TO: Technical Advisory Group for the Napa County Groundwater Sustainability Agency
FROM: Brian D. Bordona, Director of Planning, Building and Environmental Services
REPORT BY: Jamison Crosby, Natural Resources Conservation Manager
SUBJECT: Comments and Update on the Draft Water Conservation and Groundwater Pumping Reduction Workplans
RECOMMENDATION
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Provide an update to the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on progress for the Napa County Water Conservation Workplan, A Guide for Vineyards, Wineries, and Other Water Users (WC Workplan) and Groundwater Pumping Reduction Workplan: Napa Valley Subbasin (GPR Workplan). This will focus on public comments and the revised drafts of the Workplans.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The WC and GPR Workplans were out for public review between October 30, 2023 and January 30, 2024. The Workplans were presented at three public workshops held in December 2023 and January 2024. The project team is continuing to work on implementation steps that include incentivizing voluntary certification programs for vineyards and wineries, a benchmarking program, incentives for adoption of water conservation practices, evaluation of best management practices and projects to increase recharge, local partnerships for pilot sites, and data management efforts. Public input has been received that will improve the Workplans and Workplan implementation. Updates on specific Workplan implementation tasks will be provided in April and subsequent TAG meetings. At this TAG meeting an overview of the response to public comments on the Workplans is presented, along with revised drafts of the Workplans for TAG consideration and recommended submittal to the Napa County Groundwater Sustainability Agency.
Procedure
Staff introduces.
Questions and answers with the TAG.
Public comments.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: The proposed action is not a project as defined by 14 California Code of Regulations 15378 (State CEQA Guidelines) and therefore CEQA is not applicable.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The Napa County Water Conservation Workplan, A Guide for Vineyards, Wineries and Other Sectors (WC Workplan) is a stakeholder-facing tool to learn about, consider, and implement voluntary water conservation practices. This Workplan is a companion document to the related document, the Groundwater Pumping Reduction Workplan: Napa Valley Subbasin (GPR Workplan) is a draft document that provides a roadmap for implementing measures to reduce groundwater pumping in the Napa Valley Subbasin. The Combined Program Overview provides a high-level summary of the two Workplans, their contents, and how they relate to one another.
The project team presented the Workplans at public workshops in December 2023 and January 2024. Feedback has been received from public comment through January 30, 2024. As presented at the February TAG meeting, public comments were categorized into four comment categories (editorial, technical, water conservation practices, implementation approach), and a draft response to either an individual comment (a specific comment) or a master comment (one that is shared across multiple comments and warrants a general response) was prepared. Revised drafts of the WC and GPR Workplans have been prepared in addition to responses to public comments. Public comments related to the Combined Program Overview were editorial in nature and a response to public comments was not necessary. A revised draft of the Combined Program Overview has been prepared and provided in the meeting materials. These drafts are recommended as final for TAG consideration and recommended submittal to the Napa County Groundwater Sustainability Agency.
The project team is concurrently working toward Workplan implementation, as defined in the implementation plan in the GPR Workplan and presented at prior TAG meetings. Additional updates on implementation progress will be provided in April and June TAG meetings. This meeting focuses on the draft final Workplans. Additional background on the WC and GPR Workplans is provided below.
The WC Workplan is intended to be a technical resource for water users who want to implement water conservation practices. The WC has fewer technical/analysis details and instead focuses on opportunities, resources, and funding for water conservation practices.
The GPR Workplan focuses on voluntary actions that: achieve groundwater benefits for the Subbasin, assess the costs and benefits of alternative actions and focus on those that are most cost-effective, leverage existing programs and opportunities to generate value to participants, and includes an adaptive management process to adjust the program.
The GPR Workplan includes processes for improving the understanding of groundwater use in the Subbasin and evaluating the effectiveness of measures implemented to reduce groundwater pumping in relation to observed benefits to groundwater conditions and sustainability. The Workplan also includes a summary of cost sharing opportunities and summary of data gaps that will need to be addressed to support program implementation. The TAG has reviewed certification programs (February 2023), benchmarking programs (April, September 2023), and broader best management practices for incentivizing adoption of water savings technologies and practices, including behavioral nudges and educational workshops and programming (February, March, April 2023). These are incorporated into the GPR Workplan.
The GPR Workplan includes a summary of each water conservation practice. This summary includes costs and benefits for existing and potential practices, including vineyard-specific adoption costs and potential water savings that benefit the Subbasin. To organize and summarize findings in a concise format, a matrix concept was developed whereby practices are ranked by criteria, including estimated costs, private benefits, water savings benefits, implementation timeline, and overall feasibility, noting where additional studies or data are required. The concept was presented to the TAG in March 2023 for feedback and discussion, and the draft findings were presented at the May 2023 meeting. This included a proposal to focus on the practices that show the potential for the highest impact. These are ranked in the Workplan for overall cost-effectiveness and feasibility, highlighting those that could be top-priority practices for adoption.
The GPR Workplan includes a multi-component implementation plan in which key components will be implemented concurrently. Focusing on voluntary practices, the implementation plan includes education and outreach, voluntary adoption of practices and technologies, working with partners, and rewarding conservation efforts such as voluntary certification. The Workplan further includes an adaptive management component that integrates with the Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP) process, reviewing programs and outcomes in parallel with the Annual Reports and Five-Year Periodic Evaluations (i.e., GSP updates). This provides an opportunity for review, refinement, and improvement. The implementation plan emphasizes quantification throughout to track key metrics, quantify waver savings, and improve baseline data. Finally, it includes an outline of potential mandatory measures to consider if voluntary measures are found insufficient to achieve groundwater sustainability. An overview of some of the components of implementation was covered at the May 2023 meeting: namely, incentives for participation, funding, education/outreach, defining metrics for success, and developing the adaptive management process. The July 2023 meeting presented a conceptual implementation plan for TAG discussion and feedback.
As described above, the March 2024 TAG meeting will focus on how public comments were addressed and the revised drafts of the Workplans that are ready for TAG consideration and recommended submittal to the Napa County Groundwater Sustainability Agency. A brief overview of next steps for implementation will be presented.
FRAMING QUESTION FOR TAG DELIBERATIONS
A framing question has been prepared for the TAG related to the revised draft WC and GPR Workplans. The question is included in the presentation slides and reproduced below:
• Are there any additional public comments that should be further discussed or addressed?
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS
A. ERA Economics Powerpoint Presentation: Revised Draft Water Conservation and Groundwater Pumping Reduction Workplans, March 2024
B. Water Conservation Workplan Redline and Clean versions
C. Groundwater Pumping Reduction Workplan Redline and Clean versions
D. Response to Public Comment Matrix for each Workplan
E. Combined Program Overview Redline and Clean versions