Check California groundwater basin priority and Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) status via DWR's SGMA tools before planning a new well

domain: sgma.water.ca.gov / gis.water.ca.gov · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
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Steps

  1. Use the SGMA Basin Prioritization Dashboard (https://gis.water.ca.gov/app/bp-dashboard/final/) to identify the Bulletin 118 groundwater basin covering the site and its priority tier (high/medium/low/very low)
  2. For high- or medium-priority basins, confirm the site falls under an active Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) via the SGMA Portal (https://sgma.water.ca.gov/portal/)
  3. Check GSP (Groundwater Sustainability Plan) status for that basin at https://sgma.water.ca.gov/portal/gsp/status, since GSP-imposed pumping/well-spacing restrictions can affect new well approval even where a county permit would otherwise be routine
  4. Contact the local GSA directly for any locally-imposed well restrictions, since SGMA implementation details (e.g. minimum thresholds, well-spacing rules) are set at the GSA/basin level, not statewide
  5. As of 2026 all high- and medium-priority basins statewide are under active GSA management, so assume some layer of local groundwater oversight applies unless the basin is confirmed low/very-low priority

Known gotchas

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