Commission hears updates on SGMA-funded projects: monitoring wells, community monitoring and recharge studies

Butte County staff reported on the status of SGMA grant-funded projects supported in the Vina (Bina) and Wyandotte Creek subbasins, including a recently executed grant amendment, monitoring-well procurement, a volunteer-based domestic-well monitoring program, and expanded recharge investigation funding.

Staff said the grant agreement with the Basin (BINA) and Department of Water Resources was amended to extend timelines (activities originally due March 2026 were extended to January 2027) to align with periodic-evaluation timelines. The amendment also reallocated approximately $1.1 million from a demand-reduction component into two activities: additional monitoring-well installations (about $300,000) and expanded surface-water-supply/recharge investigation (about $800,000).

Because well-construction bids exceeded available budgets, staff said invitations for bids will be reissued and that well construction is expected later in the year. The community monitoring program — which outfits existing domestic wells with instrumentation to provide monitoring data without drilling — received responses from more than 18 TriNet landowners; program staff will prioritize installations where funding is available. Staff encouraged residents in Wyandotte Creek to participate and asked commissioners and attendees to share contact information for potential volunteer wells.

Recharge and supply feasibility work is progressing: staff reported a feasibility effort for potential surface-water supply projects selected for further study (including a Feather River extension and a Ridge-to-Valley conveyance concept) and field testing for recharge sites (T-temporal tomography work in several candidate locations). The county is also evaluating precision-irrigation pilots and orchard-removal program design, but staff said a planned $1 million pilot to incentivize orchard-extension was not executed because recent orchard removals and market conditions made new pilot incentives unnecessary; staff will use existing data and program design work to estimate water savings instead.

Wyandotte Creek projects follow a tighter March 2026 timeline and staff said they will prioritize monitoring-well drilling and continue community-outreach efforts.