Lassen County Municipal Code Ch. 17.02 Basin Management Objectives

(a) The board finds that the protection of the groundwater resources for beneficial use within the county is of major concern to the residents of the county for the protection of their health, welfare, and safety. The board further declares that beneficial use and maintenance of groundwater and protection of recharge zones is of critical importance to the economy and environment of the county.

(b) The purpose of this chapter is to establish a basin management objective program to facilitate the understanding and public dissemination of groundwater in Lassen County.

(c) The basin management objective program does not, and is not intended to, regulate any action or inaction; establish or increase any fees; or impose a penalty for any action or inaction.

(d) The board intends to ensure the continued sustainability of groundwater quantity and quality within the county.

(e) It is essential for information gathering and management purposes that the county maintains a monitoring program addressing groundwater elevations.

(f) The lack of groundwater management may have the following negative impacts, including, but not limited to:

(1) Lowering of groundwater levels leading to increased energy consumption, a potential decrease in stream flows, the increased cost of deepening existing wells, and the prospect that new wells shall need to be deeper and be more costly than would otherwise be required;

(2) Depleting surface and subsurface flows leading to potential loss of wildlife and critical terrestrial and wetland habitat;

(3) Degradation of groundwater quality;

(4) Inelastic land subsidence;

(5) A degradation of property values and injury to agricultural lands.

(g) It is the purpose and intent of this chapter to establish an effective policy concerning groundwater that will assure that the overall economy and environment of the county is protected. Through adoption of this chapter the board of supervisors seek to protect the health, safety, and welfare of county residents.

(h) The board does not intend, in adopting this chapter, to determine whether any groundwater in storage above established basin management objectives is surplus groundwater, to define surplus groundwater, or to impose fees, assessments, charges, or taxes upon county residents and or business owners.

(Ord. 2012-002 § 2)

"Action level"

means a particular groundwater elevation, selected by the board of supervisors or the groundwater committee, for a particular key well. Certain actions may be taken by the technical advisory committee, groundwater committee, or board of supervisors when said elevation goes below the action level for a particular well.

"BMO program"

means basin management objective program.

"Board"

means the board of supervisors of Lassen County.

"County"

means the county of Lassen.

"Director"

means the director of the department of planning and building services or designee.

"District"

means an entity wholly or in part located within the boundaries of the county, which is a purveyor of waters for agricultural; domestic, or municipal use.

"Exceedance"

means a groundwater level for a particular key well that is below the action level one or action level two for that specific key well. The groundwater level that constitutes an exceedance is specific to each key well.

"Groundwater"

means all water beneath the surface of the earth which is capable of being extracted, and includes, but is not limited to, water occurring in a defined pool or aquifer.

"GWC"

means the groundwater committee as defined in Section 17.02.030

"Key well"

means a well selected by the board of supervisors or the groundwater committee is well representative of a basin or sub-basin.

"Monitoring report"

means annual basin management objective monitoring report as defined in Section 17.02.050.

"Spring groundwater monitoring measurement"

means a measurement taken in one of Lassen County's monitoring wells that are included in the California Statewide Groundwater Elevation Monitoring (CASGEM) program taken during the calendar year before the month of May.

"TAC"

means technical advisory committee as defined in Section 17.02.040.

(Ord. 2012-002 § 2)

This chapter is not intended to, nor shall it be construed or given effect in a manner that causes it to apply to any activity that is regulated by federal or state law to the extent that application of this chapter would conflict with such law or would unduly interfere with the achievement of federal or state regulatory purposes. It is the intention of the board that this chapter shall be interpreted to be compatible with federal, county, and state enactments, and in furtherance of the public purposes which those enactments express. Nothing in this chapter is intended to supersede any other provisions of this code.

(Ord. 2012-002 § 2)

There is herby established a basin management objective program for Lassen County. The intent of the program is listed in Section 17.01.010.

(Ord. 2012-002 § 2)

This section establishes the groundwater committee (GWC) as a subcommittee of the board. The following provisions will be applicable to the groundwater committee:

(a) The groundwater committee shall be comprised of one representative from each of the management areas described in Section 17.02.045; except that the representative from Long Valley Creek management area shall also represent the Stateline management area. There shall be an additional representative on the committee that is a member of county staff or government.

(b) Vacant positions on the groundwater committee and positions for which a term will expire shall be advertised in accordance with all applicable county and state requirements and in accordance with the Ralph M. Brown Act.

(c) Members may seek and hold multiple terms.

(d) The sitting groundwater committee may make a recommendation to the board regarding applications for appointment to any position that may become vacant.

