Board readies demand-management outreach as cost-allocation questions loom
February 28, 2024 | Greenfield City, Monterey County, California
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The Arroyo Seco Groundwater Sustainability Agency scheduled a series of demand-management workshops to start the first full week in March, and board members spent part of the meeting discussing how any large projects would be financed and who would pay.
The agency’s general manager said the workshops—planned as Friday sessions at locations from Castro Valley to King City—are intended to explain demand-management concepts and solicit public participation. He described demand management as a regulatory tool GSAs can use to reduce or limit groundwater pumping and emphasized the need to consider incentive-based approaches alongside restrictions.
Board members raised economic concerns. Vice chair (speaker 2) asked about operations-and-maintenance and energy costs for large projects; the general manager said those ongoing costs must be included in any economic comparison and recommended annualizing capital costs and adding O&M to generate comparable annual costs.
A board member asked whether costs for large projects would be distributed across the valley. The general manager explained that under Proposition 218 procedures, projects that require assessments must identify benefiting properties and that a public vote typically determines assessments and allocations. He cautioned that where a project’s benefits are geographically concentrated—such as seawater-intrusion relief for the pressure zone—costs are harder to distribute broadly and must be carefully justified.
Tom Versic, a public commenter, told the board demand management goes by many names (allocation, fees) and said he expects demand-management measures will be implemented in at least some critically overdrafted basins while projects are built. The general manager and board members agreed that project lead times are long—often a decade or more—and said demand-management measures will likely be paired with long-term project development.
No formal policy was adopted; staff will proceed with the public workshop schedule and report back to the board.
The agency’s general manager said the workshops—planned as Friday sessions at locations from Castro Valley to King City—are intended to explain demand-management concepts and solicit public participation. He described demand management as a regulatory tool GSAs can use to reduce or limit groundwater pumping and emphasized the need to consider incentive-based approaches alongside restrictions.
Board members raised economic concerns. Vice chair (speaker 2) asked about operations-and-maintenance and energy costs for large projects; the general manager said those ongoing costs must be included in any economic comparison and recommended annualizing capital costs and adding O&M to generate comparable annual costs.
A board member asked whether costs for large projects would be distributed across the valley. The general manager explained that under Proposition 218 procedures, projects that require assessments must identify benefiting properties and that a public vote typically determines assessments and allocations. He cautioned that where a project’s benefits are geographically concentrated—such as seawater-intrusion relief for the pressure zone—costs are harder to distribute broadly and must be carefully justified.
Tom Versic, a public commenter, told the board demand management goes by many names (allocation, fees) and said he expects demand-management measures will be implemented in at least some critically overdrafted basins while projects are built. The general manager and board members agreed that project lead times are long—often a decade or more—and said demand-management measures will likely be paired with long-term project development.
No formal policy was adopted; staff will proceed with the public workshop schedule and report back to the board.
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