There is so much going on with respect to water use these days. There are the increasingly-frequent droughts, and the relatively-new legislation pertaining to groundwater usage, and then there is the State-overseen groundwater exchange program that helps allocate water around the state, especially in drought years.
Now, it seems we can’t get by without groundwater monitoring. That is of the aquifers, and more generally, goundwater levels. And not just any monitoring. You can see from the engineering illustration below that the monitoring well the Conservancy is installing is not simply a well where one can drop a bucket or string into a well and see where the water level is. This monitoring well is quite sophisticated.
In cooperation with the Natomas Central Mutual Water Company, the new Conservancy groundwater monitoring well is being placed on Conservancy property. In addition, the Conservancy is cooperating with the Sacramento Groundwater Authority on a project that would install a number of additional groundwater monitoring devices in the Natomas Basin.
These were never planned when the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan was written and adopted. But it has become a requirement, if not a necessity. More to the point, State of California water authorities are requiring them. The Conservancy is complying both out of duty as well as the fact that having good access to reliable groundwater data is increasingly essential.