(e) Members shall be appointed by the board from applicants who reside or own property within the management area for which he or she is applying.

(f) Members will serve two-year terms.

(g) The initial term for the representative for the following management areas shall be three years: Big Valley, Janesville, Long Valley Creek, Madeline Plains, Standish-Wendel, and Willow Creek Valley.

(h) The committee will have a chairperson and vice-chairperson, established by majority vote of the groundwater committee, and elected annually.

(i) The groundwater committee is responsible for reviewing the annual basin management objective monitoring report.

(j) The groundwater committee is responsible for considering technical advisory committee recommendations and implementing outreach and voluntary groundwater related activities as defined in Section 17.02.060.

(k) The groundwater committee is responsible for approving the recommendations of the TAC regarding changes to key wells, including additions or deletions of key wells.

(l) The groundwater committee shall meet at least annually following the spring groundwater measurements.

(m) The groundwater committee shall be responsible for reporting groundwater conditions to the board annually. At a minimum this report shall include the last groundwater monitoring report, actions taken by the TAC and the GWC since the last update to the board and any recommendations the TAC or the GWC may have.

(n) Groundwater committee members will represent their management area but will have one vote in all decisions made by the committee.

(o) The department of planning and building services shall serve as staff to the groundwater committee.

(Ord. 2012-002 § 2)

The following section establishes the technical advisory committee as a subcommittee of the board. The following provisions will be applicable to the technical advisory committee:

(a) The technical advisory committee shall be comprised of six members, which will include the following: one Department of Water Resources representative, one state or federal representative, one local agriculture representative, one local municipal purveyor or water district representative, and one at large representative. The director of planning and building services, or their designee, shall serve as the chair of the technical advisory committee and shall be a permanent appointee of the committee.

(b) Vacant positions on the technical advisory committee and positions for which a term will expire shall be advertised in accordance with all applicable county and state requirements and in accordance with the Ralph M. Brown Act.

(c) Members are appointed by the board.

(d) Members will serve two-year terms, with half of the initial membership, as selected by the board, serving a three-year term to stagger membership turnover.

(e) The committee shall be responsible for developing the annual basin management objective monitoring report.

(f) The committee shall be responsible for performing review and investigation activities and making recommendations to the groundwater committee as defined in Section 17.02.060.

(g) The department of planning and building services shall serve as staff to the technical advisory committee.

(h) The committee shall meet not less than once per calendar year.

(Ord. 2012-002 § 2)

(a) Management areas are hereby established for the areas shown in Exhibit A, attached to Ordinance 2012-02 and incorporated herein by reference. The names of said management areas are: Big Valley, Buntingville, Eagle Lake, Janesville, Long Valley, Long Valley Creek, Madeline Plains, Standish-Wendel, Stateline, Susan River, Westside, and Willow Creek Valley. The boundaries of said management areas may be changed by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the GWC.

(b) Key wells shall be established in those management areas for which monitoring data is available, or for which monitoring data becomes available in the future. The current list of key wells for each management area is shown in Exhibit B, attached to Ordinance 2012-02 and incorporated herein by reference. Said wells are identified using the state well numbering system. The groundwater committee may, by majority vote, add or remove key wells from a management area.

(c) An "action level one" and an "action level two" shall be established for every key well that has been established for each management area. The current action levels are shown on a hydrograph for each key well. Said hydrographs are included as Exhibit C, attached to Ordinance 2012-02 and incorporated herein by reference. The groundwater committee may, by majority vote, establish action levels for newly established key wells and, by majority vote, the groundwater committee may also make changes to existing action levels.

(d) Addition or deletion of particular management areas shall require adoption of a resolution by the board of supervisors.

(Ord. 2012-002 § 2)

This section establishes the requirements for the preparation of the annual basin management objective monitoring report. At a minimum the monitoring report will contain the following:

(a) Introduction and monitoring report purpose.

(b) A summary of monitoring results for all basins and sub-basins being monitored pursuant to this chapter.

(c) A list of all key wells currently being monitored in the BMO program, and identification of all key wells that are below action level one or two.

(d) Current hydrographs for each key well that show both action levels for each key well currently being used for the BMO program.

(e) Supported recommendations regarding the need for additional monitoring wells, changes to key wells, changes to action levels, changes or additions to monitoring areas.

(f) Any other recommendations or information deemed appropriate by the technical advisory committee.

(g) The monitoring report shall be prepared by the TAC and presented to the GWC within six months of the collection of the spring groundwater monitoring measurement.

