On November 4, 2009 the State Legislature amended the Water Code with SBx7-6, which mandates a statewide groundwater elevation monitoring program to track seasonal and long-term trends in groundwater elevations in California's groundwater basins. To achieve that goal, the amendment requires collaboration between local monitoring entities and Department of Water Resources (DWR) to collect groundwater elevation data. Collection and evaluation of such data on a statewide scale is an important fundamental step toward improving management of California's groundwater resources.
In accordance with this amendment to the Water Code, DWR developed the California Statewide Groundwater Elevation Monitoring (CASGEM) program. The intent of the CASGEM program is to establish a permanent, locally-managed program of regular and systematic monitoring in all of California's alluvial groundwater basins. The CASGEM program will rely and build on the many, established local long-term groundwater monitoring and management programs. DWR's role is to coordinate the CASGEM program, to work cooperatively with local entities, and to maintain the collected elevation data in a readily and widely available public database. DWR will also continue its current network of groundwater monitoring as funding allows.
The Sonoma County Water Agency (SCWA) has stated that they are the local monitoring entity for Sonoma County and shall be responsible for reporting all information to DWR in the timeframes required by SBx7-6. As the local monitoring entity, SCWA has contracted with the Gold Ridge RCD to provide outreach activities and collect groundwater elevation levels from private landholders in the Wilson Grove Formation and Bodega Bay groundwater basins of western Sonoma County.
Gold RIdge RCD staff perform groundwater level monitoring at selected private wells throughout the two basins. Monitoring is performed in the spring and fall, with water levels uploaded to the CASGEM database.