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 from the TAG on the Draft Water Conservation and Groundwater Pumping Reduction Workplans
RECOMMENDATION
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Provide information to the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on comments to the Public Drafts of the Water Conservation (WC) and Groundwater Pumping Reduction (GPR) Workplans by TAG members. Provide an update to the TAG on progress for the GPR focusing on the implementation plan and next steps.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The GPR and WC Workplans have been out for public review since October 31, 2023. The Workplans were presented at three public workshops held in December 2023 and January 2024. Comments from the Public are due on January 30, 2024 and have not been fully processed to date. TAG members submitted their comments prior to the deadline and they are included here. 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 projects to increase recharge, local partnerships for pilot sites, and data management efforts. Updates on specific Workplan implementation tasks will be provided in March and subsequent TAG meetings. At this TAG meeting an overview of TAG members’ comments to the Workplans is presented and potential changes to the Workplans in response to comments is discussed.
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 GPR Workplan is a draft document out for public review (through January 30, 2024) that provides a roadmap for implementing measures to reduce groundwater pumping in the Napa Valley Subbasin. This Workplan is a companion document to the related document, the WC Workplan, a stakeholder-facing tool to learn about, consider, and implement voluntary water conservation practices.
The project team presented the Workplans at public workshops in December 2023 and January 2024. Feedback has been received and the Workplans are currently being updated (note: this staff report was prepared on January 26, 2024 and public comments were still open through January 30, 2024). The process for public comments is two-fold: (i) comments are categorized into four comment categories (editorial, technical, water conservation practices, implementation approach), and (ii) 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) is prepared. In addition, 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 March and June TAG meetings. This meeting focuses on Workplan comments and the process for finalizing the Workplans. Additional background on the WC and GPR Workplans is provided below.
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 include 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 (Feb 2023), benchmarking programs (Apr, Sept 2023), and broader best management practices for incentivizing adoption of water savings technologies and practices, including behavioral nudges and educational workshops and programming (Feb, Mar, Apr 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 process, reviewing programs and outcomes in parallel with the Annual Reports and Five-Year 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.
The WC Workplan follows the GPR Workplan but is intended to be a technical resource for water users that want to implement water conservation practices. Relative to the GPR the WC has less technical/analysis details and instead focuses on opportunities, resources, and funding for water conservation practices. Both Workplans are summarized in a concise Executive Summary (“wrapper document”). All Workplans are available at the County website.
As described above, this February 2024 TAG meeting will focus on TAG members’ comments and initial responses for the WC and GPR Workplans. Next steps will also be highlighted.
FRAMING QUESTION FOR TAG DELIBERATIONS
A series of framing questions have been prepared for the TAG in consideration of GPR and WC public comments received. These are included in the presentation slides (for additional context) and reproduced below:
• What are ways for Workplan implementation to consider the effect of wet years on water conservation opportunities?
• Should the Workplans be further expanded to emphasize outreach and education, and if so where and how?
• Are there opportunities for expanding metering as part of GPR Workplan implementation, and if so, how would these integrate with other measurement approaches?
• Benchmarking program implementation is part of ongoing GPR implementation. What are other steps that should be considered for benchmarking program implementation?
• Are there suggested modifications to this figure (4.5) to help provide clarification/understanding of figure content, and are there other suggestions to improve readability of technical content in the Workplans?
• Are there other funding opportunities or incentive programs that should be listed in the WC or GPR Workplans?
• Are there additional M&I water conservation practices that should be called out (or added to) the Workplans?