Karen Ross SGMA Jan 18

For California AG today, I'm Mike Stephens, we continue speaking with Karen Ross, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. She spoke how preparations are being made for the implementation of Sigma, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.

This is the importance of being actively engaged with your irrigation district and now with Sigma, the groundwater sustainability agencies that are being created to make sure that you have a voice and what those plans look like. Just this week, the department notified six Central Valley groundwater sustainability agencies that their plans that were submitted 18 months ago are incomplete. They have 180 days now to to update and provide the additional information or additional planning that's required to get approval from the Department of Water Resources. The staff for water resources will be very available to help them work through some of the engineering, some of the technology issues that are incomplete. But this is the time for both residents and farmers to be actively engaged in what those plans look like, how they're going to manage demand and how they intend to recharge their groundwater basin. It's a critical point in putting these plans together and making sure that they're viable.