA Data Viewer

 The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) maintains a Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) Data Viewer which stakeholders may find useful. It is a GIS system viewer that displays groundwater levels in wells, land subsidence, basin boundaries, and other useful information. DWR has a video tutotial on YouTube.

New Public Notice

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