The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 3-0 Wednesday to align county regulations with a court ruling allowing users in the Borrego Springs Subbasin to pump groundwater.
In 2021, a San Diego Superior Court judge ruled that users in the Borrego Springs Subbasin have the right to pump groundwater. In connection with that ruling, a required 70% reduction in groundwater use to comply with the state Sustainable Groundwater Management Act must be achieved by 2040.
The ruling also allowed the Borrego Springs Watermaster — a committee that includes area representatives — to manage groundwater in the basin.
California passed the law in 2014 to protect groundwater and ensure future availability.
The act “provides a framework to regulate groundwater by requiring local agencies to balance groundwater extraction with groundwater recharge in basins designated by the California Department of Water Resources as high or medium priority,” the county Land Use & Environment Group said last month.
The Borrego Water District “has been securing water rights in the basin to ensure the existing community does not have to reduce its water use,” according to the LUEG.
Along with the Borrego region, county groundwater guideline updates apply to the Upper San Luis Rey Valley and San Pasqual Valley basins.
Supervisor Jim Desmond was absent from Wednesday’s meeting due to a long-standing family commitment, according to his office.
Last month, he and Vice Chair Terra Lawson-Remer praised county and community efforts on a groundwater sustainability plan.
–City News Service