(Ord. 2012-002 § 2)

At a minimum groundwater levels for all current key wells shall be collected in the spring and fall of each year in a manner consistent with the Lassen County monitoring plan and all applicable state requirements. The current monitoring plan titled, "Lassen County CASGEM (California Statewide Groundwater Elevation) Groundwater Monitoring Plan," was adopted by the board of supervisors on December 13, 2011. Said plan will be updated as needed by the groundwater committee.

(Ord. 2012-002 § 2)

This section establishes the procedures for review and dissemination information gathered by the BMO program.

(a) When groundwater levels in key wells are identified in the monitoring report prepared pursuant to Lassen County Code Section 17.02.050 as being below the first or second action level, the TAC shall investigate and research in an attempt to identify the cause of the decline and present the results of the investigation and recommendations to the GWC. The TAC shall attempt to determine if exceedances in key well(s) are indicative of a long term regional trend. The TAC shall present the results of their investigation to the GWC within six months of presenting the monitoring report. Said report may be in conjunction with or in addition to the required yearly report the GWC must provide the board of supervisors pursuant to Section 17.02.030.

(b) Upon receiving the TAC's investigation results and recommendations, the GWC shall consider the following actions if an action level one is exceeded:

(1) Hold additional TAC meeting(s). Discussion held at said meeting(s) may include, but is not limited to, the validity of the exceedance, review of recent and historic water level data, comparison to other basins within Lassen County, identification of land use trends in the management area, comparison to regional groundwater data, discussion of known or perceived potential explanations of the exceedance. The result of these meetings should be a conclusion as to the validity of the observed exceedance accompanied with recommended actions for consideration by the GWC.

(2) Identify a specific action level for review.

(3) Hold additional GWC meetings to discuss an exceedance.

(4) Hold management area meetings to discuss exceedance.

(5) Contact water users in management areas to provide notification of an identified problem.

(6) Notify the public of identified groundwater issues through a press release and/or website.

(7) Increase the frequency or number of wells that are monitored in a management area(s).

(8) Consider monitoring land subsidence.

(9) Solicit voluntary actions from property owners.

(c) Upon receiving the TAC's investigation results and recommendations, the GWC shall consider the following actions if an action level two is exceeded:

(1) Recommended to the board of supervisors that it consider a groundwater recharge program.

(2) Recommended to the board of supervisors that it consider in-lieu recharge programs.

(3) Recommended to the board of supervisors that it consider a well spacing ordinance.

(4) Recommended to the board of supervisors that it consider review of development approvals.

(d) Within six months of receiving the TAC's investigation results and recommendations, the GWC shall present a summary of the exceedances and the investigation results, as well as GWC recommendations to the board for board consideration. Said summary may be in conjunction to or in addition to the report required by Lassen County Code Section 17.02.050.

(e) The GWC shall provide a report to the board of supervisors for all key wells that are below action level one or action level two. Said report may be in conjunction with or in addition to the required yearly report the GWC must provide the board of supervisors.

(Ord. 2012-002 § 2)

This section establishes the procedures for review and updating of the BMO program.

(a) Review and updating, if necessary, of the BMO program shall occur at the discretion of the GWC, not less than once every five years.

(b) Recommendations regarding review and updating of the BMO program shall be performed by the TAC, and shall include consideration of:

(1) Management Areas. Major changes in land use or development may occur that render the management areas initially identified during the BMO development phase inadequate. During periodic review and updating, management areas may be changed, added, or removed as necessary to ensure adequate protection of ground-water. The GWC may modify management area boundaries. Addition or deletion of particular management areas shall require adoption of a resolution by the Lassen County board of supervisors.

(2) Action Levels in Key Wells. Some key wells may have shown an exceedance that has been determined, through investigation by the TAC, to not be indicative of a long term regional trend. Action levels in those key wells should be updated.

(3) Key Well Locations and Density. Some key wells may cease to be monitored for logistical or technical reasons, reducing the coverage of key wells in the management area. Key wells will be reviewed and updated to provide adequate coverage in the BMO management area so that they can be used to identify changes in long term regional trends.

(4) Technical Advisory Committee. The composition of the TAC may be changed if deemed necessary during the BMO review and updating process.

(5) Groundwater Committee. The composition and representation of the GWC may be reviewed and changed if necessary. Updating GWC representation will be necessary if management areas are changed, added, or removed.

(c) The TAC will present a report regarding recommendations, if any, to the GWC. The GWC will consider TAC recommendations and will determine if those updates within its purview will be made or if recommendations will be made to the board of supervisors. The recommendations of the TAC will be included as an attachment or incorporated into the GWC report to the board, even if the GWC does not concur with said recommendations.

(Ord. 2012-002 § 2)