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: Napa Valley Subbasin GPR Implementation: Technical Advisory Group Review of Incentive Development
RECOMMENDATION
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Technical Advisory Group (TAG) members will receive a presentation on the development of concepts for incentives to support implementation of the Groundwater Pumping Reduction and Water Conservation Workplans, as well as a brief update on the Water Certification Partnership Program. This is intended to spur discussion, questions, and provide feedback to staff and participants.
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Procedure
Staff introduces.
Questions and answers with the TAG.
Public comments.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
The Napa County Groundwater Sustainability Agency (NCGSA) is implementing the Water Conservation (WC) and Groundwater Pumping Reduction (GPR) Workplans (March 2024). The WC Workplan identified a suite of water conservation practices and the GPR Workplan developed an implementation plan to achieve measurable groundwater pumping reductions and overall water savings in the Napa Valley Subbasin (Subbasin). GPR implementation includes incentives for water users/industries in the Subbasin to adopt and expand water conservation practices.
One concept in the WC and GPR Workplans was expanding water conservation practices by partnering with existing certifications programs to include and expand required practices and develop data to quantify water conservation. The pilot Water Certification Partnership Program (WCPP) is being implemented to encourage vineyards and wineries to expand adoption of water conservation practices in Subbasin. NCGSA and its certification partners are developing the pilot WCPP. This includes a certification checklist for water conservation practices, a data reporting template, preliminary outreach to interested parties, developing a memorandum of understanding, and incentives. An update on these activities will be presented to the TAG.
Incentives can encourage adoption of water conservation practices, change existing behaviors, and prevent the need for more strict, mandatory measures. Incentives for water conservation are being evaluated and will be presented to the TAG. A short concept list of agricultural water conservation incentives has been prepared that includes the following categories of incentives/actions:
• Sponsor a series of joint outreach meetings or presentations with local organizations to present the need for water conservation in Napa Valley, available incentives, and how growers can implement practices to support groundwater. Partners would receive funding to participate.
• Develop direct incentives for five priority practices: meter installation, vineyard floor management, distribution uniformity (DU) testing with follow-up action, irrigation system repairs, and voluntary water use tracking and reporting.
• Establish a block grant for partner certification programs and local organizations to distribute the water conservation incentives to participating growers.
Reporting anonymized water use data would be required to be eligible for incentives, following the process set out with the WCPP. Additional incentives tailored to other groundwater users, including self-supplied domestic users, are also under development and will be presented at future meetings. The TAG will receive an overview of potential incentives.
Question/Prompts for TAG Discussion
One (1) question was identified for this TAG meeting.
1. Are there any specific questions and feedback on the updates presented?
• This is an update on work in progress to develop and implement effective incentives for water conservation. These three incentives are specifically focused on agricultural water conservation, and they will be refined alongside additional incentives for other groundwater users.
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.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS
A. ERA Economics PowerPoint Presentation: GPR Workplan Implementation Update, June 2026