San Joaquin County Municipal Code Ch. 1 Declaration of Findings and Purpose

The Board hereby finds and declares:

(a) The groundwater underlying San Joaquin County has historically provided the people and lands of San Joaquin County with water for agricultural, domestic, municipal, and other purposes.

(b) The Board recognizes the principle developed in the case law of California that water may be appropriated from a groundwater basin if the groundwater supply is surplus and exceeds the reasonable and beneficial needs of overlying users.

(c) It is essential for the protection of the health, welfare, and safety of the residents of the County, and the public benefit of the State, that groundwater resource of San Joaquin County be protected from harm resulting from the extraction of groundwater for use on lands outside the County, until such time as needed additional surface water supplies are obtained for use on lands of the County, or overdrafting is alleviated, to the satisfaction of the Board.

(d) Much of the farm production of the County depends upon the use of groundwater to produce grapes, nuts, fruit, and vegetable crops which significantly contribute to the gross value of all agricultural crops produced in the County, estimated at over one billion three hundred million dollars ($1,300,000,000.00) for 1998.

(e) The groundwater of San Joaquin County also provides water to several communities in the County, particularly to the cities of Lodi, Stockton, Manteca, Lathrop, Escalon, Ripon, and Tracy, which rely almost exclusively on San Joaquin County groundwater.

(f) The groundwater of San Joaquin County will be a vital part of future water use in the County. The present population of the eastern portion of the County is nearly four hundred thousand (400,000) and is conservatively projected to increase by the year 2020 to six hundred fifty-five thousand (655,000). Groundwater resources will serve as an important source of water supply for this increased population. The population of the southwestern portion of the County is projected to significantly increase by the year 2020. As the water needs per acre of agriculture and urban areas are approximately equivalent for this region, and virtually all of the non-urban area is in irrigated agriculture, the consumptive demands on the groundwater lying beneath the southwestern portion of the County will remain essentially the same.

(g) Much of the groundwater lying beneath the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta is saline; however, there are numerous wells producing fresh water which may be a part of the aquifers underlying the eastern portion of the County.

(h) Surface water supplies obtained in the future will be used conjunctively with groundwater. That is, surface water will be diverted in times of relatively high flows and groundwater will be used during dry periods when surface water is not readily available. In this regard, the greatest readily and economically available asset the County has in dealing with its water needs is its groundwater. Loss of the use of the groundwater in the eastern portion of the County would result in additional surface water needs of as much as one million (1,000,000) acre feet per year. Loss of the use of the groundwater in the southwestern portion of the County could also result in dramatic needs for additional surface water. It is vital that the groundwater resources be protected so that its capacity will be available for future conjunctive use.

(i) The California Department of Water Resources in Bulletin 118-80 identified the groundwater underlying the eastern portion of the County as "subject to critical conditions of overdraft." A basin is subject to critical conditions of overdraft, according to Bulletin 118-80, when continuation of present water management practices would probably result in significant adverse overdraft-related environmental, social, or economic impacts. However, though portions of the groundwater underlying the County are subject to critical conditions of overdraft, the adverse impacts do not necessarily occur throughout the entire County, according to Bulletin 118-80. In fact, water levels may be rising in one portion of the County.

(j) A 1985 study conducted by the engineering firm of Brown & Caldwell, under the sponsorship of state, federal and local agencies, confirmed that serious over-drafting of the groundwater underlying the eastern portion of the County was occurring. The study found that if the County does not obtain additional supplemental water, by the year 2020 overdraft would result in a 1.9 foot drop per year in the regional water level and that the groundwater elevations in areas east of Stockton would be one hundred sixty (160) feet below sea level, or about one hundred (100) feet lower than then existing levels. The study also predicted that an ancient saline front would advance eastward under the city of Stockton by a distance of 1.3 to 2.3 miles by the year 2020.

(k) Existing conditions tend to confirm the forecasts of Brown & Caldwell. According to the Fall 1993 Groundwater Report of the San Joaquin County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, the saline front underlying the city of Stockton has encroached further eastward under the city and the groundwater underlying a portion of the eastern part of the County has experienced decreases in water quality, despite the high levels of precipitation during the winter of 1992-93.

(l) Based on the Brown & Caldwell report, it has been concluded that an additional two hundred seventy thousand (270,000) acre feet of supplemental surface water per year is needed to achieve a balanced use of both surface and groundwater for the eastern portion of the County. The County and other public agencies in the County have worked with federal, state, and other agencies to attempt to secure this needed supplemental surface water in order to relieve or alleviate the burden placed on the groundwater lying beneath the eastern portion of the County.

(m) The County recognizes that effective conjunctive use of groundwater and surface water could reduce the groundwater overdraft in the County. Conjunctive use projects, including storage of surface water in the groundwater basin, are being investigated and pursued by the County and other public agencies within the County. The County encourages development of conjunctive use projects that would positively impact the critically overdrafted groundwater basin.

(n) The County seeks to foster prudent water management practices to avoid significant adverse overdraft-related environmental, social, and economic impacts. It is therefore essential for the protection of the County's important groundwater resources that the County require a permit to extract groundwater for use outside the County. This division requires a permit for the export of groundwater outside the County and is not intended to regulate groundwater in any other way.

(o) In adopting this division, the County in no way intends to limit either the County or other public entities to manage the groundwater in accordance with the Groundwater Management Act and any other applicable laws.

(Ord. 3879 § 2, 1996; Ord. 4064 § 1 (part), 2000)